Posts Tagged ‘truth’
Technicalities and Taking Sides
by Andy Diestelkamp If we learn anything from what is revealed about many of the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day, it is that there is a human tendency to justify ourselves based on technicalities, which some imagine as justifying their beliefs or behaviors … and they were wrong. In their confrontations with Christ, we also…
Read MoreAm I Become Your Enemy?
by Robert F. Turner Paul had done some straight talking to the Galatian churches. He had said, “I am afraid of (for) you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain” (Galatians 4:11). Then, in Galatians 4:16, “Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” Paul knew how people often…
Read MoreFear of Truth
by James W. Adams (1914-2013) in Words Fitly Spoken, p. 60 My daughter’s friend expressed great interest in the doctrine of “Premillennialism.” It so happened that I was at that time engaged in a series of studies involving the subject on a television program. My daughter suggested to her friend that she might tune in,…
Read MoreI Have a Closed Mind
by Fanning Yater Tant, Vanguard Magazine, January 25, 1979 This editorial is being written on my birthday (December 30). I have now attained my three score and ten, and have reached a point in life where I am neither ashamed nor afraid to say some things which would have been ranked heresy at a younger…
Read MoreHiding Behind the Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Hiding-Behind-the-Truth.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Corinthians 4:1-6 I. One basic principle of logic is that if you start with a false idea, you can prove anything A. False doctrine could be justified if you started with a false idea as evidence 1. Premise: Presidents of the United States must be younger than 35 2. Premise: Joe…
Read MoreWhat Is Your Standard?
by Doy Moyer What is your standard of what is true? How do you determine what is good? Remove God from any answer and what will you have? Personal preferences? Whatever society says? Human experience? What other options are there? Once God is taken out of the answers, no other standard suffices to provide us…
Read MoreBlind to the Truth
by Matthew W. Bassford Upton Sinclair once said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Few better illustrations of this truth exist than the behavior of the craftsmen of Ephesus in Acts 19. They, along with everyone else in the city, are familiar…
Read MoreThe Freedom of Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/The-Freedom-of-Truth.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 8:30-59 I. Many began to believe on Jesus – John 8:30-31 A. Jesus said that if they would live in the words of Jesus, then they would truly be his disciples – John 8:32 1. Obedience to his teaching would cause them to know the truth. 2. Obedience leads to greater…
Read MoreThe Bible Is Right
by Terry Wane Benton It is right because it not only claims to be the word of God (II Timothy 3:16-17) but because it proves to be the word of God. How? It is the only book that was written over a 1500-year period by 40 different writers of various backgrounds, but who wrote about…
Read MoreWhy does an accusation against an elder require two or more witnesses?
Question: Could you explain I Timothy 5:19? “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses.” I was studying this chapter with another Christian and we both have been confused about what exactly is prohibited in verse 19. Must any and all concerns about an elder be…
Read MoreJust Telling What I Feel
by Doy Moyer That our culture has been trained to act more on feelings than objective truth and reality is evident in so many ways that it hardly needs proving. The outbursts of anger, the murders, the sexual abuses, the lack of civility, the completely irrational denials of reality, and more are ever before us…
Read MoreTruth About Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Truth-About-Truth.mp3 by Doy Moyer Seeking God
Read MoreThe Pilate Philosophy
by Terry Wane Benton Pilate washes his hands of killing Jesus Matthew 27:24 The Pilate Philosophy is to wash your hands of responsibility and to pretend there is no way to know the truth. “What is truth?” (John 18:38), he asked Jesus. There was also a “cancel-culture” mentality in his presence in the Jews wanting…
Read MoreSetting Your Mind on the Things of God
by Doy Moyer What we are trained to think about truth will be determined by whether we are thinking the things of God or the things of man. Recall that in Jesus’ rebuke of Peter’s reaction to Jesus talking about His own death, Jesus said, “For you are not setting your mind on the things…
Read MoreFacing Reality
by George Slover “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly” (John 10:24). Although the above request was most likely in jest, it is nonetheless an interesting one. How often does anyone really desire straight-talk? In our day…
Read MoreLet God Be True
