Truth is your friend
Truth is not democratic
Truth never forces you what to believe
To find truth we need to dig deeper
To find truth we need to open our heart for it
There’s no such thing as relative truth
Truth is always true, whatever perspective you have on it
Love does not keep the truth hidden from others
Do you strive for happiness, or do you want to live a truthful life?
If you don’t like truth, you are betraying yourself the most
‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life,’ Jesus proclaimed
Truth is your friend
When you’re going to visit the Grand Canyon or the Himalayas, you’d want to study the dos and don’ts first, so you won’t get caught in a predicament that could have serious ramifications for your life.
And, of course, while studying these dos and don’ts, you’re not afraid of finding out about something you don’t like, as it will protect you from being too irrational, by warning you for certain risky endeavors.
In so many ways we wanna know the truth before we decide to go this or that way.
This could be something as simple as buying a ladder where you wanna know if this thing is safe or not. Same with a parachute, or with a car you’re going to be driving in. And what if you don’t wanna know the truth about your boyfriend, but hope he will turn out to be good. You will probably get nasty surprises in your marriage or relationship.
The same is true for God and love and righteousness and eternity and all that. It’s worth studying it a bit, so you won’t get caught in a predicament that may even have eternal ramifications.
And you just cannot be afraid of what you will find when you are on a search for the truth.
And, of course, there’s no use in searching for truth in a biased way, unless you are afraid of finding the real truth, maybe because you have the impression it might ruin your comfortable life, or undermine your status among a certain group of people.
Just because some truths can be awkward for you (in your current situation, or otherwise) doesn’t mean the truth has stopped being true, and so it’s always very wise to follow its advice.
Truth is not your enemy – because it is always true (i.e., genuine, sincere, and real). That means, you can depend on it. But it also means that you can’t go around it. You can’t escape it. In the end it will be there, whether you like it or not.
In the same way, the story of Jesus and the Bible cannot be your enemy if it is true. That is, if it is the real truth about God and all.
So, what if it is the real truth about God and life and all? There’s no use in being unwilling to find out about it, as it would show you how best to live your life (with e.g. fulfillment, and deep-rooted happiness). And there would be no sense in proceeding with your life without truth, would it?
Because, if you don’t live according to the truth, you live according to a make-believe, a fantasy. And although you may feel some comfort for a little while in the fantasy, eventually you will get big surprises in life, and… thereafter, because your decision-making is not grounded in truth—that is, it’s not based on reality, but based on some form of daydreaming or imagination, or wishful thinking. (Sort of when you take alcohol or drugs every few hours, believing it will make life bearable for you, while every day you’re drawn further and further away from love and reality with a final blow looming in the distance.)
If you really want to find truth and live according to it, it is your friend.
On the other hand, if you want to live in a world you concoct all by yourself or together with some friends of yours or other people you like, then one day you will find truth on your path as your enemy—not because truth is a bad thing, but because you decided to make him your enemy.
God says, ‘If you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me.’
(Jeremiah 29:13, 1 Chronicles 28:9, Deuteronomy 4:29)
Truth is not democratic
Truth is not determined by what the majority of people think, or shout.
Do not simply depend on what people around you think about God and all. What’s at stake is YOUR eternal destiny.
Truth never forces you what to believe
People who want to pressure you (physically, economically, socially, …) into believing what they believe, are not interested in truth, but only in their own agenda and opinion.
Now, of course, there’s people who might be concerned for your destiny, and therefore will gently try to convince you sometimes, or plead with you to turn from your ways, but that is done out of love for you, albeit that it might feel annoying and interfering for you at times. But these people would never want to harm you in any way. Instead, they see you as a precious human being created in the image of God, albeit corrupted by sin—like the rest of us.
To find truth we need to dig deeper
Do not stop your search if you have found something that ‘feels good.’
Instead, keep looking for truth until you know in your gut that it is absolutely the right thing, and you know for sure that it’s backed up with evidence.
What good is a captivating ‘feel good’ theory about God and all without being tested. Would you really want to leave this earth without the proper scrutiny for your worldview, challenging the things that you believe in? You see, you can be so full of a theory, but when it is never tested, what are you relying on for your time after death? It could be an eternity of real ugliness and pain, to put it mildly.
To find truth we need to open our heart for it
You can be skeptical in a healthy kind of way, but it’s no use being cynical or incredulous if you want to find the actual truth about God and all.
If you really want to find the truth about these things, you need to start investigating things objectively, rather than being biased.
Bias brings you nowhere.
