What is Truth?


(from 2003)

By Christopher Mentzer



            Back in 1995 there was a TV program called Nowhere Man.  It was a short series, only lasting one season.  The show combined the elements of shows like The Fugitive, The Prisoner and The Twilight Zone.  The show was about a man named Tom Veil who was a photographer and took this one photo supposedly of  an American military group conducting a multiple hanging down in South America. Tom’s life was completely erased to the point of his own wife denied knowing him.  As the show progressed, Tom would search for the truth behind the photo and the people who wanted the negatives. However, the more he uncovered, the less he was sure as to what was the truth and what was fabrication; right down to his own memories.


            How do we know what is the truth?  Basically we go on what we learn as we grow up.  What our parents teach us, what the schools teach us, and the things we learn on day to day basis of living our lives and interacting with others.

            The Bible says it is the complete and total truth (James 1:25; 2 Tim. 3: 16-17).  How are we to know?  Are we to convinced because someone tells us?  Or do we simply believe it because that’s what the Bible says?  “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5:21).  To know whether something is true we need proof for it.  We know that Christ walked the earth because of the many eyewitnesses there were (Acts 2:32; 3:15; 10:39; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Pet. 5:1).  And these witnesses wrote what they saw in the Bible and each book coincides with one another.  How many books today can do the same?


            We know the Bible to contain the truth and yet how many out there are uncomfortable with discussing it contents?  Many times I’ve talked to people and upon mentioning the Bible they get very antsy or fidget a lot and change the subject.  Or they say, “You believe what you want, I’ll believe what I want.”  Where does the Bible say that?  Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing and `that' there be no divisions among you; but `that' ye be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1: 10).  I’ve offered to study with people on what the Bible says never to hear from them again about the subject. 


At work, I got called into the office because people were uncomfortable about my “preaching”.  In their mind, I was preaching my opinion when I was simply telling them what the Bible said.  Book, Chapter, and Verse I gave any time I referred to the scriptures.  Those who are uncomfortable with “preaching” don’t know what the Bible really says and are afraid to look.  Why?  Because they know that it contains things they don’t want to hear about like:  Sin, God’s Commandments, Repentance, and so on.  To them, as long as they don’t know what it says, it won’t apply to them.  How much of a case can you build on that statement or others on Judgment Day?

Jesus said, “Sanctify them in the truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17).  What word?  The word of God.  Jesus also said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  I told this to one person and they turned their back on me.  They didn’t want to hear what the truth was.  Neither did the Jews on Pentecost but they did and it change them, “36. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.  37. Now when they heard `this,' they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brethren, what shall we do? 38. And Peter `said' unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  39. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, `even' as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him”(Acts 2:36-39).  They knew what the truth was because they were there, they could not deny what they had done, and they asked for help.  You won’t be that lucky in today’s society but this passage should give you the encouragement to keep trying.  “31. Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, if ye abide in my word, `then' are ye truly my disciples; 32. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”(John 8:31-32).  The Word of God is The Truth!


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