I’m struggling today with truth. I have struggled with it all year. (Heck, longer than that, but unfortunately, too many times when I thought something wasn’t true I would dismiss it because it wasn’t THAT bad of a lie… and now here I sit disgusted by all the lies surrounding me!!) I don’t know if you are like me but I feel like the world has lost its mind and no one can be trusted. Now please do not mistake these words to include the Bible – in fact, the one place I know I can ALWAYS go for truth is the Word of God….but dang….this year has been a humdinger of EXPERTS and MISCALCULATIONS and SCIENCE and NUMBERS and FRAUD and FEAR….and ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION….
UGH!!!!
And now we sit the day after an election where neither side trusts the other because of so much fraud and deception!
WHERE IS THE TRUTH? And how have we managed to get so far away from what is ACTUALLY TRUE?
I have a theory….
I think truth is a lot like an onion. If we peel away the protection of one layer ever so slowly we don’t always notice how we are losing our onion as a whole and likely we have so many tears in our eyes we can’t see what’s really going on through the sting. Every new layer of the onion looks cleaner and better than the layer before but it also comes with more tears and stinging in the eyes until eventually we get to the core and who wants that? It’s just a teeny tiny version of what the onion used to be. It’s no good for cooking and now, I don’t have my onion, just a tear stained face with nothing else to show for.
For a very long time, this has been happening to our world. We keep getting further away from God’s truth and it is hard to see how it is slowly being peeled away before our very eyes so now all we can do now is cry about it.
My dad and I used to listen to Lily Tomlin’s stand-up act when she portrayed the character Edith Ann. If you are old enough you may remember it (we listened to it on 8 track tapes if that gives you an idea of the era I’m delving into). Anyway, Edith Ann is an annoying little girl who is constantly bugging her neighbor lady. (Kind of like Dennis the Menace, but a girl). There is a line Edith says that in the context of the act is quite hysterical, but today it popped up in my head and it wasn’t quite as funny….. The neighbor lady accuses her of lying because she is telling a pretty unbelievable story to which Edith Ann says, “Oh Lady, I don’t not lie! But the truth can be told if you know how!”
The world is doing this to us. They are saying, “Oh, I do not lie! But I can tell you the truth because I have a platform, or a media outlet, or an “expert” who will show you the truth that should be told!” But it doesn’t even stop there anymore because if you dare to question the platform, media outlet or said “expert” then you are malicious, or uneducated, or racists, or uncaring or just plain stupid.
The Bible is the ULTIMATE truth and the further away we get from it, the more messed up our lives and our country becomes. We have slowly been believing other “truths” as Christians and therefore are now willing to accept so many things that are just WRONG!
Christians! Do you realize we live in a world where destroying someone’s trail camera carries a higher penalty than killing a baby in the womb?! Did you know this? State game and parks officials can fine you and jail you for messing with wildlife and their habitats! Babies can die LEGALLY, but don’t endanger a deer or rabbit! What? Are you kidding me? (And please, don’t confuse my words and think I don’t love animals – I do, but when did a beating, human heart become LESS important than a deer?)
We have a woman, like Justice Amy Coney Barret who is accomplished, smart, moral, and an excellent mother who is being condemned for all the things I just listed! Really? Can someone follow the logic with me here? I thought being a strong woman was a GOOD thing??
We have business owners boarding up their doors before election night because they are worried that when people don’t get what they want for election results they will get mad and destroy things that aren’t their own. Things they haven’t worked for or paid for, they think it is their right to destroy because they are mad. In what world is this okay?
We have people who don’t know what bathroom to use and a government who says it's okay to question whether we are male or female! How much simpler does it get than knowing if we are male or female?
So really, why should any of us be surprised that we not only don't know the results of our Presidential election, but we all question how fair it will be?
I will tell you – because we don’t know the TRUTH.
This all comes from the fact that we do not live, breathe and spread the Word of God. Now obviously, you know where I stand, and I’m about to add a link to my next post on my website, but please consider the words I’m typing. The truth isn’t around us because we have turned our back on it. We can’t see evil for evil because we aren’t studying the truth every day!
When I teach my creation unit in the middle school Sunday school classrooms, I use this example to drive my point home about the importance of the Bible and seeking TRUTH!
Here it is….
In the US Department of Treasury there is a counterfeit division. These guys are the ones who track down or find any counterfeit money that might be being passed off as the real thing. There are COUNTLESS types of counterfeit money in our country being used regularly that these agents are responsible for finding and then tracking down those who used it. When they are being trained to be such an agent, you know what they are required to study? The real, actual US dollar. They know the dollar so well, so intimately, that the MOMENT the spot something even slightly off, they recognize it is fake. Without question! They know the real thing so well, they can spot something fake immediately.
It isn’t any different with us and our Bible. Read truth. Know truth. Period.
Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
For my next Creation post ENTRY 5, click HERE. I think this aligns pretty well with what I posted today on this blog. We need TRUTH. We need to RECOGNIZE TRUTH. The only place you are going to get TRUTH is in the BIBLE.