If you’re trying to win an argument, you are not searching for truth, and so at first you might seem the winner, but what is it worth if in the end you lose big time? It’s like hiding yourself from the real thing, and being fully aware of it. That’s why real scientists work by the motto “Go where the evidence leads you, even if you don’t like the outcome.”
There’s no such thing as relative truth
To keep everybody happy and respected, and because we don’t want to confront other people and jeopardize our peace and quiet with it, we have bought into the narrative that ‘truth is relative.’ That ‘my truth is just as valid as your truth.’
However, what we mean to say by that is, ‘As a human being I am just as valuable as you are.’ And I agree with that one hundred percent. But, that doesn’t mean that what one person holds as the truth is always as valuable as what another person holds as the truth.
Truth is absolute. Our perspectives on the truth can be different. And one of these perspectives might be the truth, while all other perspectives might not be the truth.
We should understand that we are not a person of lesser value when we haven’t found the truth yet; that is, when our perspective on the truth does not match up with the real truth yet. And we are only fooling ourself if we desire our truth-claim to be as valuable as another person’s truth-claim. It’s not about winning or ‘not losing’, or about feeling as valuable as other people who pose truth-claims. It’s about us being able to live a life that is based on truth, the real truth. I cannot think of any good reason we wouldn’t wanna look for that real absolute truth with all our heart. I believe any sensible person would be glad if someone else helped him a bit to point him in the direction of what might potentially be the real truth, without feeling degraded in some way.
Find here a good article that addresses these things. And also three videos here, here and here.
Watch this to see how people are so hesitant to have an opinion that you get the strong impression they are almost too afraid to stand out much because of the possible consequences (e.g. society turning against you, debasing you as a bigot of some sort).
Last but not least, find on this page* a good answer to the question ‘Does It Really Matter What I Believe?’
*) While on the page you will need to search for that question (e.g., with Ctrl-F or Cmd-F).
Truth is always true, whatever perspective you have on it
This seems obvious, but so many people mistake a perspective on the truth with truth itself. Otherwise they wouldn’t be saying that ‘my truth is just as valid as your truth,’ or ‘my religion is just as good as your religion,’ even while both these religions are stating opposite ‘truths’ (actually, truth-claims).
Love does not keep the truth hidden from others
you tell them the truth.
When you want to help yourself,
you tell them what they want to hear.”
— Thomas Sowell —
Frank Turek uses this quote from 2:24 onward in this video and explains it some more, but to get the full story it’s best to see the whole video (5 min).
Do you strive for happiness, or do you want to live a truthful life?
But truth is that it hurts, and your mom & dad know this, so they warn you or even prevent you to come close to it.
As a growing-up kid you want to experiment with sex, alcohol, and drugs – as ‘everyone does it, right?’.
But truth is that it hurts when the consequences become clear.
It would have been good if you listened to some elderly advice.
And as a grown-up you may decide that life is just to be happy; never mind about God and eternity and what not that ‘makes life so tedious.’
But truth is that one day you will die, and find out that eternity is lying before you, and you are not prepared for it.
Do you strive for happiness, your own happiness or that of your loved ones, or do you want to live a truthful life?
An example: Do people who are born in a poorer country simply have bad luck, or should the ones that live in a fairly rich country be open to them, and see to it that they get some help? For this see also the parable about the rich man and poor Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31. Read e.g. verse 25.
We tend to be looking out for number one (i.e., mainly caring about ourself). But, God wants us to love other people as much as we love ourself. (Matthew 22:34-40)
He also says, “Do for others what you would have them do for you.” (Matthew 7:12)
People who want to live a truthful life, will want to embrace God’s rules, even when it goes against some of the pleasures they desire. People who strive for happiness, on the other hand, tend to wanna deny God’s existence and embrace any rumor circulating that the Bible also contains errors, thereby oftentimes lacking any desire to figure out if those rumors are actually true or not.
If you don’t like truth, you are betraying yourself the most
“The truth will set you free,” said Jesus. (explained here, and here some more)
If you don’t like the truth, you deprive yourself of a precious and sincere life; and possibly your loved ones too.
On earth no one will love the real you, only the one with the mask on, because they don’t even know the real you.
And after this life on earth you will end up in a place where they don’t value the real you, nor any other version of you for that matter.
» I do not like to write these warning lines, but I do it because I hope you will come to see the value of this irreversible eternal decision in time. ♥
‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life,’ Jesus proclaimed
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’
– John 14:6 (New American Standard Bible)
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’
– John 14:6 (Amplified Bible)
Read this verse 14:6 in context in both these Bible translations here.
Hidden Thoughts 