The Truth Be Told or Is It?

Maybe you've heard this phrase before. "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." No, that's not a quote from Winston Churchhill, Abraham Lincoln or Ronald Reagan. Jesus said it in John 8:32.

The context included both dialogue and discussions about who He is, why He could claim His deity and His teachings weren't just words and ideas but absolute truth. And if his followers would just keep believing and living according to His truth they would find ultimate freedom.

However, today we live more and more in a time where instead of truth making people free, people choose to be free from the truth. Of course, living this way isn't new. The book of Judges in the Old Testament ends with this phrase, "The people did what was right in their own eyes."

In other words, truth was relevant. Lots of people were deciding what was true for them on any given day. And that option, prevalent throughout history in various forms, seems to have reached another high point..

Yes, people often claim they embrace truth when they're only spouting preferences. Organizations, churches and even families have been broken apart because of refusing to let go of traditions, selfish memories and sometimes plain old stubbornness and ignorance. I'll bet many of you have seen this in person. I know I have.

But what we're seeing today, the blatant rejection of truth that has stood the test of time, truth that has been cornerstone of morality in scores of places and religions, is taking on incredible popularity. There are no rules for more and more, at least those making the news.

I won't take time in a blog to walk through even a handful of the affected topics. The details and resolutions are complicated and would take longer than I have to debate here.

The overarching problem is when there are no standards at all, at least for some, or their values seem to compete with each other. One day, it's one thing, another day, the opposite or a variant. Of course without any standards (Did right in their own eyes), this isn't that surprising.

What's happening today as a result?? First, of all we're losing our freedom, just like Jesus spoke of so many years ago. When we know what the boundaries are, live, love and like knowing what the limits are. Imagine leaving young children in a field or play area with no boundaries or other safeguards and they could go wherever they wanted.

Freedom? Uh, no. Danger. Yes. The same potential is here today. People take over homes that don't belong to them, steal from others because they don't deserve it (in their minds), treat people with disrespect and attempt to destroy them simply because they disagree. That's not safety or freedom. It's dangerous. Evil.

What do we do? Well, the Bible says that we're to walk in truth. That means we model truth-living, we stand up and speak out against attacks on absolute truth and ask the hard questions when actions around us defy what we know to be true.. We can stand for justice, fairness, the sanctity of life and our right to freely express our faith without being attacked, mistreated and maligned.

In a few weeks now, we can vote. Vote your conscience, vote for the leaders who still stand for what's true, but VOTE!

Also, pray. Yes, prayer matters. Prayer is powerful and only God is the one source of all truth. We won't change hearts by arguing with people on Facebook. We'll change them by living the truth and showing people both the power of a truth-driven life and the futility of living with no rules or standards.

Yes, the truth can set us free. But freedom isn't really free is it? Nonetheless, it's worth it.