From Daniel 11
Despite the fact that rulers become strong, suddenly they stand no longer; their kingdoms are broken, they retreat, they fall. This pattern recurs I the remainder of the chapter and emphasizes the fleeting glory achieved by conquest. (p.#189, Commentary on Daniel by Joyce G. Baldwin.)
ARE YOU A SEEKER
OF TRUTH?
In every area of life, isn’t it understood, a consistent commitment to truth is vital.
When I go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, I want the prescription that was written by my doctor. I’m not going to take just any bottle of pills. The true and accurate order is what I seek.
When we pay our utility bills, we want those to be accurate reflections of what we used, not just a random amount.
We want scales, weights, measurements, diagnoses, financial accounting, news reports, map and direction information, mail orders, product information and all communication we receive to be the truth. In these matters we are, wisely, intolerant. Truth matters.
What about your relationship with God? What about what happens when you die or the Judgment Day? And, do you want the truth about how you should treat people?
If you are a seeker of truth in earthly matters, why shouldn’t you be a seeker of truth in the higher and lasting issues of your life?
In the neighborhood of my childhood there were two commodities of exchange: marbles and baseball cards. We were also fortunate to have crawdads, sock balls and various other treasures. But when you needed to do some serious trading, you had to have either marbles or baseball cards.
Sometime after 1953, I came into possession of about four Mickey Mantle baseball cards. Now the primary purpose of having baseball cards in the 1950’s was bragging and trading. (On rare occasions, baseball cards might also be useful to bribe a bully. As a last resort, before being beaten to a pulp, you could offer the bully a popular baseball card.)
Back to these ’53 Mantle cards I owned. In a moment of immature impulse, I traded those four cards to Charles Pruitt for a bag of marbles. I don’t even have the bag of marbles today (I lost my marbles). Those four Mickey Mantle cards sell today for about $7,000 each! If I had them today I would be driving a new truck.
Nobody told me in 1953 to hold on to those cards. I didn’t appreciate the value of what I had, so I lost it.
Do you have a Bible? Have you learned the truth about Jesus Christ and what the individual response should be? Hold on to that truth, comply with it, share it. Do not sell it. You’ll be setting yourself up for eternal regret.
“Buy The Truth
And Do Not Sell It”
Prov. 23:23
My apologies for getting the truth article series out of order and/or repeated. Here are the first four in the series in this one post.
TRUTH – Part #1
ABSOLUTE TRUTH
“In general, absolute truth is whatever is always valid, regardless of parameters or context,” – Robert Sheldon
Here is an illustration so simple, it just seems silly: The math teacher writes on the board: “1+1=?” One student answers correctly. But another member of the class says, “that was last week.” Another says, “in my neighborhood the answer isn’t the same.” There ensues a discussion that leaves the problem without an absolute answer.
Whatever might be observed about modern education, new math and the subjective leanings of academia, there is one correct answer, and that answer has always been valid, “regardless of parameters of context.”
Now let’s change the illustration. In a college level biology class, the question is raised: HOW MANY GENDERS ARE THERE? Fifty years ago there would have been a quick answer that would have sparked no serious debate. What has changed?
In an issue of Women’s Health (published July 6, 2022), the author listed 16 genders. Perri O. Blumberg holds a bachelor’s in psychology from Columbia University and her work has appeared in the New York Post, Men’s Journal, Oprah Daily, and Southern Living. *
And I would offer that her number of 16 is, of course, not absolute. Going forward, the “number of genders” will likely be fluid, ever changing, and we will hear this in terms of “my truth” and “your truth.”
It is being argued today that culture, personal choice, context, perception and imagination precludes absolute truth. So if you have two apples, do you really have two?
Arguments against absolute truth are actually arguments against truth! It is beyond fuzzy logic or sentimental appeals to affirm everybody and everything. It is an assault against the truth itself.
“Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independent of anyone’s knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton.) Truth is transcultural; if something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times (2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere, at every time). Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change. Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.) All truths are absolute truths.”
Geisler, Norman L.; Turek, Frank. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Foreword by David Limbaugh) (pp. 37-38). Crossway. Kindle Edition.
* Source: https://www.womenshealthmag.com/relationships/a36395721/gender-identity-list/
AFTER THOUGHT à If someone claims there is no absolute truth, ask if that claim is absolutely true!
TRUTH – Part #2
Creation Truth
“If we want to make sense of Our life, we must order our thinking and behavior to align with these realities,” – David King
Your journey of life needs to begin with an introduction to God, who “In the beginning created the heavens and the earth,” (Gen. 1:1). Creation truth is foundational. “What we know about God, about creation, about ourselves, and about salvation begins in Genesis,” (R. Kent Hughes, GENESIS: Beginning and Blessing).
The theories of human speculation about origins not only fail to account for the miracle of creation, they are completely unfulfilling with respect to our sense of purpose and destiny. God “spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast,” (Psalm 33:9).
“By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible,” (Heb. 11:3). Jesus was active in the beginning: “He was in the beginning with God,” and “all things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made,” (Jno. 1:2,3).
Here is the familiar argument from design. I hear this once called the “WHO MADE IT” argument.