by Terry Wane Benton Romans 3:4 gives us this principle: “Let God be true but every man a liar.” What does this mean? It means that God is always far more dependable than man. God cannot lie (Hebrews 6:12). Man often lies, misunderstands, gets things mixed up, is easily deceived, etc. Therefore, when it comes…
Read MoreTruth and Law
by Terry W. Benton Today there is lawlessness going on at elevated proportions. Even churches that have claimed to be “of Christ” have been divided by a spirit of lawlessness. Some misuse “we are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:15) to give the undiscerning a scripture on which to justify their rebellion against…
Read MoreGood News, Bad News
by Mark Chatfield Sentry Magazine, December 1999 What do you want to hear first, the good news or the bad news? Since we want to end this article on a positive note, let’s do it this way … Bad News Lately, the news has been making the news. It seems that CNN became so enamored…
Read MoreThere Must Needs be Heresies
by David Edwin Harrell, Jr. Vanguard, Volume 1, #1 January 1975, pp. 21-22 After a few weeks of study at St. John’s University and Abbey, I am impressed by the perceptive Roman Catholic analysis of the weaknesses of Protestantism. They insist that Protestants are pressed between two unacceptable extremes. One extreme grows out of the…
Read MoreThe Elephant in the Room
by Jefferson David Tant People use many devices to mitigate or cancel out plain Bible teaching. This ancient practice can be traced to the Old Testament. Seven hundred years before Christ, Isaiah was dealing with a rebellious people. God told him: “Now go, write it on a tablet before them And inscribe it on a…
Read MorePropaganda Wars – Truth Can’t Be Cut Off
by Terry Wane Benton We have the book of Jeremiah only because truth wins in the end. But think of the propaganda that seemed to prevail when Jeremiah was trying to preach to the corrupt establishment. God had an important mission for Jeremiah, “to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw…
Read MorePropaganda Wars
by Terry Wane Benton There was the truth that Jesus was in fact raised from the dead, and then there were the opposition forces who needed to keep the nation from converting to Jesus. They wanted to stay in control of the crowds and keep their wealthy pockets padded. To lose control to Jesus would mean…
Read MoreSuppression of Truth
by Terry Wane Benton Pilate presents Jesus, saying Behold your king John 19:14-15 The whole effort by the leaders of the Jews and Romans against Jesus was to turn the tide of public opinion against Jesus. They staged His trials and execution on the cross to humiliate Him and end His influence upon the people.…
Read MoreCan We Know the Truth?
by Ward Hogland Not too long ago I received a phone call from a young preacher in Tennessee. He said, “Brother Hogland, I am in a quandary. My elders called me in on the carpet and told me to stop saying that I preach the truth. They advised me to start saying, I preach what…
Read MoreDoes It Matter What I Believe?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Does-It-Matter-What-I-Believe.mp3 Text: I Kings 18:25-40 I. When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18 A. It wasn’t that the false prophets were insincere or had no belief at all B. They cut themselves, danced in a frenzy, and spent a day calling on their god. C. If all you needed was sincerity and faith, they…
Read MoreThe Absolute Truth
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/The-Absolute-Truth.mp3 Text: Jeremiah 32:37-41 I. I’m sure you have heard people who in matters of right and wrong express this belief A. “I feel it is wrong for me, but other people have to decided for themselves whether it is wrong for them. I can’t push my beliefs on others.” B. The statement is called “moral relativism.”…
Read MoreSee If You Can Find a Man
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/See-If-You-Can-Find-a-Man.mp3 Text: Jeremiah 5:1-13 I. The last days of the southern kingdom of Judah A. The people had become very corrupt – Jeremiah 5:20-23 B. God purposed to severely punish His people – Jeremiah 5:26-31 II. But there is one hope – Jeremiah 5:1 A. Jeremiah is told to run through Jerusalem and find a man 1. A man who…
Read MoreWorthy of Trust
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Worthy-of-Trust.mp3 Text: Psalm 15 I. It has occurred to me that a core problem in our society is that we don’t trust anyone. A. Anyone trust the politicians? What about the news media? B. For some there is now a lack of trust of the police. C. What is behind this lack of trust? D. I’m sure you heard…
Read MoreA Worker for the Lord
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/A-Worker-for-the-Lord.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 10:16-25 I. God has not promised His children a life of ease. A. Christ warned his disciples that if men are willing to call him “Beelzebub” then we shouldn’t be surprised when they turn against us. B. Christianity is not easy because of the rejection we must face. It is…
Read MoreDoes Truth Exist?
