In that all too famous court room scene, Colonel Jessup (Jack Nicholson) makes it clear to Lt. Caffey (Tom Cruise) that he "can't handle the truth". The real question is, can you?
Jesus said that He is the truth. Well, if He is, then it should be pretty easy to understand; Truth that is. After all, in its very essence and definition, Truth cannot lie. Would that even make sense if it did? If you could understand it, can you "handle it?"
God is real. Just because someone says He is not, does not make it so. Whether or not you believe in God has no bearing on who He is or why He does what He does. In a similar fashion, if you do not believe in the law of gravity, it has no bearing on you hitting the ground if you fall off the roof; you will. As a disclaimer, please take my word for it and do not attempt to fall off the roof. Bible Pass will not be held responsible for your stupidity. But I digress.
So many people demand proof that God exists. If they had the proof, would they really believe it? I doubt it. The most learned men on the planet were expecting the Lord and when He showed up? Well, they killed Him. God does not depend on whether or not you believe in Him. He is, was, and always will be. Need proof? Of course you do. Keep in mind though that you are one of many in a long line of folks since the beginning of time that "demand a sign". However, proof is not what is needed. If it were, everyone would believe it.
Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 34:1 both say, "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God." Notice the fool did not say it in his head where thinking takes place.
We can see iron clad proof that anything could only come from God and we would still not believe it. However, if we see something sketchy on television, we believe it all day. The way that Satan fools us the most is by mixing truth with lies. That way we are completely confused. People's observations are based on their experience and knowledge. If you show a picture of something to a four year old, you will get a different idea of what it is in the picture then when showing the same picture to a thirty year old, will you not?
Take a heart surgeon for example. He has done many open heart surgeries and understands the procedure in a way we never could. Every intricate detail he understands. He is now 72 and needs a heart operation. Do you think he will experience it in the same way we would? Of course not, he will be looking for things we would never think of. Why would everyday life be different for us? When we are presented with "truth", we often don't believe it or we often believe "truth" when it really is a lie, do we not?
Everyone loves a magician. They are so entertaining. Why? Because we want to see if we can figure it out. We are always fooled until we are told the "truth" and we see how easy it was for them to fool us. There is always that concerted response of "oooohhhhhhhh", or "ahhh, I knew that". Did you really know it, or were you fooled?
When you are presented with something, ask yourself some simple questions based on your experience and knowledge. Does what they are telling you make sense? Could it really happen like that? Why would that happen that way? There is nothing wrong with asking questions, contrary to what anyone wishes to tell you. Keep in mind that this has been going on since time began.
Genesis 3:1, "... hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Eve knew the truth yet doubt enters and causes her to sin.
Flip that around.
Matthew 28:13, "Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept." Although the Pharisees knew the truth, they lied for a specific purpose and agenda.
NOTHING HAS CHANGED!
When you see a specific narrative being played out, do you believe it? Some of it? All of it? Any of it? Difficult, isn't it? When I went through the police academy, we had a four hour class on counterfeit money. I thought they would bring in all sorts of counterfeit money but they didn't. They brought in real money, and lots of it. They taught us everything there was to know about real money. Why? So we could spot a fake when we see it. If you know the real one, a fake you can spot a mile away.
Now, apply that to your life. Why study the Bible? Because it is the Truth. It is unshakable and will not move; ever! You study it so you will know a fake when you see it. There are so many faith systems that are close to true Christianity, but they deny the basic tenants of the Bible. Here's a simple question. If you had ninety-nine gallons of pure water and added one gallon of poison, would you drink it? Of course not. Even though 99% of the water is good, the other 1% poisoned the rest, did it not? If you listen to a message, read a book, or watch something and you feel like there is a something not right, you are probably correct. In the same way God gave us shins to find furniture in the dark, He gave us hair on the back of our necks and goose bumps on our arms to let us know when something is fishy or not quite right.
We are living in "unprecedented times". At least that is what they tell us. Taking advantage of bad situations has always been around though.
Matthew 27:35, "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots..."
While a man dies, they gamble for His stuff. We have folks today that do the same thing, only they do it in a different way. No matter how you slice it, taking advantage of a death for profit is terrible. And yet? It happens all the time.
While the Pharisees were using Jesus' death to push an agenda, we do the same thing today. I can tell you that racism is real and unfortunately, both sides capitalize on it. The word racism, in and of itself, is an incorrect term. Why? All of us can be tracked back to three families from one man. Shem, Ham, and Japheth were Noah's sons and when the ark landed, they were the only three men with their wives procreating. We are all the same race. We all came from these three men. A better word is a word that seems to have taken a back seat; prejudism. While Merriam Webster says prejudism is not a word, Urban Dictionary does. The word prejudice means preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Prejudism is simply the belief in or behavior toward prejudice.
If you grow up with people of color, you quickly understand that they are no different than you are. If you don't grow up with them, it is easy to be prejudice because your "preconceived opinion is not based on reason or actual experience". No matter what color you are designated by those in charge, you still bleed red, and when you die you will answer to the same God; like it or not. Jesus died for all. Sounds cliche, but isn't that what He did? Even those that don't believe it still know that if Jesus was truly God, then only a loving God would do the same thing for everyone. The great news is that He did!
As we close out this article, ask yourself a few questions. Are we, like Eve, aware and know the truth but are fooled when it is mixed with lies? Do we really believe that "all hell is breaking loose". Do the loudest voices really speak for everyone? What am I doing to help my neighbor? When is the last time I led someone to Christ? When is the last time I even mentioned it to someone? If I did, were they different than me?
The following video is to give you an idea of why we ask questions. I am sure the people in Jesus' day probably asked a lot of questions about things the "leadership" was saying and presenting that seemed a little "odd". After all, they paid the Roman soldiers to lie and say Jesus never resurrected from the dead. They paid them to say that "His disciples" came and stole the body to make it look like He resurrected.
Matthew 28:12 - 13, "And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, Saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept."
What would be the point of doing that was quite obvious today. They wanted the people to believe a certain way as to promote their own agenda. When people cannot win, they resort to lying to win.
After watching this video, perhaps you will wonder if certain ideas are not staged as to promote specific agendas today. No one says these things did not happen. We are merely wanting to ask questions that seem very obvious.
If we truly wanted to "change the world", we would have to be of one mindset. A true believer in Christ cannot have the same mindset as those who do not believe. It is impossible because of a Christian's new nature.
2 Corinthians 2:5:17, "Therefore if any man be in Christ,he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
However, we can all unite under some very simple principles.
In 1986, Robert Fulghum wrote his New York Times bestseller, "All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten". While it may seem very basic, nothing has changed. If we could all understand that these things are not only basic, but common sense.
- Share everything.
- Play fair.
- Don’t hit people.
- Put things back where you found them.
- Clean up your own mess.
- Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
- Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.
- Wash your hands before you eat.
- Flush.
- Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
- Live a balanced life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
- Take a nap every afternoon.
- When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
We sit nightly and scream at the television for the other guy to do these things. We hate the government because they don't do enough. We hate the government because they do too much. We hate each other because we are not alike. Remember, if we were all alike, some of us would be obsolete.
What you do with that list is up to you. By the same token, what you do with Jesus is up to you as well. To quote another movie, "Choose wisely".