The Whole Truth and Nothing But

Written by cycleguy on January 6th, 2011

I like courtroom dramas.  Even the old ones, like Perry Mason, where you knew that in the end Perry would get his client off as innocent.  The more modern dramas like Law & Order where sometimes twist endings were used, drew my attention.  I like to read courtroom dramas as well.  I have found a man named Randy Singer writes some excellent fiction.  I’m sure you have seen or read the scene where the court jester clerk walks up stiffly to the witness to be put on the stand holding a Bible (it may be a Koran these days) and says, “Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give is the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God.”  (That latter phrase is left out depending on the drama).

Seems to  me that phrase needs to become a bit more popular these days.  It is “advised” for those in the religious field to not be so bold in their presentation.  Hold back.  “Don’t call sin what it is…sin.”  Don’t say that Jesus is the only way to God because you might offend someone.  Diversity. Tolerance (except if they disagree with your view).  The words of today.  I am not here to get into a wrangling match with anyone.  I personally have more important things to occupy my time than to argue words and semantics.  Frankly, I am much more concerned about truth.  The whole truth.  Nothing but the truth.

The Apostle Paul is also.  From house arrest in Rome, he reaches out to his friends in the church in Colossae.  They were hearing a bunch of junk, junk that was filling their minds with doubt.  Pagan worship from which they had come.  Gnosticism, a heresy teaching “deeper knowledge” and mysticism.  Jewish legalism/tradition that would have them wallowing in OT traditions like circumcision essential to salvation, observing holy days and feast, to name a few.  Paul addresses the issue of truth in the first 14 verses of Colossians 1.  He begins by celebrating the truth of the Gospel.  I like the way the Message paraphrase puts verse 6: “[The message] doesn’t diminish or weaken over time.  It’s the same all over the world.” The truth: the message of the Good News of Jesus doesn’t change.  Never has.  Never will.  And it doesn’t matter what part of the world you go to.

He also celebrates the truth of a deeper relationship.  We have all kinds of “secrets to this-or-that.”  The only secret to the Christian life is a deeper relationship with Christ.  Paul’s prayer in verses 9-11 is filled with some good stuff.  I plan to discuss this section Sunday and talk about what it means to have an ever-deepening relationship with Christ.

If you live in the area I hope to see you Sunday.  If not, then you can listen to the podcast.  But let me ask you: what do you think of the truth?  How do you measure that what you are saying is true or not?  To borrow from drama: “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”  Meanwhile, would you mind praying for me and the church community I pastor?  Without details, this will be a heart-wrenching Sunday.  Thanks.

 

38 Comments so far ↓

  1. Meanwhile, would you mind praying for me and the church community I pastor? Without details, this will be a heart-wrenching Sunday. Thanks.
    ———————

    Consider it being done, Bill. God’s Will, in all things.

  2. Praying for you dear friend.

  3. I will certainly be praying for you.

  4. jeff says:

    Truth. Absolute truth, by definition, is true no matter what a person believes. Such as “gravity”.
    To say something is true because you simply believe it to be true is not truth. Truth requires evidence, first hand knowledge, proof. A claim that is made without proof is easily dismissed without proof.
    To say “Jesus is the only way to God” may not offend a Jew or a Muslim or a whole host of people who do not believe that is true. Most will simply agree to disagree. To expect everyone to believe it, without much evidence, is a bit arrogant.
    The word “Sin” has similar consequences when it is being sold as I know what is right and you don’t. One man’s sin (whiskey) is another man’s pleasure.(mine)
    Live the faith, shine the light, make it attractive to all those who might ask the source of your peace. If they don’t ask just keep shining and let everyone believe what they will.

  5. Rachel says:

    Reminds me of the verse 2 Thess 2:10 – it is a LOVE for the truth that will save us in these days of massive deception. With a heart set on seeking God in truth and spirit and with the instruction and counsel of the Holy Spirit, not man — we are lead into truth.

    Rachel

    • cycleguy says:

      Thanks for pointing out that Scripture Rachel. It’s a good one. He does promise that He will lead us into truth. Thanks so much for coming by.

  6. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    Jesus says ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’. I think the truth if marvelous. I’m one of those people who wants to know what the truth is. Even if its not pleasant.

    Speaking of court room dramas, I’m in court tomorrow morning January 7th. Please pray for me too. I have prayed for you and your Sunday at the OVCF fellowship.

  7. Jim F. says:

    I love the Truth because HE is the TRUTH.

    You know for sure that I am praying for you.

  8. Tom Raines says:

    Praying for you my friend. Truth will prevail. Truth it truth whether we choose to believe or accept it. God’s truth trumps our understanding or our opinions. I will be praying for you Sunday. When your heart wrenches, mine wrenches, when you rejoice I rejoice with you. Praying.

