and the Self-Delusion of always being right
At the Crucifixion kangaroo court, Pontius Pilate sarcastically asked Jesus this rhetorical question. What is truth? That is what you would expect to hear from a politician and one who did not especially like his job.
Jesus identified himself as Truth. John 14:6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. Let’s see what that means.
In Marxist China they believe that something is true if very large numbers of people believe it is so and the Communist Party known as CCP says they alone determine what truth is. The Communist Party is all powerful and will not countenance disagreement. It would be heretical if the vast numbers (in their case billions) stopped believing that Communism (the Chinese variety) is the only right way.
Forced beliefs are unstable
When you are forced or required to believe or to stop believing something, you have a whole new path of thinking. For most people mental change is much harder than physical or even emotional. But in the back of your mind there is that nagging question – what if I am wrong? What if the government is wrong? What if my neighbors are all wrong too?
Americans question everything
You can see that Western ideas of free thinking challenge all things Communist. Our common belief in God would reduce the vote total in China for truth, which attacks their legitimacy. It is so strict that to join the communist party you must swear to be an atheist and accept that the communist party makes no mistakes.
Being right all the time is a hard road
Really? Daily life is filled with errors, corporate and individual. It takes a mentally blind person to deal with that.
This seems ridiculous to us as Westerners because we believe there is absolute truth just as we believe 1 and 1 = 2; Communists do not. Absolute truth is verified to all men whether they see it or not by the fact that the universe is from one end to the other mathematically precise. If you could take a spaceship across a trillion light years, you would find that one inch is still one inch. And because the heavens are laid out in a predictable pattern, you would be able to fly back home. Only God can pull off perfection in detail like that.
The Universe shows God is Real
This is what we mean when we say “The heavens declare the glory of God.” God is predictable and forever the same just as is His creation. Where we find flaws and error is where Man has his sticky fingers.
I found my coworkers in China almost panicky when I washed the dishes in hot water. That was NOT the right way. They held similarly rigid opinions on many other ways of doing things. There is only one way – the right way – the Chinese way. You can see why they have to steal our technology. If the only way is already known by them there is no room for someone to think something else. So if they want something new, they have to reverse engineer the inventions of others.
You and I may say that there is absolute truth outside ourselves, esp. damaging if that truth is invisible (i.e. God) how confusing! Marxism does not support a belief in an afterlife or any spiritual dimension.
Materialism is a crutch
Consequently I think atheists must have this same materialist view. To believe in God undermines their very existence. And people whose cherished views of themselves are challenged react in various forms of hate and fear.
We have proof of that in the daily news. People who have no malice and speak with a calm voice are called “haters” and they are attacked. Islam is only one group here, but you could include violent black power groups as well. Latinos went through a period like this until they realized that their efforts to bully the public were backfiring.
Conflicts about an afterlife
Lest we forget, these two views go back thousands of years. In Jesus’ time there were the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The former group believed in an afterlife; while the Sadducees believed only in a materialistic world. The Sadducees made fun of Jesus but His dangerous enemies were the Pharisees because they too based their religion on a spiritual foundation so they were competing for the same group of believers.
The word competition gives the game away. Satan, whose wretched end is already known, is competing for the souls of men. If all men easily and quickly assented to the will of God there would be no competition and no sin, no quarreling, just peace. Men cry for peace but it alludes them because they seek their own will. They want to be right!
As a friend of mine once complained, “Men are always doing for my good what will benefit them.” Nothing describes sin better than this.
Militant Atheism leads to Death
Few historical figures demonstrate the Fall of Adam and Eve better than Adolph Hitler and Friedrich Nietzsche. They based their philosophy and their government on the will to power in man for achievement, ambition, and the striving to be. Adam and Eve’s unfortunate choices were identical – who is in control here? Hitler commit suicide and Nietzsche died in an insane asylum.
Men seek truth but when they find it, and it is not that hard to locate, they back off because it conflicts with their life goals. So they substitute other systems, those that at least partially include their wants for themselves.
For truth we finally, if we are wise, go to God’s word.
Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Psalm 100:5 5 For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalm 119:142 142 Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.
John 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
2 Corinthians 13:8 There is no defense against the truth.
So I leave you with this observation. Salvation does not require much from us, but living the Christian life is most easily done by loving the truth. And that might be hard.
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