Sunday, March 11, 2012

The Truth

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.’”

Truth does not depend on what we believe, or how much we believe in something. Truth is a fact, and there are no quirks around that. There can only be one truth. Either something “is” – or it “isn’t.” It is either one way or another way.

I am going to use the analogy of a table. The table will represent God and all that He stands for. Although, if speaking to any skeptic, I would say that the table merely represents Truth – whatever that is. (Seek and you shall find it.)

My kitchen table is round. If you got to know me and trust me, you could decide to believe me. You could even decide to believe that I actually had a square table. Or, you could decide to boldly declare that I did not have any table at all. But no matter how emphatically you believed that, it would not change the fact that I do have a table, and that it is indeed round.

People who visit can see and confirm that I do have a round table. After eating a meal at my table, if they had an enjoyable meal, they would probably be more apt to believe and declare that my table is round. But let us say that I served a terrible meal, or that during the meal the friendship broke down and spiraled into quarreling and bitterness. One might feel disgruntled enough to start making claims that the table was in fact square. Or that the table did not even exist. It would not be the table’s fault that I didn’t know how to cook well. And it would not be the table’s fault that we began to argue. Why would one blame or denounce the table because of my shortcomings?

We sometimes do that with God. We look at the faults of the people around us associated with Christianity and the Church, and then transfer that disappointment and disdain towards God. To have a “bad experience” because of quirky individuals should not cause us to see God any differently. We are all not perfect. And that is why we all need God. If we are wise, we would seek the Truth and look directly to God for all the answers.