  9. Cameyg says:

    Not long ago – I served on a jury locally. The defense attorney started off his “questioning of potential jurors” by saying, “I know many of you know my boss. I know many of you hate my boss & the firm I represent. Some days I hate my boss too. But please don’t let that rule over the truth today.” I don’t think I’ll forget him saying that. I didn’t even know the firm or his boss.. but after hearing that – I had to really work at not allowing that to color every single word that came out of his mouth. And in the end – we found the defendant guilty. Truth was served well. No matter what the defense attorney said – he couldn’t change the truth with his words or courtroom theatrics.

    Truth doesn’t always mean it’s flowery & pretty though. Thankful God & His Love are the Real Truth! Talk about priceless!!

    Dangerous prayers still every single day!

    Love you/yours!!

    • cycleguy says:

      Camey: you brought out a good point. Truth is truth no matter what. Jeff said the same thing in his first sentence. For sure truth isn’t always flowery. Hearing it is not always easy or fun. It sure is good to hear from you again! I know, I know if I was on FB… 🙂

  10. Michael says:

    as always, I’m praying for you guys.

  11. Jan Frame says:

    Will continue to keep you in my prayers Bill.
    Thanks for the bible, I am reading it every night.
    Love ya 🙂

    • cycleguy says:

      Jan: thanks for the first and so glad to hear the second. Allow His Word to fill you up. 🙂 Say hi to Michael for me (and the kids). CU soon??

  12. Zee says:

    count on my prayers, Bill.

    *hugs* and Merry Ukrainian CHRISTmas 🙂

  13. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    Thank you for your prayers. I’m going to sort through what happened this morning. It’s always overwhelming when so much is covered at one time in a meeting.

    You asked;
    ‘How do you measure that what you are saying is true or not’?

    For me, I will sometimes think about what I just said. Or I will think about what I said later on, and think ‘what I said wasn’t quite right or quite true’ I tend to give blanket statements of my perceptions instead of specifics. This gets me in trouble occasionally. I’ve brought this need before God, but it would be also very helpful if someone would keep me accountable if they hear something from me that doesn’t jive.

    As far as speaking truth from the Scriptures, I think about something I have in my mind and say to myself ‘is that right’? I try and go to other scriptures that I can remember to see if there is a contradiction in another scriptures. If I think of a contradiction and verify it, then I say to myself ‘that’s likely not right’. ‘Let that idea or insight lay dormant until you read something in scripture that might substantiate it.

    As you likely are aware I’m not always right. 🙂 But, I try not to grab hold of something in the Scriptures until I find more evidence of it being a truth found in other Scripture verses in the Bible. I think this has helped me several times in my thinking while I’m reading the Bible.

    I believe in keeping doctrine as pure as possible. I
    think we need to use the same critical method if we hear someone else teaching.
    Can we substantiate what they are saying easily in Bible scriptures? If not, I think we have to lay that teaching aside in our mind until we can see that truth for ouselves in the Word of God.

    For example, if we look at the prosperity doctrine, there are a number of scriptures in the Bible that would refute that teaching. We might look personally at the apostles. They had given up much of their worldly possessions to serve Christ. We might look at the apostles’ teaching. Obtaining riches was not a focus of their teaching at all. In fact, they admonished the rich. We look at Jesus’ teaching about rich people. We can see that he says it’s very hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

    This should indicate to us that the teaching of the prosperity doctrine has some question. We would then not accept it as from God.
    These are some thoughts from me. talk to you later.

    • cycleguy says:

      I agree Linda. Everything must be evaluated by the truth of God’s Word. No man speaks ex cathedra and should every expect not to be challenged. I think my feelings about the prosperity un-gospel are known. 🙂 Thanks for the comment.

  14. Craig says:

    All of this, so useful, so relevant – and this was the jewel for me, “The only secret to the Christian life is a deeper relationship with Christ.” Was it Spurgeon who when asked of the most important theological idea and responded, “Jesus loves me this I know…”?

    Godspeed, and I have prayed for this Sunday for you.

  15. Ds says:

    I loved the way your honesty shows in this post.

    Praying for you…

  16. Praying and hopefully listening in as well bro’

  17. Jason says:

    I’ll be praying dude.

  18. Ike says:

    All truth exists to make God known and loved and shown. If it does not have those three effects it is not known rightly and should not be celebrated as a virtue. Praying.

  19. lindaM says:

    Hi Bill,
    I’ve been reading in Titus. I think Titus chp 2: 11-15 says something about grace that we need to be aware of.
    Here in this teaching grace brings salvation. It teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions.
    this seems to be saying something different from how I have been hearing interpretations of what grace is. This seems to say that grace will help us (or enable us) to live more godly and upright lives for Christ.
    Just some thoughts.