A Clear Path
John 8:31-32
31. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.
32. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
"What is truth?" This was a quote from Pontius Pilate just before he sent Jesus to be crucified. I find it fascinating how the truth can be so obvious, right in front of us, but so impossible for people to see. It's a pity that Pilate didn't.
What is truth? Truth, is what is. A reality that is concrete. An actual state that is not changeable by perception of it.
There is always one truth, but an infinite number of lies.
If truth is so definite, why is there any belief in things that are not true?
If you are In a dark room, completely dark, you cannot see what is in the room. Without touching anything, hearing anything, smelling anything, or seeing anything, there is no way to tell what is in the room. Your mind can make up things, but without light, you are just guessing.
Guessing is not faith, but acting on a guess is. If your mind convinces you that there is a massive hole in front of you, you will not step forward at all. You believe there is a hole. The hole can hurt you. Your faith in that thought makes you act. You back up from the hole that you believe in. You are wrong however, there is no hole in front of you. It is behind you...
I can believe in anything. Our minds are amazing that way, but there is a great danger to believing in a lie. I can believe with all my heart that I am superman, but it is just not true. It is a harmless and pleasant delusion up until I act on my belief and jump off a building. The truth will hit me as hard as pavement. The truth of that pavement and a low height of the building could offer me an opportunity to see that I am not Superman. However, depending on how strongly I want to believe the lie, I could easily say that there must have been some Kryptonite near by.
Without the light or some means to perceive the truth of what is, I will just be guessing and believing whatever my simple brain comes up with.
Science is the study of truth, by using available means of perception and test to figure out what is true. The goal is to whittle away at untruths until we are left with real truth. The problem, like in my goofy analogies, is that without light or acceptance of what that light reveals, I will be lost in the darkness, just guessing about what is really in front of me in my journey.
Like the hole, guessing wrong can be rather dangerous, but holding to a lie is even worse.
Daniel 8:11-12
11. It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of his sanctuary was brought low.
12. Because of rebellion, the host [of the saints] and the daily sacrifice were given over to it. It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.
The passage above is from the book of Daniel and it is referring to the coming Antichrist as he is called. It refers to things that are still yet to happen at the end of days. Truth will be cast down. In other words, the obvious truth will be rejected, even though there is light. Clearly we are getting really close.
1 John 1:5-7
5. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
The light enables us to perceive the truth around us. Without it we cannot know. Yet even with the ability to see, we can still believe in a lie. It may be delusional, but it is still a choice we make.
There is a lot of darkness in our world right now and it's going to get worse. Yet, God has not abandoned us. His presence and light are still here. If you reject that light you are in grave danger. Additionally, if you have the light available to you, but still want to believe in a lie, you are also in grave danger.
Truth is exposed by the light of God, seeking and acceptance of the truth is up to you. If you accept it, really receive it, God will set you free.
Only then will your path be clear.