Truth

"There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death."

- Proverbs 14:12 (NLT)

This seems to be an extreme case of moral relativism, but relativism is now woven into the fabric of our society. There is no way to deny that. We live with terms like....that's your truth, or it doesn't matter what you believe as long as your sincere. Ethics and right vs. wrong are being probed and questioned all the time.

This young man seems to know what he ought to do, but then cannot admit that there is objective truth. He cannot admit that there is a clear plain view of a right and wrong that we all believe. He can tell you he'd fight against all types of evil, but won't tell you why, nor admit that evil exist, let alone right or wrong. Yet how does anyone know evil or good exist? Was it placed in us to know?

How do we know that protecting innocent people is a worthy thing? How do we know that "love is superior to hate?" Why do we treat the sick? Why do we send aid to foreign countries when disaster strikes? Why do we know that criminals deserve appropriate justice? Why do we know what injustice is? Why do we want to stand up for those who can't? Why is it we hear stories of ordinary people who come to the extraordinary rescue of others? Why do governments rescue people when disasters strike? What makes us celebrate a new life, an old life? Why do we mourn in death? Why do we know the good things? What makes us thankful for what we have? Why do we want to avoid bad things or suffering? Why do we strive for a standard of right? Why do we believe in rights? Why freedom? Why do we spill our blood for liberty?

We can claim that there aren't any absolutes , yet we stand up for absolutes all the time! The Bible says that we have God's law on our hearts, even if we've never specifically heard it before. We still act in a way that represents God's standards (or law) much of the time. We seem to still have a remembrance of the type of life God wants us to live. Even if in pride or stubbornness we can't admit it.

So one might ask why aren't we getting it right? Why after all this time that mankind has been around are there still horrible wars, genocide, tragedies, disease, racism, rape, abuse etc. Why can't we live up to what we know is right? A few years ago I read about a homeless man who was stabbed coming to the aid of a woman who was getting mugged. This man eventually died because no one would help him, people just walked by him, some took pictures of him on their cell phone. How does that happen? Don't you agree that no one coming to this man's aid was wrong? Why?

I guess the over simple answer is we can get it right without knowing God. Even those who know God can't get it right all the time. So without God dwelling in the hearts of people we can never get it right. The world at large in a very real sense is an enemy against what God wants. We are stubbornly hostile to His will.

Mankind has a sinful nature, essentially the word "sin" means to "miss the mark." We miss the target completely of what God wants for us, the human race, the only creation made in his image. In our human nature we try to make right what isn't right. We suppress the truth of God by the wrong ways we live. Any recovering addict can tell you about justifying and reasoning with themselves for the wrong things they might have done when entangled in addiction. On a large scale humanity is just like that. (Romans 5 is a great reference for how we got this nature)

We seem to know full well the full good we ought to do, but don't do it. But because of our nature we are addicted to pride, selfishness, our own ways. Without God we are sheep without a shepherd. Be it the addict in the slums or the Warren Buffets of the world in the high hills. Be it the witch doctor in Africa, or the slick televangelist with the great suit. We have an aim but we fall short of accuracy upon the target.

Romans 2:14-15 (HCSB)

¹⁴ So, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, instinctively do what the law demands, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences testify in support of this, and their competing thoughts either accuse or excuse them

Romans 8:7-8 (NIV)

⁷ the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Ecclesiastes 7:29 (NIV)

"This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes."

Okay so we know man's default, our nature. We've got a divine spark placed within us to "reach out" and attempt to feel for God. (Acts 17) However....just like a magnet can mess up how a compass works, our nature distorts what we ought to know. We can't get due north without the specific knowledge of Christ. It's why ancient religions worshiped the sun as god ( a created thing) and not it's Creator. It's why our ancestors tried to atone for sin or tried to appease a god by sacrificing animals or human beings. It's why in our day and age we know there is a road to a god but then settle for "all ways" lead to that god, divine light, or whatever we allow ourselves to name it. Essentially making a god in our likeness rather than acknowledging that there was a God who made us in his likeness. With his imprint (Genesis 1:27) We are built with a thirst for truth, to know who put this spark in us, and that knowledge can't come from ourselves.

This is the truth mankind either has to accept or reject.....

Jesus said...." I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the Father except through me." - John 14:6

Mankind without God was roaming in the dark. Accepting it and liking it. Without God even still today we roam in the dark thinking of different shades of dark as if it were the light. We are glad that we aren't a murderer, rapist or criminal , but in the eyes of a Holy (set apart) God does that discount our own sin?

God sent his own son Jesus (God incarnate) to expose us to the light of himself. To buy us back from where our sins had taken us and give us right standing with God again. Our sins from the time of Adam and Eve had separated us from a right standing with God. We tried to reach out for God in other ways knowing something was out there and it expected something from us but we couldn't reach God in full. In our modern day we still try to reach a god through spirituality, new ageism, philosophy, science, humanism which deifies man etc. We still try to please a god by living a loving life, paying our taxes, giving sometimes to charity, etc. Thinking a moral life of our own truths will be the ticket to heaven if there is a god.

God's ticket simply isn't a boarding pass into heaven, or a get of hell free card.....but rather it is an adoption into his family, a changed heart, and a new nature, a new hope.....any judgement that God had against man is gone through Christ....(Romans 8:1-2) it is now a person who stands condemned already for loving their darkness rather than believing in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross for all mankind. (John 3:16-21)

God has placed in us all a pull towards him. We all have a universal sense of truth. The problem is that we all fall short. (Romans 3:23) But God's truth " can be clearly seen" at the end of our life excuses won't matter.(Rom 1:20)

I'd just start encouraging you to start asking questions. You we're created to know him, your spirit wouldn't look for it's worth in this world if that wasn't the case. It to me is just genuinely a matter of what you are placing your faith in. The false hopes or the ANSWER of hopes. If you look into Jesus you'll have to determine one of three things.... that he was either a "liar, lunatic, or Lord." If he is Lord, then He is the completion of the truth(s) that already exist in your soul. The capstone to complete all truth.