What is the truth?

That’s a critical question in deciding what you want to believe.

I can remember back to some conversations I had in the “closing moments” of my shoeing days. They took place while I was in the early days of seminary (I was a slow learner by the way: it took me 5 years to get through a 3 year program). There were two separate occasions with people I had known for over twenty years. Just one remark from each person has left a lasting impression. I guess that’s because they were a representation of what I was going to face on a regular basis if I was going to risk leaving the comfort zone of ”the church” and get out into the world to share my faith in Christ.

One statement was, “that may be true for you but that does not necessarily mean it’s true for me.” The second statement at another time and place from the other person was, “God is who you define him to be.”

Are you okay with either one of those statements? Well I wasn’t and still am not. I’m not going to get on a soap box and render an opinion of those two friends. That’s not my goal here. I haven’t seen either one in a long time but I still love ‘em. I actually needed to hear those statements to make me wiggle with my faith.

So what’s so penetrating about either one of those statement? They take me to a place intellectually where I can’t let it go. They touched me both where my faith lives and also where my logic reside: in my heart and in the head.

Lets take the first statement: “that may be true for you but that does not necessarily mean it’s true for me.” Can something really be true in one application and not another? A simple illustration to answer that question can be found by using arithmetic. Can 1+2 = 3 for you but = 4 for me?

There is a concept I was introduced to several years ago called the law of non-contradiction. It basically states that nothing is able to coexist in a state of being something and not being something at the same time. (It’s okay. I smelled electric wires overheating the first time I heard that too. . . .I’ll wait a few moments for you to catch up)

Trying to state that another way it means: a statement cannot be the truth and not be the truth at the same time.

A great illustration of an attempt to defy the law of non-contradiction is to make the statement, “there are no absolute truths.” This is something a lot of people actually believe today but in order for it to be true it must be absolutely true and it can’t be absolutely true without defeating itself. Are you with me?

So, where does that leave us? Truth is absolute. Unchangeable. Irrefutable. And at least for me there is a bone chilling reality that hits the person seriously considering the reality of the Christian faith square it the heart and the head. It is a statement that Christ made.

Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)

That cuts to the core of who I am and what I believe. Once confronted with the “either or but not both” decision demanded by this statement, I can never be the same again. Ultimately it led me to make a critical decision that is intimately tied in with who I am and what I believe.

Our personal intersection with this one statement confronts us and demands personal decision.

He either did say it or he didn’t.
He either had the authority to say it or he didn’t.
It either is the truth or it isn’t.

We do get to choose whether we believe it or not. But that does not change whether it is the truth or not. Truth exists independent of our opinion: it either is the truth or it isn’t but it cannot be both.

At the end of the day, Jesus Christ is either Lord, liar or lunatic. Everthing about him either is true or it is not.

Only one choice is the truth.

What will you choose to believe?

Choose wisely for only one opinion embraces the reality and leads to eternal life.

Enough for one day

I’ll save the other statement for another day.

Stay close to Jesus!

REG