November 25, 1997
Nearly four years ago, an American company opened an offsite storage service for universities and libraries. Besides space to keep books and records, member libraries also receive retrieval and delivery services for any items requested by their patrons. Soon after it opened, one university put in storage about 110,000 books, dissertations and bound periodicals.
Had this business opened a hundred years ago, few would have shown interest. However, as we approach a new millennium, educators, historians and lovers of research insist all information be preserved and accessible.
Today’s information explosion is mind-boggling. For example, the University of Waterloo’s electronic library claims one million titles. Another says they have 9.75 million articles in their catalogs. The OCLC Union catalog has 30 million bibliographic records. For those who have problems with those big numbers, someone said one issue of the New York Times contains more information than the average 17th-century Englishman encountered in his entire lifetime.
The ancient Scriptures predicted a time when knowledge would increase. In a vision, the prophet Daniel was told: “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.”
Interestingly, the Hebrew word used here for knowledge takes a slant toward technical ability. People may not agree about this being “the end of time,” but there is no argument that we live in an era that fits this description; technical knowledge is rapidly multiplying.
Today, we associate knowledge with knowing information and having data and facts at our disposal. The Old Testament men and women had a different understanding. For them, knowledge meant a deeper relationship with the information. One of their words for “knowing” is the same word used in other parts of the Bible for sexual intimacy between a man and his wife.
With that in mind, Daniel seems to be saying that people would be highly involved in travel and in learning more and more. However, in the context of his vision, he did not extend this “knowing” to a deeper, intimate and personal relationship with God or even with truth about God.
The New Testament picks up the same concept. Paul wrote to Timothy about a day when people that would be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Here, Paul is finishing the ideas of Daniel. People will be gathering information of all kinds yet despite all the data and facts, many will miss the most important knowledge: truth.
Pilate, the Roman governor, asked the question: “What is truth?” Jesus Christ, who Pilate crucified, said, “I am the truth. . . .”
Pilate was a knowledgeable man but he missed it. He did not recognize truth because he did not know God nor acknowledge Jesus as God’s Son. Because He denied God, he was blind to the fact that the One he put to death was Truth personified.
The Bible says that many will reject Jesus because they reject the other truths that He came to show us. For instance, He says we have turned our back on God’s way and are lost to God. We need restoration and forgiveness. The Bible also says He is life and He can give His life to us if we are willing to receive Him, and that He becomes our wisdom when we do.
As an incurable “information gatherer,” trying to grasp the amount of data now available simply frustrates me. I am far more interested in the data God stores in His mind. What library collection numbers the hairs on our heads and names all the stars of heaven? What information retrieval service can offer us the wisdom of Christ? No matter how much knowledge we can heap up, none of it compares to knowing Truth and trusting Him to give it to us as we need it.
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label truth. Show all posts
Friday, April 14, 2017
Friday, April 7, 2017
Excited about our faith? ................ Parables 572
October 28, 1997
In a society where teenagers are noted for religiously following the pressures of their peer group, it is odd that those who are Christian feel a responsibility to tell others of their faith in Christ. Even more unusual is that this conviction in young people often exceeds that of adult Christians.
Peers are a strong influence. Teens are not the only age group to conform under that pressure. In a simple issue of selecting which clothes to wear, both women and men make sure their clothes harmonize with what everyone else is wearing. No one wants to be the odd person. However, the gospel counters this tendency. Those who believe it have an unusual desire to demonstrate that we are different, not by what we wear but by what God has done in our lives.
Acknowledging ourselves as sinners is the hardest part. Bragging that we please God and are special to Him would be easier. Nevertheless, if we have evaluated ourselves honestly, we realize that we fall far short of the power and grandeur of our Creator.
Further, by taking an honest look at His Law and listening to our own conscience, we again see that we fall short. We know we have dishonored Him in many ways. We have put other gods before Him and made idols in our minds. We have used His name in profane thought and language. We have not trusted and followed Him but turned our own way and depended on ourselves. We have been without faith and faithless.
Besides directly ignoring or insulting God, Christians must also admit committing similar sins against other people. We know we have not honored our parents as we should. We know we have told lies, blatantly or in some misrepresentation of truth. We have been guilty of covetousness and have taken things that do not belong to us. Not one of us can say we have satisfied the standards of our own conscience, never mind kept the laws of God.
In both creation and His Law, we see our sinfulness but we also clearly see His righteousness. God does not do the things we do. All that He is and all that He does is pure. He is without greed, malice, envy or any evil. He alone is good, holy, full of truth and mercy.
Yet if the truth about ourselves and the truth about God is all we know, we would not have anything wonderful to tell others—failure and despair would overwhelm the wonder of God—but there is more. God’s revelation of Himself does not stop with creation and His laws. He also revealed Himself more vividly by coming to earth in a human body. The man, Jesus Christ, shows us God—with far greater clarity than either the world around us or the rules in His Book.
