An element of truthiness

“The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.” ~ Winston Churchill

"As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one" ~ Romans 3:10

We are daily bombarded with ideas, opinions and observations that oft times sound good or logical but typically contain only an element of truth. Our generation has even coined a word for this known as “truthiness”; a "truth" that a person claims to know intuitively "from the gut" or because it "feels right" without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts. How do you define an element of truth? It is a figure of speech which simply means some narrative, story, rhetoric, propaganda, hyperbole, rant or rave has SOME truth in it. By implication it means there are things there within that is not truth.

One of the blessings of social media is that friends and family can post encouraging and entertaining videos, pictures and quotations that bring a smile to your face or reaffirm and confirm something that we endorse. Often these pictures go “viral” and depending on how many connections you have you will see these same things “shared” or re-posted over and over. To “like” or “unlike” that is the question.

The other day a couple of my Facebook friends posted this picture and on the surface I can “like” the thought it conveys. An individual who has placed his or her faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ would and should agree that their beliefs do not make them a better person. If they are truly following the Jesus of the Bible they have come to a point where they have acknowledged that they are in fact NOT the better person. On the contrary, they have come to the realization that they are a sinner or someone who has rebelled against God, the rightful ruler and Lord of their life. They have recognized that they were guilty of cosmic treason against the Creator and Sustainer of this world and their very life. In the light of the Gospel they have come to the place where they have thrown themselves on the mercy of God and accepted that there is only way to be reconciled to Him-they must place their faith IN the better person; the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. They have experienced what Martin Luther has called “The Great Exchange”; our sins for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Through this exchange they have been reconciled to God through a very costly sacrifice; the death, burial and resurrection of God’s own Son. This does NOT make them a better person; in the light of the Gospel they realize that apart from the work of Christ there is nothing good about them. This knowledge should motivate them to tell others about who is truly the better person; Jesus Christ.

The key thing to remember is that God is not asking for simple “belief” in His existence. Nor is He asking for belief that Jesus was an actual historical figure or that He was a good man. The belief that God demands is not simple intellectual assent or what has been described as head knowledge. If that type of belief was enough then the demons themselves would be the “better person.” In the New Testament book of James it states; “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!” Demons believe in God and in Matthew’s gospel account they even address Jesus as the Son of God. This acknowledgement or belief did nothing to improve their lot in life. God is not asking for a tip of the hat or mere intellectual assent. He demands much more.

I can believe that Abraham Lincoln was the 16^th President. I can believe that Steve Jobs was a genius. I can believe that saving the whales is right or that I should do what I can to stop genocide in Darfur. I can believe that we should feed the poor and homeless. There are many great causes in the world that we can and should take up. No matter how good and noble these beliefs are, they do not make me a better person. So back to the posted picture; I agree that belief in and of itself does not and cannot make anyone a better person.

The retort on the picture takes another path that again, on the surface sounds reasonable. Beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behavior does. But is that true? But if our goodness and our behavior is the determining factor in what makes us “better” there is another big problem…who decides what behavior is good? Who decides what behavior is acceptable? Who holds the cosmic scales and determines who meets the standard? I don’t want to have that burden placed on my shoulders because I am a finite human who has a proclivity for making mistakes and being wrong repeatedly. Honestly, do you want me or any other human you know to be the final arbiter on who meets the nebulous standard? We humans are fickle, moody and imperfect so why would we want to trust in the whims of imperfect beings to make the right choice on our behalf? Who keeps this list and is it set in stone? Actually the answer to that question is yes; they are set in stone. You may have heard of that perfect standard; it’s called the 10 Commandments. The only problem with that list is that no one in all of the history of mankind has been able to meet that standard with one exception. His name was Jesus Christ the Son of God.

Faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a matter of behavior modification. The Bible is very clear on that and calls our righteousness or deeds “filthy rags” or a polluted garment (Isaiah 64:6). No amount of changed behavior is going to change our eternity. Faith in the finished work of Christ and His work on the cross is all that matters. The Apostle Paul reinforces this thought in Titus 2:5-7 when he states; “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” If our behavior made us acceptable to God then Jesus Christ would have never had to die a painful and bloody death on our behalf. If good behavior was all it took then we could be boastful about how we did it all by ourselves and again, the Apostle Paul blows this idea to pieces in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Many of us know and can recite from memory John 3:16. It is not some trite or quaint idea but the lynch pin of our cosmic destiny. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What you might not be familiar with is verse 17 which continues with; “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Believing this does not make me or anyone else better than any other human on the face of the planet. But the knowledge of this has changed my behavior in the sense that “those who are forgiven should gladly put aside their sinful ways and walk in newness of life.” My behavior cannot and will not make me acceptable to God. My behavior has been changed because I desire to be an ever so faint image of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am not better, but I am forgiven and that makes all the difference in the present world…and the world to come.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins" ~ Romans 3:23-25

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." ~ John 8:31-32