Tag Archives: Truth

The Need to Lie

Living in the Spirit

September 14, 2022

Scripture Reading: Psalm 78:1-2, 34-38
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old,
when he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly.
They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant.
Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
  and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath.

My family took the commandment thou shall not lie very seriously. I learned that at a very young age. As I read the phrase from the scripture above, they lied to him with their tongues, the thought that flashed through my mind was how does one lie to God? If God is all-knowing, God knows the truth better than we do. God even knows all the circumstances that led up to the lie and how others involved understand the lie. In reality, when we lie, we are most often lying to ourselves. We do not want to face some reality. We do not want to project a negative aspect of ourselves to others. In John 8:31-32, Jesus addresses this issue, Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

Our culture forces some people to lie about who they are. This is best illustrated by how society treats persons who identify as lgbtqia2s+. The list gets longer as more and more people begin to accept themselves as they are. I await the time when we realize that all people are people created in the image of God and we would need a unique initial for everyone. I have never understood why people are so afraid of what they consider to be the other regarding sexuality. I particularly do not understand the bathroom thing. A transexual girl or boy is probably the last person who would assault a biological girl or boy.

We get so caught up in judging each other by the world’s ideals that we forget we are all children of God. I became very tired of hearing the phrase, God does not make junk when it was popular. I now think we might want to dust it off and follow its wisdom.  Part of the problem is the misunderstanding and the misuse of our sexuality that results in out-of-control attitudes and actions that are demeaning and damaging to our self-worth as individuals and the way we take advantage of others.

Prayer: Lord, help us see your image in each person we meet along the way. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Truth

Living in the Spirit

August 19, 2022

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 12:18-29

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’ This phrase ‘Yet once more’ indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire. –Hebrews 12:25-29

Truth exists. I have read descriptions of modernity as the state of being current, or up with the times. This may contribute to the downplaying of history current in our world. Now is all that matters, as tomorrow everything may change. The implication is that cultural changes are driving us. Today’s cell phone is out-of-date tomorrow. Truth in modernity thus is as malleable as we want it.

The reshaping of truth, however, is not modern. It is at least 2,000 years old. In the story of Jesus’ trial interview with Pilate, Jesus is quoted as saying, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’ To which Pilate responds by asking, ‘What is truth?’  (John 17:36-38)

We are being shaken to our core today with the chaos of a divide and conquer war being waged to separate us from one another. Yet we are called to be one by Jesus to love and care for one another and not to be ruled by the principalities and powers of a greed-driven world.

let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1b-2

Prayer: Lord, Grant us the courage to serve you more nearly. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Truth and Consequences

Eastertide

May 16, 2021

Scripture Reading: John 17:6-19
‘I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

I find myself wondering whether what I write is understood the way I mean it. I have learned the hard way that I should never respond to a social media post with a correction of a statement someone had made, even one I considered a neutral issues, that was not the way the authors perceived them. I appreciate someone calling my attention to a typo or a wrong fact. I am learning the hard way that in our society today, truth is flexible. What does Jesus mean when he prays Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

To sanctify means to make holy. That tells me that we must delve deeply into the word of God, asking God’s guidance in understanding. It also means we must take truth seriously and live with mercy in our hearts.  

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare,
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.

I would be friend of all, the foe, the friendless;
I would be giving, and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up, and laugh and love and lift,
I would look up, and laugh and love and lift.

Prayer: Lord, guide me as I try to communicate what I perceive as truth that others do not. Help all your followers as we dialogue about your word, listen and learn, and share as we try to discern the source of differences on our way to truth. Amen.

Hymn I Would Be True by H. A. Walter see at https://hymnary.org/text/i_would_be_true_for_there_are_those

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Calling God a Liar

Eastertide

May 13, 2021

Scripture Reading:
1 John 5:9-13
If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

When did truth become only that which is advantageous to me personally or to my chosen people? When did truth become clay to be strategically molded to selfish desires? Why would we ever have the audacity to make God a liar? Yet, we do it all the time when we do not live in God’s ways that were specifically designed to protect our wellbeing as God’s children.

Truth is on trial in the USA. Someone forwarded me a social media post recently that was headed The Fact. I read through the paragraph, which contained very few comments that met the definition of being a fact. It was a listing of the author’s opinions on various issues, which she certainly had the right to express. She ended the piece by saying something to the effect that if the reader cannot accept The Fact that she professed they needed to move to another country. We live in a world that if lies are repeated enough, people start to think they are true. In his book The Emperor’s New Clothing, Hans Christian Andersen taught me that when I was a child. I hope his work is still being read. It would be a good book for parents to share with their children. Here is the plot as summarized by Wikipedia:

Two swindlers arrive at the capital city of an emperor who spends lavishly on clothing at the expense of state matters. Posing as weavers, they offer to supply him with magnificent clothes that are invisible to those who are stupid or incompetent. The emperor hires them, and they set up looms and go to work. A succession of officials, and then the emperor himself, visit them to check their progress. Each sees that the looms are empty but pretends otherwise to avoid being thought a fool. Finally, the weavers report that the emperor’s suit is finished. They mime-dressing him and he sets off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear inept or stupid, until a child blurts out that the emperor is wearing nothing at all. The people then realize that everyone has been fooled. Although startled, the emperor continues the procession, walking more proudly than ever*.

