by Zeke Flores<\/p>\n
There it stands in all its unvarnished, audacious boldness. It dares us to grasp it, to apprehend and understand it, to obey it. Truth tells us what we don’t want to hear (turn from sin!<\/em>) and urges us to do what we don’t want to do (be baptized for your forgiveness!<\/em>). Then it compels us to live in a way that is ostracized, ridiculed, and scorned (be faithful until death!<\/em>)<\/p>\n Sure, sometimes the truth hurts, but it’s the lie that scars and kills.<\/p>\n “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron<\/em>” (I Timothy 4:1-2).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Zeke Flores There it stands in all its unvarnished, audacious boldness. It dares us to grasp it, to apprehend and understand it, to obey it. Truth tells us what we don’t want to hear (turn from sin!) and urges us to do what we don’t want to do (be baptized for your forgiveness!). Then…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-91008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80849,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":0},"title":"Jesus, the Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton \"Jesus said to him, \"I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me\" (John 14:6). Jesus is the truth about everything. Do you want to know how this world began and how life, moral conscience, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87571,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/not-wanting-the-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":1},"title":"Not Wanting the Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Larry Rouse Good quote I just saw: ...\"most people don't want the truth despite what they say. What they want is constant reassurance that what they believe is the truth.... Those who are skilled in the arts of deception will always find an audience willing to be deceived!\" \"The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23699,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-it-matter-what-i-believe\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":2},"title":"Does It Matter What I Believe? (Sermon)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Kings 18:25-40 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal in I Kings 18 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It wasn\u2019t that the false prophets were insincere or had no belief at all \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They cut themselves, danced in a frenzy, and spent a day calling on their god. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63446,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seeing-only-what-you-want-to-see\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":3},"title":"Seeing Only What You Want to See","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 50 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I would like to share a portion of a letter I received: \u201cI am in love with this girl who loved me too. We loved each other so crazily but at one point I realized that she had been lying to me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89786,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/truth-and-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":4},"title":"Truth and Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Truth and love are not at odds. Both are needed simultaneously. Truth without love can be unkind, cold, and heartless. Love without truth will be arbitrary, compromising reality, and without standards. However, together, united, truth and love will be purposeful, compassionate, and committed to what is best\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35128,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-find-a-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":91008,"position":5},"title":"How do I find a church?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I really want to become a Christian and be saved, but my problem is finding the right church. By the way, to whomever this is going to, I found this website and don't know how I have forgotten but I love it. I started to cry and I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91008\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}