Yes, God is powerful and can make a universe and yes, God is holy and demands conformity to His law; however, in these we cannot see His mercy and love. Only in Jesus Christ can we see the unmerited favor and kindness of God.
Sin is a fact. So is our helplessness to overcome it. Yet God sent Jesus to trade our death penalty for His life. With Him, we are granted forgiveness and the righteousness of God. His life, in us, makes up our shortfall. He has taken care of our greatest need and makes us different people, capable of loving and obeying God. His life powerfully works to overcome our sin.
No wonder we are excited about our faith, yet even if we lacked enthusiasm, we still must follow the example of our believing youth. Our God has given us a commission, a mandate, to go and tell everyone the wonderful things He has done.
In a society where teenagers are noted for religiously following the pressures of their peer group, it is odd that those who are Christian feel a responsibility to tell others of their faith in Christ. Even more unusual is that this conviction in young people often exceeds that of adult Christians.
Peers are a strong influence. Teens are not the only age group to conform under that pressure. In a simple issue of selecting which clothes to wear, both women and men make sure their clothes harmonize with what everyone else is wearing. No one wants to be the odd person. However, the gospel counters this tendency. Those who believe it have an unusual desire to demonstrate that we are different, not by what we wear but by what God has done in our lives.
Acknowledging ourselves as sinners is the hardest part. Bragging that we please God and are special to Him would be easier. Nevertheless, if we have evaluated ourselves honestly, we realize that we fall far short of the power and grandeur of our Creator.
Further, by taking an honest look at His Law and listening to our own conscience, we again see that we fall short. We know we have dishonored Him in many ways. We have put other gods before Him and made idols in our minds. We have used His name in profane thought and language. We have not trusted and followed Him but turned our own way and depended on ourselves. We have been without faith and faithless.
Besides directly ignoring or insulting God, Christians must also admit committing similar sins against other people. We know we have not honored our parents as we should. We know we have told lies, blatantly or in some misrepresentation of truth. We have been guilty of covetousness and have taken things that do not belong to us. Not one of us can say we have satisfied the standards of our own conscience, never mind kept the laws of God.
In both creation and His Law, we see our sinfulness but we also clearly see His righteousness. God does not do the things we do. All that He is and all that He does is pure. He is without greed, malice, envy or any evil. He alone is good, holy, full of truth and mercy.
Yet if the truth about ourselves and the truth about God is all we know, we would not have anything wonderful to tell others—failure and despair would overwhelm the wonder of God—but there is more. God’s revelation of Himself does not stop with creation and His laws. He also revealed Himself more vividly by coming to earth in a human body. The man, Jesus Christ, shows us God—with far greater clarity than either the world around us or the rules in His Book.
Yes, God is powerful and can make a universe and yes, God is holy and demands conformity to His law; however, in these we cannot see His mercy and love. Only in Jesus Christ can we see the unmerited favor and kindness of God.
Sin is a fact. So is our helplessness to overcome it. Yet God sent Jesus to trade our death penalty for His life. With Him, we are granted forgiveness and the righteousness of God. His life, in us, makes up our shortfall. He has taken care of our greatest need and makes us different people, capable of loving and obeying God. His life powerfully works to overcome our sin.
No wonder we are excited about our faith, yet even if we lacked enthusiasm, we still must follow the example of our believing youth. Our God has given us a commission, a mandate, to go and tell everyone the wonderful things He has done.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
The Power of a Well Told (Lie) Truth .......... Parables 451
December 13, 1994
In a MacLean’s article about unifying Canada, a movie director said, “The power to change what people think no longer derives from telling people the truth but from being able to tell your lies... If the hype gets strong enough, people will believe it.”
Experiments prove that peer pressure determines opinions, even on issues that can be objectively evaluated. For instance, an entire classroom except for one student is told to vote that the second shortest line is really the shortest. The one student who was not filled in on the deception will invariably change his correct vote to an incorrect one after he sees that he alone holds up his hand for the right answer.
Children and students are not the only ones affected by peer pressure and strong “hype.” Advertising is aimed largely toward adult consumers. Some of it borders on deception. For instance, how can a dozen stores that sell the same things all claim to have the lowest prices?
Determining what is true and what is a lie is easy when it involves measurements and dollars. What about discerning true religion? Literally thousands of spiritual claims, denominations, sects, and cults all declare they have the truth. Deciding which is valid is obviously much more difficult than deciding the shortest line on a classroom blackboard.
Try thinking of God as the person who draws those lines, even as the One who made the tape measure. Because He is truth, He knows what is genuine and what is not. He measures everything but also authored the criteria by which He wants us to measure all things. While His Word does not include everything there is to know about everything, it does tell us about Him and ourselves and about spiritual matters.