Prayer: Lord, forgive us when we identify lesser gods to follow that are not in our best interest or the best interest of all those we are called to love. Amen.

* Wikipedia’s plot summary of the The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen see at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Truth and Transparency

Lent

March 20, 2020

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:8-14
For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
‘Sleeper, awake!
   Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

The new normal in our culture seems to be that truth is what we make it. Of course, such a philosophy is not new at all.  Titus Flavius Josephus is one of the most respected historians of the time that Jesus was on the earth. Now historians and theologians look back on his work as still very helpful, yet they read it with an eye for how much he was trying to please the Roman authorities or at least avoid their rancor. People of faith sometimes scorn politics, but all life is caught in political intrigue.  We humans tend to look out for our own wellbeing, wealth, and power that may or may not have anything to do with political parties or government.

for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Striving to be transparent is a counterpoint to creating our own truth. When we each are transparent to others in our motives and aspirations, we are forced to face up to whether our ideas and actions are good and right and true. Our striving for transparency models for others the cleansing power of truth made know. It may not be pretty, it may not be what we perceive as good and right, but it opens the door to the righteousness in our interactions that God so desires for us. Justice starts with our recognizing our own practice of injustice.

Prayer: Lord, during this Lenten season open our hearts and minds to search for our own transparent truths so that once discovered we might test them as fitting within your world of love and justice. Create in us clean hearts so we might better reflect your righteousness. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Trespasses

Christmastide

January 3, 2020

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:3-14

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. –Ephesians 1:7-14

The Greek word translated “trespasses” in the above scripture is  paráptōma (from 3895 /parapíptō, see there) – properly, fall away after being close-beside, i.e. a lapse (deviation) from the truth; an error, “slip up”; wrong doing that can be (relatively) unconscious, “non-deliberate.”*

I do not walk well on uneven ground. Leaving a burial at a cemetery recently with my brother, I was walking very slowly and deliberately to his car trying to avoid the natural dips in the grass. He said, “Are you OK?” I replied, “I just have to be very careful.” I literally did not want to slip up or down as the case may be. I do not know how much my cautious walking on uneven ground is from a real threat or the fear imbedded in my brain from a history of falls prior to my knees being replaced.

The challenge of working toward perfection in Christ is learning from our mistakes, not repeating them, and not letting our history prevent us from following the paths the Spirit opens for us. The word trespasses in our society commonly refers to not getting on someone else’s property. The Greek word from which trespasses is interpreter gets closer to the heart of our relationship with Christ. In our world today we face a great challenge in remaining close to the truth as truth is perceived as a commodity not a value. Yet, the truth of God’s love demonstrated through the life, death and resurrection of God’s son is rock-solid and something from which we must not fall away. In times when quotes are easily taken out of context and even other people’s words can be transplanted in videos of another person, we must cling ever closer to God and carefully consider everything with whether it passes the test of God’s love.

Prayer: Lord, strengthen us for our service to you in these trying times. Amen.

*https://biblehub.com/greek/3900.htm

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Wise and Gentle

Advent

James 1:5 – If you ever lack wisdom, ask God. He will grant it liberally. Matthew 10:16 – Be wise as serpents, gentle as doves.

December 15, 2019

Scripture Reading: Matthew 11:2-11

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.”
Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. –Matthew 11:7-11

We live in a funny world driven by computers and 30 section sound bites. Words are assigned negative, emotional meanings whether the meaning conveyed is a part of the definition or not. All information has become questionable because so much false information is afloat. I take any political ad with a grain of salt if the entity paying for the ad will not post the names of the people that supports them. No one can be held accountable for whether the ad is true or not.

Jesus is attesting to the truth of John’s message in the above scripture because Jesus is that truth. Yet, still many did not believe it because their world, like our world, was playing games with them. Matthew 7:15 states Jesus’ warning: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

As we live in this world, we strive to be a part of that kingdom of heaven where all have a seat at the table and are lead by the one who is the way, the truth, and the life*.

Prayer: Lord, train us in being as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves**. Amen.

*See John 14:6

**From Matthew 10:16

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

What is Love?

