In John 14:6, Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In John 8:12, He said “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
Matthew 5
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Jesus is The Truth. We cannot be the very embodiment of truth, as He is. However, as His followers, we should exemplify what it means to seek the truth and to speak the truth. In order to do that, we must discern what the truth is. The truth is what He says it is, not what we say it is. We must be careful to make that distinction, lest we mislead first ourselves and then others.
I see this happening a lot, particularly in the areas of science and politics. Especially in this information age and age of social media, no matter which side of an issue you happen to fall on, you can find all kinds of articles and videos and social media posts that support your position. However, just because you hold a position and you can find others that agree with it, that does not mean that it is right and it does not mean that you are helping the cause of Christ by pushing it.
Let’s take, for example, science, an area of study with which many Christians seem to take issue. I’m one of those Christians, to a point. For example, mainstream science tells us that the universe was created by the Big Bang. It tells us that the Earth is millions of years old and that humans came about as a result of evolution. This does not agree with the Biblical account of creation and, when you really study this, you find that the actual scientific evidence does support the Biblical account of creation. The Big Bang actually cannot be reconciled with the laws of physics, as we understand them. The archeological evidence indicates that the Earth is thousands of years old and not millions, and that all species did suddenly appear, rather than slowly appearing over time. The evidence indicates that there have been small changes within species, as a result of microevolution, but that no species has evolved into a different species (macroevolution), such as humans evolving from a more primitive species. The conclusions I just said are supported by science and are proclaimed by some in the scientific community, by the quieter minority, rather than the louder majority. In this case, the minority is right.
I did not come to this conclusion lightly. I studied, both the Bible and the scientific evidence concerning this subject, off and on, for years. I found that the Bible, on close examination, was in fact saying exactly what it had appeared to me to be saying, even on a more superficial examination. God is Truth and so I knew that the Bible was right. Therefore, I knew that the scientific evidence presented by mainstream science had to be wrong. I found that there was objective evidence of this, as I knew there had to be. Again, this was a long process. I did not just take something in a video or podcast that I already agreed with and go with it.
However, I did end up producing a podcast on this subject. You can find that here: Debunking Darwinism
When it comes to this issue of the Big Bang and macroevolution, mainstream science is wrong, period, no doubt, end of story. However, mainstream science is not wrong about everything.
For example, mainstream science tells us that the Earth is round, not just round but spherical. There are some Christians who so distrust science that they say that this cannot be so. They basically say that the Bible trumps science. I agree, if the two are in conflict, but they are not always in conflict. To act as though they are hurts the cause of Christ.
I recently saw a social media post where someone said that, according to the Bible, the Earth must be flat because the Bible says that God sits above the Earth (Isaiah 40:22) and, if the Earth is a sphere, then which way is up. God is omnipresent. This can be seen throughout Scripture but, to me, two of the clearest indications of this are in The Great commission “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:18-20) and in Psalm 139. God is everywhere. The Bible indicating Him to be “above” is symbolic of the fact that he is infinitely higher than we are, both in terms of His nature and His position of authority. It is a reference to His being completely set apart, to His holiness, if you will. It does not mean that you can literally point to Him by pointing up. Such thinking is overly simplistic and does not take the totality of Scripture into account in terms of its prospective. This is a very common mistake when interpreting Scripture.
In order to believe that the Earth is flat, one must believe that all space travel has been fictional, in order to discount all the pictures of the spherical Earth from space. One must also believe that all satellite based communications and GPS navigation systems work in some way that is vastly different from the explanations that are given, because the whole concept of a orbiting satellite is based on the body that is being orbited being a sphere. So all of this would have to be fictional and then everyone with any technical knowledge of the design, installation, and maintenance of such systems, from the transmitters to the receivers to the satellites themselves (millions of people) would have to keep this a secret. That, almost certainly, is not plausible. Aside from that, all one must do in order to observe the spherical nature of the Earth for themselves is to watch a ship pass over the horizon. Also, the curvature of the Earth is perceivable from normal aircraft, able to be seen with very careful observation starting at about 35,000 feet and very noticeable starting around 50,000 feet. The Earth simply is not flat. To promote the prospective that it is, when it so clearly is not, using the Bible as justification, hurts the credibility of the Bible, hurts God’s credibility as the author, and hurts one’s credibility as a witness for Him
I am not trying to pick on old earthers or flat earthers here. I chose these topics because I think my point is easier to make concerning these areas of science than may be the case for some other subjects concerning the scientific community vs Christian community debate. However, the same principles apply in many other areas. I am simply saying that science is often at odds with Scripture but often it is not. To act as though it always is just makes us come across as a bit crazy and badly hurts our Christian witness. Will people take us seriously about the truth concerning His Kingdom if we can’t even be bothered enough to be accurate about the truth that pertains to things of this world?
