Truth Revisited -- Another look at the truth:
Can we really get there from here?

The Roman official, Pontius Pilate, when interrogating Jesus, asked Him,
"What is truth?"

And regardless of what we may think of Pilate or of the Romans in his day,
his question is no small query. In many ways, that question is at the
very center of every human life, if we're to make our time in this world
count for anything at all.

Intelligent human beings have questions that are not always easy to
answer. But the answers are central to the very meaning of life itself.
Those answers may not allow us to agree, on all points, with others around
us. But the truth about life and the world and eternity itself is not
optional information.

What's the truth about the world? What's the truth about God? What is
the truth about sin, about the sinful condition of humankind? What
about Jesus? Did He really die for my sins, for your sins? What does it
mean to be born again?

How do I know if I have eternal life? If I do have eternal life by faith
in Jesus Christ, then how should I be living here and now, in this world?

The world has had it's own ideas about all these things from the earliest
times. And so also God has been revealing His truth about all of this and
much, much more. Whoever knows the Lord has the same convictions about
life and sin and good and evil. And whoever rejects Jesus Christ also
rejects what God says about life and death and eternity.

Both ways of thinking go way back. True Christian believers today will
pretty well agree with the true followers of Jesus Christ in centuries
past. And whoever hates God will have much in common with unbelievers of
long ago. Terminology may come and go, but the ideas and desires behind
the ideas do not change. Followers of Jesus Christ still follow Jesus,
and those who reject God still follow the basic desires of all flesh.

I guess the only question that people might want to ask themselves is:
"Which side of the fence am I on?"

The answer is not so hard to uncover. Do you agree with the Bible, or do
you take your stand with all those religions, philosophies and unbelievers
who reject Jesus Christ? You either follow Jesus or you don't.

As for me, I take my stand with Jesus Christ. He is my Lord, my Savior,
my Shepherd, and my Life. In fact, He makes it clear that He is central
to eternity and life itself when He said, "I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

There are lots of religions and religious ideas. They don't lead anyone
to eternal life -- or even to real and lasting happiness in this life. A
life without meaning and truth cannot be whole or fulfilled. Even ideas
about Jesus Christ can become mere religion. When people embrace a system
of ideas, rites, and methods instead of the living God, then they've
accepted a religion in the place of a living relationship with the One
being in the universe who can really save us.

Genuine Christian faith is a spiritual thing. Only God Himself can save
any of us. And only His truth sets anyone free.

Jesus said to those who were thinking about following Him, "You shall know
the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32).

The root of the problem is sin.

The Bible shows us that human nature is twisted, fallen, ruined by sin.
Whoever simply follows human nature ends up dead, and then dead again (the
second death, spoken of in Revelation 20).

The Bible says: "There's a pathway in life that seems right to a person,
but in the end it's the way of death." (Proverbs 14:12, and again in
Proverbs 16:25)

And in the New Testament: "But the natural man does not receive the
things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Again, the Scripture says:
But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the
ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for
if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human
heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" -- these
things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches
everything, even the depths of God. (1 Cor 2:7-10)

Unbelievers often accuse Christians of simply embracing the ideas of other
Christians. In other words, we're said to be simply following Christian
leaders, popular Christian writers, and teachers in the church. Of
course, the greatest evil, in the eyes of unbelievers, is to "blindly"
follow the Bible. (But it seems just fine to them to follow the ideas of
this world -- no matter where those ideas come from.)

It's a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.

Secular philosophers, and other unbelievers most certainly have
second-hand ideas. Every comment made against the Christian faith comes,
in part, from other sources. Critics of the church often proudly agree
with and embrace ideas that were first written down centuries ago.

Possessing the one truth is essential to genuine and eternal life. This
truth is valuable, not because it's unique to some recent thinker or
observer or seeker, but because it is the truth. The Bibles makes it
clear (as does the Holy Spirit within every follower of Jesus Christ) that
God Himself must reveal the eternal truth that saves us. It isn't going
to be figured out or dreamed up by human beings.

Jesus Christ is the very truth and power of God that brings eternal life.
There is no other way. The message of God declaring this truth is the
Holy Bible. No other book - not even very good religious books - comes
even close to being the One Message of the One Truth that genuinely sets
people free.

Read what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, and allow the Spirit of God
to open your heart and mind to the eternal truth of God:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him,
and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the
darkness did not comprehend it. That was the true Light which gives light
to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world
was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own,
and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He
gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His
name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. And the Word became 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." (John's Gospel, 1:1-5, 9-14)

Again, the Scripture says: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a
new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become
new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through
Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is,
that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of
reconciliation. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we
might become the righteousness of God in Him." ( 2 Corinthians 5:17-19,
21)

And again, it is written:

"We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive
the grace of God in vain. For He says: "In an acceptable time I have
heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is
the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians
6:1,2)

"Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard,
lest we drift away. For . how shall we escape if we neglect so great a
salvation..?" (Hebrews 2:1,3)

"This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have
fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son
cleanses us from all sin.

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have
not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John
1:5-10)

And finally, the Bible says:

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this
is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes
in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God
has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God
has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us
eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I
have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you
may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe
in the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:9-13)

Jesus Christ is Lord of both heaven and earth, as well as all that is
below the earth or in any other realm. He came to this world in order
that we might see the light of God and know the life that is freely given
by God. In Jesus Christ there is forgiveness of sin, and there is a new
life that will never end. All who will hear the voice of God, as He calls
us to stop and turn to Christ Jesus in genuine faith, will receive this
eternal life. They will know the truth that sets us free - forever.

What begins with a sincere question ends in the gift of God's grace and
life in Jesus Christ. Turn to Him now and be saved. Trust in Him now and
live.

You can find more help on how to place your faith in Jesus Christ here:

http://www.goodwordusa.org/word/peace4.htm

God's best to you as you make the effort to find and embrace the One Truth
upon which all joy, all life, & all reality rest.


Jim

www.goodwordusa.org
www.jimsdesk.com