The Truth Dispensary
I’m pleased to be able to inform all of you that in today’s Backyard Conversation I am able to inform you where you can find truth. I discovered it quite by accident driving through Salem, Oregon! There it was – the Truth Dispensary!
I was surprised that there were not more people in the parking lot or that there was not a long line formed to get in. I mean, truth for sale! That is a pretty cool deal.
We have talked about this before here at Backyard Conversations . The world we live in is filled with lies. We know that instinctively, I think. Lies on the internet, lies in the news. Scientific journals padding their studies, financial institutions seeking to influence their buyers. And then there are politicians. Perhaps a class in themselves!
There are not only small ‘white lies’ being floated out there in the world but there are compromising lies of moral and spiritual consequence. And then there are flat out evil lies that threaten to destroy all we hold dear.
White lies are things like: “I do love that color of your hair. I don’t know if I have seen that color of purple in a head of hair before. That makes quite a statement!”
Then there are moral lies that threaten to compromise our internal personal value sets. These are the moral non-negotiables that make us “us.” These lies test our integrity. Lies like, “I need you to call this customer and tell them that the work on their car is going to be more than what we estimated by about $500. Get them to agree to have the work done and you can have a $150 bonus. I know you need the money.”
And then there are the evil lies that saturate our world. The evil, black demonic lies. Lies that lead to genocide, human slavery, starvation and false imprisonment. Terrifyfing lies that can somehow hold an entire population under their sway.
One particularly deadly moral lie prevalent today is that there is no absolute moral truth. This is the lie that says that all moral choices are fair game with maybe – just maybe -the caveat that “We should not hurt one another.” However, increasingly we live in a world where if we disagree with one another, violence is said to be an appropriate choice of action to dispatch the person who holds the opposite opinion. Not great. In fact this bold-faced lie is pure evil.
OK we know about lies. The true test is, “Do we know the truth?” It stands to reason that if we categorically know the truth, we can stand against the lies. At least we have a fighting chance!
Almost two thousand years ago,
Truth was put on trial and judged by people who were devoted to lies. In fact, Truth faced six trials in less than one full day, three of which were religious, and three that were legal. In the end, few people involved in those events could answer the question, “What is truth?” And the decision was made to kill the Truth rather than yield to it.
Of course, the Truth we are speaking of is the Lord Jesus Christ. He told us straight up in John 14:6:
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Curiously, this leaves us with the impression that not only was Jesus God incarnate (the Christmas story that we so love) but he was also Truth incarnate. Truth is not a concept or an idea or mathematic equation . . . Truth is a person! And we can know the Truth and the Truth will set us free!
We’re going to spend some time here for the next few backyard conversations. To tell you the truth, there is much more to explore!
