How Do You Know What's True?

Many years ago a banquet speaker was introduced as a very smart businessman. The audience was told that his business, growing and selling potatoes in Maine, netted him $25,000 the previous year. After a long introduction, he stood to speak. “Before I begin,” he said, “I must set the record straight. What was said about my business is only partially true. First, it was not Maine, but Texas. It was not potatoes, but oil. It was not $25,000, but $250,000. And it was not a profit, but a loss. And one more thing about this introduction—it was not me who lost the money, it was my brother.”

As the story illustrates, truth matters. And in some situations, it really matters. Knowing what is true helps us make good decisions. In some instances, it can save our life.

Josh McDowell speaks to college students all over the world, and one of his most frequent topics is “safe sex.” Josh was invited to give the concluding talk during “Safe Sex Week” at the University of North Dakota to 3,000 students in a jammed auditorium. When he began by saying, “You’ve been brainwashed,” a rumble spread through the crowd. Josh describes what happened next:

When the students settled down, I continued, “You’ve had an entire week of ‘safer sex’ indoctrination: speakers, experts, videos, films, classes, and symposiums. You’ve been challenged, motivated, encouraged, indoctrinated, and pressured about using condoms to ensure safe sex. To top it all off, you were given a ‘safer sex packet.’ But you’ve been lied to.”

At this point, the crowd was becoming a little indignant with me. Then I lowered the boom with one more question: “After all the information on ‘safer sex’ you have received this week, how many of you know the statistical failure rate of the condom?” Not one hand went up! Suddenly, the auditorium was as quiet as a cemetery. They looked at each other with expressions of astonishment. They realized they hadn’t been told the whole truth about safer sex.

Josh finds a similar reaction in every university crowd he addresses. Invariably, the students have been thoroughly coached about how to have “safer sex,” but are never told how unsafe “safer sex” really is. In essence, what they heard was a lie.

Statistics fly in the face of “safe sex.” Research conducted by Planned Parenthood (a group advocating the practice of safer sex) states that within one year of using a condom to prevent pregnancy, the pregnancy rate is more than 10 percent for all ages, and the rate is almost double for teens. Statistics also show that a girl who becomes sexually active at 14 years old and practices birth control has an 87 percent chance of becoming pregnant before she graduates from high school. If she is your daughter, niece, or a friend’s child, does she not deserve to know the whole truth before she engages in risky behavior? Does shading the truth really matter to her—and consequently to her unborn baby? Of course!

But the consequences go even further. There are over 25 major sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. With many of them condoms make virtually no difference.

Physician Robert C. Noble writes in Newsweek:

I can’t say I’m comforted reading a government pamphlet called “Condoms and Sexually Transmitted Diseases Especially AIDS.” “Condoms are not 100 percent safe,” it says, “but if used properly will reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.” Reduce the risk of a disease that is 100 percent fatal? That’s all that’s available between us and death? How much do condoms reduce the risk? They don’t say. So much for Safe Sex. In fact, all latex condoms have microscopic holes that are fifty times larger than the HIV virus. The oil-based lubricants used with condoms can also damage them. If a condom is too old, or has been exposed to heat or cold, it may be less effective. What comfort is the lie of “safe sex” to the young man who contracts gonorrhea or to the young woman who develops herpes or to the newborn who is born with AIDS? Telling incomplete “truths” can change a life—or cause death. It is vital that we know and tell the absolute truth.

God wants us to know the absolute truth, so He has taken the initiative to show us truth in several ways: in His Word, the Bible; by the life, death, and resurrection of His Son; and through His Holy Spirit.

Because our secular society has rejected God’s holy inspired Word as the absolute standard for truth, we have lost our reference point for reality. Now our society often defines truth based on public opinion polls. We live in a media culture of sizzle and hype which influences public thinking. Advertising hucksters and spin-doctors are constantly at work to influence our thinking about events and issues. Educational institutions promote diversified views at the expense of truth. Even many journalists are no longer satisfied with reporting the facts. Instead, they slant the news to fit their own, often anti-God, interpretation.

This is the nature of the world system controlled by Satan, who is the father of lies (John 8:44). These masters of deception, distortion, and manipulation take truth out of context or give only half-truths. Anyone who accepts this world system becomes bound up in deception, manipulation, lies, and ignorance. Many Christians, sadly, have bought into these lies.

But God’s truth is a light that shows us the difference between falsehood and truth. Jesus taught, “I am the light of the world. If you follow Me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12). Without His truth, we are left to grope about in spiritual darkness. But His light frees us to see and do what is right and good.

Consider some of the deceptions promoted by our culture and the contrast of God’s truth, as shown in the following table. Of the six options, which of the two columns are you tempted to base your life on? Every day, each of us makes choices about what we want to do or what we perceive to be true. Only God can free us from the deceptions and distortions of the world system. He has given us the Bible as a handbook for identifying truth, and His Spirit, the Counselor of Truth, within us as our Guide.

SOCIETY’S LIE	GOD’S TRUTH
Money is the key to happiness. Wealth provides comfort and security, prestige and respectability. If you have a nice house and own the things you always wanted, you will find fulfillment in life.	“Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have” (Hebrews 13:5). “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). “My God will meet all your needs” (Philippians 4:19, NIV).
Think of yourself first. Otherwise, your needs will go unmet. You deserve more out of life. Go ahead, reward yourself. You owe it to yourself.	“If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for Me, you will find true life. And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?” (Matthew 16:25,26).
You have a right to satisfy your sexual appetites and passions in whatever way you want. It’s nobody’s business what you do as long as you are not hurting anyone. Besides, biblical standards for sexual purity are prudish and old-fashioned.	“Run away from sexual sin!” (1 Corinthians 6:18). “Remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (Hebrews 13:4). “Do not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).
It’s okay to sin a little. Nobody’s perfect. Loosen up and have some fun. No one will ever find out what you do. Lighten up. Get a life.	“The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public” (Luke 12:2). “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Galatians 6:7, NIV).
You have a right to get even. You’re a wimp if you let people get away with anything. If someone hurts you, hurt them back. It’s an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.	“Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger” (Ephesians 4:31, NIV). “Do not repay anyone evil for evil…Do not take revenge” (Romans 12:17,19, NIV). “Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).
Character doesn’t matter. If you want to get ahead in life, tell people what they want to hear. Bend the rules to achieve your purposes because the end justifies the means. Ability is more important than conduct.	“I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10, NIV).

Do your decisions and lifestyle demonstrate that you are listening to God through His Word and His servants? Or are you living in the darkness of the lies of society and popular culture? Like a powerful floodlight, God’s truth will expose for us the foolishness and destructiveness of every myth promoted by the world.

God’s truth frees us to live as God intended. On the other hand, Satan, the deceiver, wants us to base our lives on false assumptions. Jesus said to His followers, “You are truly My disciples if you keep obeying My teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31,32).

By Bill Bright

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