Truth – Chris Linzey

We listen to a lot of Christian music when we’re driving. Yesterday a great one for belting came on the radio: Even So Come.

All of creation, all of the earth
Make straight a highway, a path for the Lord
Jesus is coming soon

Call back the sinner, wake up the saint
Let every nation shout of Your fame
Jesus is coming soon

Like a bride waiting for her groom
We’ll be a Church ready for You
Every heart longing for our King
We sing, “Even so come, Lord Jesus, come.”

The 4 year old piped up in the seat behind me, “Did they say, ‘even so come Lord Jesus?'” The conversation then went like this:

Yes, baby girl, they did.

What do they mean “come Lord Jesus?”

God tells us in the Bible that Jesus is going to come back for everyone who believe in him.

(9 year old in the far back of the van): I BELIEVE IN HIM!

(6 year old in the middle): I BELIEVE!

(back to 4 year old): Daddy, is Jesus in the moon?

At this point I’m going to take a break to say that I have NO idea where this question came from. We try to keep the kids away from the weirder heresies and cults… 😉

No, Baby, He’s not in the moon.

No, where is he for REAL?

From there we entered into a brief conversation on the omnipresence of God (funny enough, we had just turned off Obi Wan Kenobi teaching Luke Skywalker all about the Force) and the return of Christ – well, as much as we could on a 4 year old level.

The point of telling this story is not to talk about the imminent return of Christ or about the attributes of God. I really wanted to share this story to highlight the fact that those of us who believe ought to be taking advantage of such opportunities to talk with our kids about God.

Of course, I hear people argue that Christians merely brainwash and indoctrinate our kids into faith when we ought to be letting them figure out their own way.

Hogwash.

We are all conditioned by our worldview. Some of us hold to a Christian worldview. Others, not so much. Just a few moments ago I saw a friend post this:

Mike Dunger

And it’s true! The point is that we ALL approach life with a worldview, and we pass that worldview down to others. If we’re not passing our Christian worldview down to our kids, the outside world will pass down something else.

Think about faith this way. If I believe something to be true, I would actually be harming people by not telling them what I believed to be true. Is God real? Did Christ die a propitiatory death for humanity? Will we all stand before God again one day?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Why would I withhold that from my kids? Don’t let opportunities slip by. I’m not saying you need to force it. Don’t bash people over the head with your Bible shoutin’, “YOU NEED JESUS!” But as the opportunities arise, make the most of them. Let your friends and family know the truth you know. Not everyone will accept it, but if you REALLY believe it, why WOULDN’T you share it?

Unless you don’t REALLY believe…

The last couple of days there was a video going around of a brief clip from the show “Family Feud”

Here’s how I originally saw it:

I saw lots of comments on it. Some people thought it was cute. Some said it was diplomacy at work.

Yes, I thought it was a funny clip. It shows the solidarity of two men refusing to embarrass their wives. Instead, they choose to keep their mouths shut.

But that wasn’t the whole clip.

Here’s the extended version:

You can see from the extended clip that there’s not quite as much solidarity as the short version would have you believe. The Marine would rather control the board and play the game than to keep silent. That’s not a bash on Marines. I think most people wouldn’t even have paused like these men did.

My issue with the clips isn’t about the content of the game show, but with the person who did the editing.

No, there is not big Family Feud conspiracy. In the grand scheme of life this clip is insignificant. But it does highlight to me how easy it is to manipulate the truth. With a quick edit we were given a version that led us to believe that the men stayed silent out of respect and honor for their wives.

We live in a culture where “truth” is at the mercy of whomever is doing the editing. The media shows us only bits and pieces of the news – and only the bits and pieces that will move us in the way they want us moved. A great example of this is to look at a single news story covered by CNN, FoxNews, and The Daily Show. While covering the SAME piece, each outlet will put its own spin on the story.

We have fully entered the world of Orwell’s 1984. Before too long we’ll even have a Ministry of Truth. Perhaps Orwell was a prophet more than he was a novelist.

Truth is an important part of godly character. It is supposed to be part of what we say, what we do, and who we are.

The Psalms and Proverbs are filled with verses imploring people to be truth-tellers and to run from deceit. Jesus himself said:

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32)

It’s easier to accept things at face value, to believe the “truth” as it is presented to us. People pass around bogus information on social media every day because they never bother to fact check – to pursue the truth.

This is not how it is supposed to be.

As people called to be truth-tellers we should be cautious not to be part of bad information (whether it’s intentionally OR unintentionally misleading).

We can do better.

We must do better.

No more deception. Let’s be people of truth.

Follow @chrislinzey