Everyone is concerned these days about lies. False narratives. Fake news.
A concerning number of individuals are actively attempting to silence and punish those who don’t agree with them by casting them out of office, removing them from their jobs, and banning them from public conversation. They are calling for powerful tech companies to outlaw certain kinds of statements in the name of protecting the truth. They are only protecting their own interests, however. They are not lovers of truth. Instead of engaging in healthy conversation and debate, they slap a fat wad of duct tape over their opponents’ mouths.
This concerns me as a United States citizen, but even more as a lover of God.
If you truly love God—the God of the Bible—you also love truth.
God cannot lie. His word is truth. Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus referred often to the Holy Spirit as the “Spirit of truth.” We are told to contend for the faith. That means we must fight for it, and in order to fight for something it must be defined. It’s foolish to fight for unclear reasons, but it’s our honor and duty to fight for God’s truth.
What is so bad about calling a boy a girl or a girl a boy? It’s a horrible and obvious twisting of the truth of biology and sex. God created us male and female. To our country’s shame, we have, for at least a couple of generations, taught our children little about logic and critical thinking. We need to teach our kids to think, to ask questions, to challenge ideas. Often, only a simple question is needed to expose a foolish argument. For instance, when folks insist it’s perfectly normal and good for a boy to identify as a girl, just ask, “How do you define a girl? What is a woman?” They cannot tell you, because if they did they would destroy their own argument.
When people say women have “reproductive rights,” which gives them the right to abort their baby, we should boldly ask questions. Do you really have a right to reproduce? What does the right to reproduce have to do with a right to kill what has been produced? Once you have a baby growing in your body, doesn’t that prove beyond a doubt that you have exercised your reproductive rights? Doesn’t it take two to produce a baby? Why does the woman have all the rights over what is done to the baby and the father not have a say? When should we consider a fetus to be a human child? When does a baby have rights? Does the baby have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? At what point? Is that baby created in the image of God?
We are looking for the truth on these matters because we believe in truth. We contend for the truth about Jesus.
Either Jesus was a real, historical person or He wasn’t.
Either Jesus was born of a virgin or He wasn’t.
Either Jesus performed miracles or He didn’t.
Either Jesus died on a cross or He didn’t.
Either Jesus rose from the dead or He didn’t.
Either Jesus ascended into heaven or He didn’t.
We have historical documents written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude which speak to the reality of Jesus being the Son of God, raised from the dead, and now sitting at the Father’s right hand in heaven, Lord of all.
Like Paul, we contend for this faith. “For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth” (2 Cor. 13.8). As soon as he was converted, Paul “confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 9.22). He preached boldly in the name of the Lord, and he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists (Acts 9.28). How can you confound people and dispute against others if you’re not using facts and logic? Paul was “proving that Jesus was the Christ.”
I don’t want my children carried about by every wind of doctrine. I want them to test the spirits to see if they are from God, to ask deep, probing questions, and to think logically and critically about new ideas. I don’t want them to throw away a new idea simply because it is new, but I do want them to examine it carefully before deciding what to do with it. Just because a famous person says it doesn’t make it true. In fact, the opposite is often true.
Just because the government says it’s okay to do something doesn’t mean it’s right. Just because the majority rise up in solidarity for a certain position or against another does not mean they stand for truth. Truth is not decided upon by majority rule, nor is it decided upon by parental or Presidential fiat. God decided truth when He spoke Creation into existence, and He still decides truth.
We love God because He first loved us. We love truth because it flows from God and is part of His nature. His word is truth! Let us not compromise. Let us contend for it.