Living in the Spirit
September 14, 2018

Scripture Reading: James 3:1-12

How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh. –James 3:5b-12

The scripture above was, of course, written before the advent of social media where tweets and posts of all shorts can easily do good as well as harm to millions of people in 250 words or less. Thirty-second sound bites on radio and TV accomplish the same thing. Such voices are bolstered by pictures, perhaps doctored, and other digital devices designed to manipulate our thinking, casting stones at some, raising others to lofty heights undeserved. How do we discern truth in such a world as this?

There are several websites solely dedicated to fact-checking words and that is important, but facts do not encompass the whole of truth. The question we must add regarding all information transmitted to us regarding our relationships with others is: Does it pass the test of love? If it does not pass the test of love it is not of God. This question forces us to delve deeply into discerning what love really is. We toss the word around rather loosely in our society. We say we love chocolate and bright sunny days and traveling the world when we mean that we really enjoy these things. The Greeks had at least three words for love all regarding relationships with God or other people. I like M. Scott Peck’s definition of love: wanting the very best for another. It is predicated on the idea though that we are not responsible for determining what is right for another. God determines what is righteous. We must discern our own righteousness from our relationship with God as do all other people. We can journey with each other as we strive for God’s righteousness.

Prayer: Teach us to love as you would have us, love. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

Being True to  the Image of God

Living in the Spirit
August 1, 2018

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51:1-12

You desire truth in the inward being;
   therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
   wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
   and blot out all my iniquities. –Psalm 51:6-9

Our scripture for today is a prayer ascribed to David as his response to Nathan’s confronting him about his affair with Bathsheba. Today people perhaps define “truth” as the opposite of “lie” thus relating “truth” to something not being factual. Truth has a richer meaning. It not only represents what is factual but has a more eternal connotation related to our reaction to knowing what is true by being faithful to what is true. This scripture implies that truth rest in our inmost being and radiates out through our whole being. Others know us by our truthfulness in deed as well as word.

The world used in antiquity for identifying a building as being well aligned is that it was true to its building specifications. What is the measure to which we are being true in our inward parts?

Shakespeare addressed truth this way in Hamlet:
“This above all: to thine own self be true
And it must follow, as the night the day
Thou canst not then be false to any man/Farewell, my blessing season this in thee!”

The speaker is saying we measure our true selves by our ideas of who and what we should be toward attaining what we want to get out of life. It is more than a little selfish but represents much of the thinking in our world today.

I think the Psalmist would take umbrage with such an interpretation. Those of us who follow the path that says God created each of us in God’s image are called to hold God’s image as our plumb line of truth. God did not create us to be puppets without self-will but rather children of love created with a vast array of choices regarding how to use our talents and skills to craft a world ruled by love. Many of us have only begun to scratch the surface of what we can contribute to such a world.

Prayer: Lord, help us dive deeper into your well of truth in our lives. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.

 

The Truth Sets Free

Eastertide
May 19, 2018

Scripture Reading: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

‘When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. You also are to testify because you have been with me from the beginning. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. –John 15:26-27

One of the most poignant sentences in the Bible is spoken by a politician, Pilate, when he says as he considered Jesus’ fate following his arrest: What is Truth? We are left to our own interpretation of what Pilate meant. I think at the least he thought Jesus might have been guilty of some Jewish law that matter little to Pilate and Jesus was no real threat to the Roman government with his message of love and not violence. The statement seems a bit wistful with a flavor of hope that the Jesus’s of the world represented the worst Pilate would encounter. Even the most successful politicians must surely get tired of playing the game. What they consider to be a naïve viewpoint is sometimes refreshing.  We parse political truth, perhaps all truth, today by fact-checked percentages rarely gaining 100% and often meriting multiple Pinocchio’s illustrating just how wrong the statements are. Still, people believe the statements because it is what they want to believe, I think.

One of the most valuable statements in the Bible is spoken by Jesus, quoted in John 8:32: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Facing the truth is one of the hardest things we do in life and one of the most helpful. John McCain faced the truth that death can happen at any time and is a part of life, years ago when his plane was shot down and he was gravely injured. Such truth seems to have freed him from the pitfalls of greed and lust for power and given him the freedom to recognize that each minute of every day is a gift to use for better things. I am sorry he had to learn such truth in such a horrible way and I thank him for sharing his experience with those of us willing to adopt it without having to face such dire circumstances.

Of course, the ultimate witness to this truth is Jesus who died on the cross and overcame death to marshal in the Kingdom of God ruled by love. That is the message to which the Spirit of truth testifies continuously. One we need to cling to in times like these.

Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for the gift of the Spirit of Truth, let your truth be the foundation of all that we do. Amen.

All scriptures are quoted from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights are reserved.