Orthodox Christian TV
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Jonathan Jackson to Young Seekers: Truth, Not Trends, Sets You Free
8:44
What the video says
A speaker, a convert to Orthodoxy, offers advice to young people navigating today's many religious options. He argues that true freedom is found in truth, and that after years of searching he found the Orthodox Church to be the only one that has preserved unchanged the faith, teachings, and spirit Christ passed to the apostles. He highlights its worldwide unity, communion with the saints, and unchanging stability amid cultural chaos, and encourages young people to seek the truth with humility and openness.
Key moments
- True freedom and liberation are connected to what is true; Christ said the truth will set you free and 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.'
- With thousands of versions of Christianity, moral relativism and subjectivism lead to chaos in the soul and eventually nihilism.
- He advises young people to commit themselves in humility and openness of heart to the truth, noting 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.'
- After years of searching, he found the Orthodox Church to be the only one that has maintained the earliest teachings, dogmas, and ethos of Christ and the apostles.
- The Orthodox Church is a miracle: traveling to Greece, Romania, Russia, or Serbia, one finds the same faith, the same creed, and one chalice.
- Orthodox Christians share communion not only with believers worldwide but with the saints of the last 2,000 years; early fathers like St. Justin Martyr and St. Ignatius of Antioch teach the same faith found in today's Divine Liturgy.
- In a chaotic world, the Church offers stillness and silence because its gaze is fixed on the eternal, not on the whims of culture; modern saints like St. Paisios, St. Porphyrios, and St. Sophrony evidence this unchanging beauty.
- Other traditions' innovation and change have led to chaos and don't reflect Christ the rock; he wants to live the 'faith once delivered to all the saints' (St. Jude), and urges young people to seek, ask, and knock, for 'seek and you will find.'
In this extended conversation, actor and musician Jonathan Jackson—known for General Hospital and Nashville—speaks to young people overwhelmed by the sheer number of spiritual paths and by secular cultural pressure. Drawing on his own journey to Orthodoxy, which began in 2007 when he witnessed Pascha celebrations in Romania and culminated in his family's baptism in 2012, he offers advice grounded in his conviction that freedom is inseparable from truth.
Jackson argues that with thousands of competing versions of Christianity, moral relativism and subjectivism lead to inner chaos and, ultimately, nihilism. Against this, he points to Christ's words that the truth will set us free, and that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. After years of searching and what he calls constant wrestling, he came to believe the Orthodox Church alone has preserved unchanged the faith, teachings, dogmas, and ethos handed down by Christ and the apostles.
He describes the Church as a miracle of unity: whether one travels to Greece, Romania, Russia, or Serbia, one encounters the same faith, the same creed, and one chalice. Orthodox Christians, he says, share communion not only with believers around the world today but with the saints of the past two thousand years—fathers like St. Justin Martyr and St. Ignatius of Antioch taught the same faith proclaimed in today's Divine Liturgy.
In a chaotic world, the Church offers stillness and silence because its gaze is fixed on the eternal rather than on cultural whims, a continuity evidenced by modern saints such as St. Paisios, St. Porphyrios, and St. Sophrony. He contrasts this stability with the innovation and constant change of other traditions, citing St. Jude's call to hold to the faith once delivered to all the saints.
He closes by urging young people to seek with humility and openness of heart: seek, ask, and knock, for seek and you will find.
Main points
- True freedom is tied to truth; moral relativism and subjectivism lead to chaos in the soul and eventually nihilism.
- After years of searching, Jackson found the Orthodox Church alone preserving the earliest teachings, dogmas, and ethos of Christ and the apostles.
- Orthodoxy shows worldwide unity—same faith, same creed, one chalice across Greece, Romania, Russia, Serbia, and beyond.
- Orthodox communion extends to the saints of 2,000 years; early fathers taught the same faith heard in today's Divine Liturgy.
- He urges young people to seek truth with humility and openness: 'seek and you will find.'