This is not limited to only science. It very much applies to politics as well.
Everything President Trump does is not right. Everything President Biden did was not wrong. Everything on the right does not align with what Jesus taught. Everything on the left is not an abomination to God. God’s truth does not flow from a political ideology. It flows from Himself. He is Truth. If we are to live for Him, to truly follow Him, we must truly get to know Him. We should not worry so much about the political ideologies that we seem to think represent Him because, on that point, both sides are often wrong.
For example, we should be less judgmental of sin than many on the right are but we should be less tolerant of it than many on the left are.
John 8
3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
5 Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
6 This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
7 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
This woman was caught in adultery, sexual sin. How should we treat such sin? Should we give grace, as many on the left might suggest? Jesus did (verse 7). Should we still be willing to call it sin and admonish people not to act this way, as many on the right might suggest? Jesus did (verse 11). Jesus is not right or left, Democrat or Republican. Jesus is Jesus and it is He Whom we are called to follow and to emulate. It is His Truth we must seek.
There is so much information out there on social media, so many opinions, so much news, so much that purports to be truth. When reading through these things, when we come across something that agrees with something we believe, or want to believe, it’s so easy to hit the share button. However, we must be careful that what we’re sharing is truth. Person ABC said XYZ, but did they really? There is so much out there that is just flat made up. It’s worth checking. The Bible says this or that, but does it really? And here’s a big one. Even if the Bible does say it, are you taking it in context, accurately representing the true meaning of it? We’ve heard a lot, in the last few years, about fact checking by social media. Many of us say that fact checking is not the job of social media, and I agree that it isn’t, but it certainly is our job, especially for Christians. God is Truth. In order to represent His truth well, we must represent all truth well. There is no such thing as personal truth. We can’t try to make our truth His truth. He has His own. We must make sure that we are faithful to it.
Again, will people take us seriously about His truth if we can’t even be accurate about the world’s truth? I have talked here a lot about politics and science. They are both worldly. Both are certainly relevant but we shouldn’t get too caught up in either of them. Did COVID come from a bat or was it created in a Chinese lab? I don’t know. Was the 2020 presidential election stolen from Donald Trump? I don’t know. Here is what I do know. Jesus, the Christ, the Son of The Living God, is my Lord and Savior. One day, He will come and take me to the place He has prepared for me and millions like me. When He does, we will not have to worry about answering for our sins. He did that long ago. However, He will have questions He will want answered. They will not concern COVID or Donald Trump or the shape of the Earth. They will concern how I lived my life for Him. To be clear, the issues surrounding President Trump and COVID and other things going on in the world today are important, very important. However, I’m pretty sure that, when I stand before Him, they won’t seem all that important. I don’t want to let them stand in the way of the things that will be important. I don’t want to have won an argument on FaceBook at the cost of having led a soul to Him. I don’t want to impart “my truth” at the cost of people actually hearing His truth, ultimate truth, soul saving truth. I don’t want to have the comfort of being “right” at the cost of someone knowing the comfort of His love. These kinds of trade offs are happening every day, especially on social media, and they are so not worth it.
We must proclaim His truth but we must be careful to do that accurately and with love. We all have our opinions on politics and science and lots of other things. We often want to share those opinions and that’s fine. However, we must remember that truth is important to Him so we should make an effort to know what we’re talking about before we start talking. Whatever it is that we are sharing, we must do that in love. It is the goodness (kindness) of God that draws to repentance (Romans 2:4). First and foremost, we must remember that it is His truth that is the most important, the truth about His Kingdom, the truth of the Gospel, and none of our other sharing should get in the way of our sharing that truth or letting other see it truly lived out in us. Whatever beliefs we hold concerning the things of this world, we must, first and foremost, live as His children, His true followers, people of His truth, His light. We must let His light shine through us, so that He is glorified, so that people will be drawn to Him, so that they will have the light of life, to guide them through this dark world, toward Him, ultimately to be with Him for eternity.
Do you walk in darkness? Most people in this world do but they don’t have to. Do you follow Him? Do you have the light of life, to comfort you and to guide you? If not, please check out the “The Most Important Thing” section of this website. May the peace that only He can give be with you.