A teenage boy confided in his father that he was having doubts about the existence of God. The father pointed across the street and asked, “who made that house?” The boy said “I don’t know his name, but a builder made it.” The father asked about their automobile, their electronic equipment, the appliances in the house, etc. Next, the father spoke to his son about the word “manufacture.” MAN takes raw materials created by God, assembles them and makes something useful, often through years of trial and error. All man can do is assemble what already exists. Who made the raw materials? And who made man? “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God,” (Heb. 3:4). “God thought it and willed it, and it was,” (R. Ken Hughes).
“Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who made us, and not we ourselves,” (Psalm 100:3).
TRUTH – Part #3
Is The Truth In You?
The truth from God may be on the page in front of you. The truth from God may be something you’ve heard all your life. You are not inclined to doubt it or debate it. But is the truth really in you?
In Scripture, truth isn’t just something written on a page, or vocalized. It must reside in you. The truth of the gospel of Christ, to see you free, must live inside you.
When Joseph held that very tense conversation with his “long, lost” brothers upon their arrival in Egypt, he wanted to know if there was truth in them (Gen. 42:16).
The 15th Psalm describes the man who has the approval of God as one who “speaks truth in his heart,” (Psa. 15:2).
John is forthright in his statement that the one who claims fellowship with God but is disobedient, “the truth is not in him,” (1 Jno. 2:4). And “if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us,” (1 Jno. 1:8). Paul said, “the truth of Christ is in me,” (2 Cor. 11:10).
The claim to know the truth of God falls short of validity if His truth is not alive in us, cherished, a personal possession that finds expression in how you live.
Consider two people: One believes a lie, the other believes the truth, yet both are disobedient to God. Each of us need to “know assuredly” that Jesus is Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). But let the words of Christ live in you. He said, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).
Paul wrote the truth given to him by the Holy Spirit, and his writing included this: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me – practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you,” (Phil. 4:9).
A right attitude toward truth is not complicated. It just means that you have subscribed to the Bible and that you have made a commitment to follow it regardless of where it leads or what are the consequences for having done so. It means you want to apply it to yourself even when it hurts and even when you know it may not be popular. But you don’t have to make some big deal out of that; it just says you realize that “ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). – Dee Bowman
TRUTH – Part #4
The God of Truth
In Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology, there were gods and goddesses of truth: Ma’at, Apollo, Aletheia, Veritas and at various times other claimed competitors. Assertions were made of these imagined beings presiding over truth, defining truth and responding negatively to untruth. These ill-conceived idolatrous claims never imparted any value to the “believers.” There was no singular objective source or unity of revelation.
Augustine (354-430 AD) had it right when it said that “all truth is God’s truth.” Higher than Augustine (and presumably his source), Scripture affirms that God is a God of truth (see Deut. 32:4, KJV; Psa. 31:5 and Isa. 65:16).
If God is the Sovereign Creator who made man in His image; if He is the “Ancient of Days,” (Dan. 7:9) and He who is “over all and through all and in all,” (Eph. 4:6), it follows permanently that He is the God of truth.
Acknowledging that attribute means we take His word to be objective reality, for all time. “Let God be true though every one were a liar,” (Rom. 3:4). We are able to have “faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). It is “impossible for God to lie,” (Heb. 6:18).
Jesus said the written Word of God is truth and cannot be broken (John 10:35; 17:17).
“Truth cannot be adequately explained, recognized, understood, or defined without God as the source,” (John MacArthur).
Let us throw off our excuses. Let us rise above our doubts and defeatist assumptions. And let us open our Bibles with a “desire-to-know” attitude, search for the truth contained therein, and be “not unwise, but understanding what the will of God is” (Ephesians 5:17).[1]
[1] Hall, B. (1986). “No One Can Claim to Know the Truth.” (E. Harrell, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 3(4), 12.
TRUTH – Part #4
Warren’s Series of Articles On Truth Continues
The God of Truth
In Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology, there were gods and goddesses of truth: Ma’at, Apollo, Aletheia, Veritas and at various times other claimed competitors. Assertions were made of these imagined beings presiding over truth, defining truth and responding negatively to untruth. These ill-conceived idolatrous claims never imparted any value to the “believers.” There was no singular objective source or unity of revelation.
Augustine (354-430 AD) had it right when it said that “all truth is God’s truth.” Higher than Augustine (and presumably his source), Scripture affirms that God is a God of truth (see Deut. 32:4, KJV; Psa. 31:5 and Isa. 65:16).
If God is the Sovereign Creator who made man in His image; if He is the “Ancient of Days,” (Dan. 7:9) and He who is “over all and through all and in all,” (Eph. 4:6), it follows permanently that He is the God of truth.
Acknowledging that attribute means we take His word to be objective reality, for all time. “Let God be true though every one were a liar,” (Rom. 3:4). We are able to have “faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie promised before the beginning of time” (Titus 1:2). It is “impossible for God to lie,” (Heb. 6:18).
Jesus said the written Word of God is truth and cannot be broken (John 10:35; 17:17).
“Truth cannot be adequately explained, recognized, understood, or defined without God as the source,” (John MacArthur).
Let us throw off our excuses. Let us rise above our doubts and defeatist assumptions. And let us open our Bibles with a “desire-to-know” attitude, search for the truth contained therein, and be “not unwise, but understanding what the will of God is” (Ephesians 5:17).[1]
[1] Hall, B. (1986). “No One Can Claim to Know the Truth.” (E. Harrell, Ed.)Christianity Magazine, 3(4), 12.
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