If truth comes from God, where then do lies regarding God and spirituality come from? Do people just make up things? Sometimes. However, the Bible reveals that the original lie occurred in Eden. God placed the first man and woman there and told them they could enjoy their home and eat whatever they wanted. However, one tree and its fruit was forbidden to them.
Satan came along. By skillfully twisting the truth, he tried to make Eve doubt that God had commanded anything, then convinced her that what God did say was not an expression of His love. God was only trying to keep them from becoming like Him.
Interesting line! She and Adam may have needed to mature in their expression of godliness (something they could not do by disobedience), but God had already made them in His likeness. According to Satan’s lie, they had absolutely nothing to gain by eating the forbidden fruit, but eat it, they did. Their disobedience plunged the world into self-centered sin.
That same lie, in various versions, continues to cast doubt on God. As long as we do not believe or obey Him, we cannot reflect Godlikeness as we were created to do. Instead, we sin, lie and get ourselves and others into situations of hatred and rejection.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Truth is the way to God. He will not accept lies. They keep us separated from Him.
If lies separate and cause hatred, what can truth do? According to Jesus, it has tremendous power. He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Current thinking aside, real freedom is never found in believing hype. It is only found in knowing and believing truth.
In a MacLean’s article about unifying Canada, a movie director said, “The power to change what people think no longer derives from telling people the truth but from being able to tell your lies... If the hype gets strong enough, people will believe it.”
Experiments prove that peer pressure determines opinions, even on issues that can be objectively evaluated. For instance, an entire classroom except for one student is told to vote that the second shortest line is really the shortest. The one student who was not filled in on the deception will invariably change his correct vote to an incorrect one after he sees that he alone holds up his hand for the right answer.
Children and students are not the only ones affected by peer pressure and strong “hype.” Advertising is aimed largely toward adult consumers. Some of it borders on deception. For instance, how can a dozen stores that sell the same things all claim to have the lowest prices?
Determining what is true and what is a lie is easy when it involves measurements and dollars. What about discerning true religion? Literally thousands of spiritual claims, denominations, sects, and cults all declare they have the truth. Deciding which is valid is obviously much more difficult than deciding the shortest line on a classroom blackboard.
Try thinking of God as the person who draws those lines, even as the One who made the tape measure. Because He is truth, He knows what is genuine and what is not. He measures everything but also authored the criteria by which He wants us to measure all things. While His Word does not include everything there is to know about everything, it does tell us about Him and ourselves and about spiritual matters.
If truth comes from God, where then do lies regarding God and spirituality come from? Do people just make up things? Sometimes. However, the Bible reveals that the original lie occurred in Eden. God placed the first man and woman there and told them they could enjoy their home and eat whatever they wanted. However, one tree and its fruit was forbidden to them.
Satan came along. By skillfully twisting the truth, he tried to make Eve doubt that God had commanded anything, then convinced her that what God did say was not an expression of His love. God was only trying to keep them from becoming like Him.
Interesting line! She and Adam may have needed to mature in their expression of godliness (something they could not do by disobedience), but God had already made them in His likeness. According to Satan’s lie, they had absolutely nothing to gain by eating the forbidden fruit, but eat it, they did. Their disobedience plunged the world into self-centered sin.
That same lie, in various versions, continues to cast doubt on God. As long as we do not believe or obey Him, we cannot reflect Godlikeness as we were created to do. Instead, we sin, lie and get ourselves and others into situations of hatred and rejection.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.” Truth is the way to God. He will not accept lies. They keep us separated from Him.
If lies separate and cause hatred, what can truth do? According to Jesus, it has tremendous power. He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”
Current thinking aside, real freedom is never found in believing hype. It is only found in knowing and believing truth.
Wednesday, January 14, 2015
The Gospel Truth ................. Parables 222
(June 20, 1990)
My word processor came with a thesaurus. When I can’t think of the best word to use, I type something close in meaning, press two keys, and a list of synonyms and antonyms of that word comes on the screen. For instance, if I want to describe exactly the way someone walks, I type “walk,” and it gives me these choices: amble, ramble, saunter, stroll, and so on. I can then type back any one of those words and it will list a dozen more. So whether someone trudges or strides, my thesaurus supplies a precise word to describe their gait.
The other day, while editing an article that repeated the word “truth” too many times, I requested some synonyms. One of them was unexpected; along with fact and reality, the word “gospel” appeared. I’m accustomed to using gospel with a different meaning, as a noun. I forgot how often people use it as an adjective, to describe something they consider true or reliable.