by Terry Wane Benton Jesus claimed that it does and that it can be known (John 8:30-31). However, others make the claim that truth does not exist and that it is only what each person wants it to be. Some “intellectuals” say, “There is no truth.” But that itself is a truth claim. Is it…
Read MoreIt’s Not How You Feel
by Aubrey Belue Does it “feel good?” Does it feel “right?” If so, today’s culture says, “go for it!” Thus, we make “right” what our feelings say it is, rather than what it really is. Somehow, we have reached the point in contemporary reasoning that most say that one can pursue his individual dream without…
Read MoreDo You Want the Truth?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Do-You-Want-the-Truth.mp3 by Raymond Warfel
Read MoreWhat is Worship?
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WhatIsWorship.mp3 Text: John 4:19-24 I. I was asked recently to address a question of what constitutes worship A. Defining terms, such as worship, is interesting because there is a tendency in the religious world towards vagueness. 1. Pentecostal beliefs emphasize the emotional experience (the spirit). Worship is not real unless you can feel it and, on the…
Read MoreThe Difference Between Truth and Lies
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DifferenceBetweenTruthAndLies.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 18:33-38 I. Truth is critical A. Truth brings stability to a nation – Proverbs 29:14 B. Truth makes us free – John 8:32 C. Jesus is the way and the truth – John 14:6 D. Jesus’ words, which are truth, judges us – John 12:48 E. What distinguishes truth from lies? Pilate asked…
Read MoreThe Cultural Problem with Truth
by Doy Moyer The truth shall set you free (John 8:32). To borrow an idea from another well-known statement, had it not been for the truth, I would not have known lies. Oxford’s word of the year in 2016 was “post-truth.” That should not really be a surprise. For decades Postmodernism has eaten away at…
Read MoreIs Christianity a myth?
Question: Hey Mr. Jeffrey, I’m taking a philosophy class, and we are studying how the Greeks used mythology in the past to make sense of their world. I asked the professor to explain what a myth is and he said “a story you don’t believe.” I knew I could’ve picked that answer apart, but I…
Read MoreIt is hard for me to trust a religion because I was fooled before
Question: Hello, I have read the website where I found this email. Honestly, I am not good at writing, but I just want to say that I am at a difficult time in my life that I must overcome. First of all, thank you for writing all that. I was raised by an Orthodox mother,…
Read MorePerfected in Unity
https://www.lavistachurchofchrist.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PerfectedInUnity.mp3 by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: John 17:13-26 I. In Jesus’ final prayer to the Father before his arrest, Jesus expressed his desire that his followers be united, just as he and the Father were one – John 17:22-23 A. That “one” is not numerical, but a unity in purpose and action. II. Through this unity we…
Read MoreTruth Or Free-thinking
by Terry W. Benton To the modern man, it seems wrong to believe that you can actually “know the truth”, and therefore be in a position to “answer” the false religious claims of others. While an open mind is indeed a good quality, that open-minded nature ought to eventually settle on something it has tested…
Read MoreOn Thinking We Are Right
by Doy Moyer One of the consequences of postmodern thinking is that we can think whatever we want, but we aren’t allowed to think that we are actually right. In other words, there is no capital T in “truth.” To think we are right is to commit one of the gravest mistakes of our day,…
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