You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32
Recommended Reading: John 1:1-18 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.2 The same was in the beginning with God.3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him..”
COMMENTS: What is truth and what are the source(s) of truth? Is there such a thing as “my truth” or “my interpretation of truth”? Is today’s truth different than our great grandparent’s truth? Is truth different depending on where it comes from or who reports it? So then, how should we discern and judge truth from deceptive lies and especially from lies that appear as truth and resemble truth? The word “truth” is so basic that it is hard to define it without using the word truth in its definition. The dictionary defines truth as a statement of fact or reality. Yet human reality is defined by what we see or hear or feel or smell or taste. But our senses do not always reveal reality. A poison may smell or taste sweet or good. A witness may convince us of an experience being true and factual but in reality, was fabricated and never happened.
Think about something you believed to be true and later discovered to be a lie. What made it appear true to you? Was it because of how the person reported or logic of how could have happened? Was it because we wanted it to be true? Let’s face it, truth is not determined by what we want to be true or what we believe to be true. It must be judged by a much more objective and higher authority because truth must be unchanging and not impacted by personal opinion or popular beliefs. Anarchy would be rampant if truth was determined by or dependent only on popular belief. Some primitive tribes believed they gain strength by eating their defeated enemies or even those they didn’t like or understand.
Power and might does not define truth. Hitler gained power convincing his people that his truth was factual. He killed six million Jews believing they were inferior to German people and countless millions of others believing he was God’s gift to mankind and millions followed him without question convinced what he said was truth.
Moslem terrorist inflicts pain and death on both Arabs and Jews and gentiles believing they are doing God’s will even to the point of sacrificing their own lives in implement their destructive mission. Does their willingness to give their own lives prove their sincerity and does it prove their religion and own faith in that religion to be true?
Well, if believing something doesn’t make it true and if we can’t always depend on our 5 senses to tell us what is true, then how can we discern lies from truth?
Let’s start with which religion is true and which is not. If we go by the “Holy Book” from each faith, we would be convinced that all religions are true or no religion is true.
Well, if you believe Jesus is the source of truth, then the Bible for you needs to become the source and compass to gage to discern truth from lies. If you believe the Koran is God’s Word and source of all truth, then you are convinced it is the gage to judge truth from lies. IF you believe in another religion, your world view and judgment of truth is influenced by its teachings.
If you are an atheist, you may deny using any book of teaching judging truth from lies and only depend on science or your own sense to provide discernment for you.
Well, I hope all this isn’t raising doubts in you of how to decide the correct way to determine truth. I hope your journey to discovery will convince you that Jesus is the One and only Way to Truth and His Word, the Bible, is a living and only True Book showing us the way to Truth and the only true way to judge truth from lies. The Gospel of John reveals this to us but not the only place in scripture to prove this to us.
History and experiences of us and those before us all serve to prove to us Jesus is who He said He is and His Word is the source of Truth.
Contrast Jesus teaching forgiveness and healing and looking to His teachings and the Holy Spirit’ s council to discern good from evil and truth from lies. The Bible provides confirmation when deciding who to believe and evidence truth will reveal while lies will not. When we look to others to help us discern, we still need to pray but also to look to scripture to confirm facts from deceptions and lies. This takes time, so we need to be careful and slow to making decisions and choices, especially those that impact major life directions for ourselves and for others. Deciding what clothes to wear each day may not require much prayer but decided who to marry or career to prepare for and seek does. Deciding a world view to allow to guide your choices certainly does. Some less significant choices will prove wise and brighter when gaging those choices with scripture and prayer and council from wise friends too. But even discerning what others tell and show us during day also are best filtered from our relationship with Christ and His Word and Holy Spirit too. Well, truth is the closer we get to Christ, the more like Him we will be and easier it will be to make wise choices and less likely we will be easily deceived by satan and by those deceived by his lies. My experience matches reported experiences of others in scripture and by those I know. When I follow Christ, I make wise choices and when I rely on my own wisdom and reasoning abilities and senses, I often make poor choices and tend to be at greater risk of being deceived. Is that your experience too? If so, then we both know we need to continue to draw closer to Christ and rely more on His council and tools of discernment. AMEN? AMEN!
“Jesus Christ Himself is the final exegesis of all truth. He is all that we need to know about God, and He is all that we need to know about man.” Major Ian Thomas
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