When people say, “It’s the gospel truth...,” they use an adjective derived from the Greek noun “evangelion,” meaning “good news or good message.” Our English verb “evangelize” also comes from this noun. How it came into use as an adjective synonymous with truth started with the way it was used in the New Testament. Consider this one example from Ephesians 1:13: “You were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation...” Scripture links the two, not because their definition was the same but because the gospel or good news IS truth and because the gospel is about Someone who claimed to BE truth. Scripturally, it is impossible to separate these two words.
Ever wonder why they called it good news? Visualize the religious situation up until Christ came. God’s people were under the law of sin and death; that is, God gave them a high standard including the Ten Commandments, then declared whoever didn’t reach it would perish.
All fell short of that standard (and still do), but God gave hope. He promised a Savior, then established a sacrificial system to provide atonement for sin until the Savior came. Thus, failure to keep His law could be forgiven through faith in His promise, faith expressed by offering an unblemished lamb on an altar. Yet even that offering did not make anyone godly; He asked for perfect obedience -- no one could deliver.
Sincere, God-fearing hearts must have yearned for some good news. It finally came -- through Jesus Christ. He talked and lived like no one before or after, arousing hatred in the self-righteous but joy to the poor in spirit. To sinners, what He said and what He did was good news.
Jesus didn’t lower God’s standard however; sin never stopped being a serious issue. Rather, His life was good news because He fulfilled all the requirements of the commandments. He was sinless. He also provided an alternate to the law of sin and death by dying for all the sin of all mankind for all time. He took what sinners deserve so those who believe could be fully pardoned. He is the perfect lamb, a sacrifice who can change lives and make sinners holy. He sets people free from sin, from the joyless frustration of an unreachable goal, and from the bondage of religious rules. Jesus also declared, “I AM the truth.” He didn’t just speak truth or live it, He is living, breathing reality.
My thesaurus also listed antonyms for truth such as lie and fiction. Some words that mean the same as they do include: corruption, distortion, misrepresentation, perversion, deception, fable, fantasy, fabrication and falsehood. No wonder Jesus’ words are good news: “If you know the truth, the truth shall set you free.”
My word processor came with a thesaurus. When I can’t think of the best word to use, I type something close in meaning, press two keys, and a list of synonyms and antonyms of that word comes on the screen. For instance, if I want to describe exactly the way someone walks, I type “walk,” and it gives me these choices: amble, ramble, saunter, stroll, and so on. I can then type back any one of those words and it will list a dozen more. So whether someone trudges or strides, my thesaurus supplies a precise word to describe their gait.
The other day, while editing an article that repeated the word “truth” too many times, I requested some synonyms. One of them was unexpected; along with fact and reality, the word “gospel” appeared. I’m accustomed to using gospel with a different meaning, as a noun. I forgot how often people use it as an adjective, to describe something they consider true or reliable.
When people say, “It’s the gospel truth...,” they use an adjective derived from the Greek noun “evangelion,” meaning “good news or good message.” Our English verb “evangelize” also comes from this noun. How it came into use as an adjective synonymous with truth started with the way it was used in the New Testament. Consider this one example from Ephesians 1:13: “You were also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation...” Scripture links the two, not because their definition was the same but because the gospel or good news IS truth and because the gospel is about Someone who claimed to BE truth. Scripturally, it is impossible to separate these two words.
Ever wonder why they called it good news? Visualize the religious situation up until Christ came. God’s people were under the law of sin and death; that is, God gave them a high standard including the Ten Commandments, then declared whoever didn’t reach it would perish.
All fell short of that standard (and still do), but God gave hope. He promised a Savior, then established a sacrificial system to provide atonement for sin until the Savior came. Thus, failure to keep His law could be forgiven through faith in His promise, faith expressed by offering an unblemished lamb on an altar. Yet even that offering did not make anyone godly; He asked for perfect obedience -- no one could deliver.
Sincere, God-fearing hearts must have yearned for some good news. It finally came -- through Jesus Christ. He talked and lived like no one before or after, arousing hatred in the self-righteous but joy to the poor in spirit. To sinners, what He said and what He did was good news.
Jesus didn’t lower God’s standard however; sin never stopped being a serious issue. Rather, His life was good news because He fulfilled all the requirements of the commandments. He was sinless. He also provided an alternate to the law of sin and death by dying for all the sin of all mankind for all time. He took what sinners deserve so those who believe could be fully pardoned. He is the perfect lamb, a sacrifice who can change lives and make sinners holy. He sets people free from sin, from the joyless frustration of an unreachable goal, and from the bondage of religious rules. Jesus also declared, “I AM the truth.” He didn’t just speak truth or live it, He is living, breathing reality.
My thesaurus also listed antonyms for truth such as lie and fiction. Some words that mean the same as they do include: corruption, distortion, misrepresentation, perversion, deception, fable, fantasy, fabrication and falsehood. No wonder Jesus’ words are good news: “If you know the truth, the truth shall set you free.”
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