The Truth is Liberating

by Ben Kinchlow

  Interesting thing about the Bible. God is never vague, nor does He beat around the bush concerning matters that are important to us and, therefore, to Him. He is given neither to overstating nor understating the facts. Jesus said it this way, "Thy Word is truth, Oh, God." Anything out of the mouth of God less than "truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", would disqualify Him from being God, though He can do anything He chooses. But, since He is God, "it is impossible for Him to lie", and we can, therefore, rest in complete assurance on whatever we find to be a promise from God in His Word. That promise can neither be overstated nor understated, and it must contain exactly what God intended when He made it.

Humans, on the other hand, are not subjected to these limitations. We can (and do) exaggerate, obsfucate, overstate, understate, or just plain lie. Furthermore, we often find ways to justify these "liberties" we take with the truth. We then wonder why we find ourselves not believed and, therefore, must insist with such phrases as "no, really!;" "I’m not joking!"- "I really mean it!" and even, "honest to God!!". These are the street versions of the legal profession’s affirmations or oaths. The whole purpose being to assure the object of our conversation that we are "telling the truth". Why should it be necessary to convince someone that we are telling the truth? Shouldn’t it simply be an article of faith that a person is telling the truth? Unfortunately, we find ourselves more apt to say things like, "no kidding!" -"you’re joking!" -or, "really?!". All these are social commentaries that indicate people actually expect to be lied to. And this includes church people. Isn’t it interesting to note that we have reached the stage where we take a lie as an article of faith and only receive the truth with proper identification. The identification badges for truth are usually prefaces, like"well, to be honest" "let me be perfectly frank" -"well, to tell the truth.", and absent these ID badges for truth, we often simply anticipate that we are being lied to"Oh, Kinchlow, you are being facetious and overstating the case." Well, I’m sure some could make that an issue, but the next time you find yourself saying, "Really!?" -"Did that really happen?!" -"I don’t believe it!", ask yourself, "Why am I saying this?" "Is the information being imparted to me of such a nature that it borders on the incredible?" "Is it of the nature of a mountain moving, or a tree dying as a result of a spoken word?" Or could it be that truth has fallen by the wayside, and now the only place we can really find truth is in a contract enforced (by lawyers and judges) under penalty of perjury; and oaths and affirmations in the courts of the land where we "solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God". Perhaps even in selected pulpits, kind of like a blockbuster movie that is "showing in selected theaters". Is truth such a rare commodity that it must be relegated to officialdom, or prefaced with identification phrases? Shouldn’t truth be the order of the day? Shouldn’t we expect, at least from Christians, that they would in all things speak truth, in love and wisdom?

The world is desperately searching for ethics, morality, and honesty in its business dealings, (see the new books) expecting people to act like Christians, while decrying the institutions that produce Christians, (i.e. evangelical churches, witnessing Christians, Bible studies in schools, and various other elements of a stable society that was the foundation of the great social experiment called America.)

It is not a coincidence that a word most highly esteemed by many -free - should be accompanied by that other great word - truth.

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

And all God’s people said, "Amen!"