Truth that Sets Free
Christian Comment ed. by D. Gander
The February issue of "Perspectives" newsletter has an article by the ministry's director, Rev. Allan McQuarrie, about Truth. He points out that society today tends to regard truth as changeable, determined by public opinion polls. "When the Bible is removed from our society," he says, "we are left with no standard, no measuring stick, no moral rule, no understanding of sin. So we try to justify our actions and make sin more acceptable." (Call Christian Perspectives Ministry at 613-273-4333 for a copy of their newsletter, or for prayer support).
It has been said that all roads lead to God, or that people from all religions are standing in one huge room looking out different coloured windows at the same Light. But that was not true historically, for Noah or for Sodom & Gomorrah. Such "equality of truth" was also proven false when He chose Abraham as the father of a covenant people. One nation became a unique light in darkness, and God preserved them and caused them to prosper while they loved and followed Him. (They also suffered, when they forgot their special covenant with God.) Even the good Persian kings Cyrus and Darius of the Old Testament who honoured the "God of the Jews", and then the wise men who honoured Jesus the "King of the Jews", left no legacy of value for the kingdom of God. They were not prophetic leaders, but wise followers of God's leading star.
Perhaps a more fitting analogy might be drawn with the kingdom of God as a huge mountain, surrounded by many roads. Some places give a distant view of the cloud-topped mountain. Some trails even skirt the foothills as they meander off to distant lands. But only Jesus Christ is the gateway, and the narrow path leading up the mountain to its veiled but certain summit. He walks this path with us, with the wind of God's Spirit and vital directions from His Word. So we are led to the gate, and through it, and upward on our lifelong Christian pilgrimage.
There are many tangled "truths" that wander around and away from God and the way of true life that He alone offers. There are new-age jungles of experimental gurus; gusts of "positive thinking" and self-help guides; shifting quicksand ethics; twisted philosophy that hides dryrot (sins) as a necessary component of character, as if negatives need to "balance" the positive; and many volcanic causes and fixations -- hot, furious, and short-lived -- to grab our attention for right or wrong. All these can make us crash-test dummies in life, offering merely a mirage of the "truth that sets us free".
Yet Jesus came not to affirm us as we are, but to re-make us. We must be born anew, from above, in order to really be alive, both now and for eternity. To live apart from God and the life He offers is to be less than alive, like walking in a dream or fantasy, blind to the truth of His presence and the abundant life He offers.
The trouble with dreams is that every once in a while, like in the days of Noah or Sodom, we are woken up. The fortunes of fantasy vanish. In Jesus Christ we have the "Way, the Truth, and the Life". Other "truths" pale by comparison and, like moon shadows shaped from dimly reflected light, they disappear with the dawn.
The February issue of "Perspectives" newsletter has an article by the ministry's director, Rev. Allan McQuarrie, about Truth. He points out that society today tends to regard truth as changeable, determined by public opinion polls. "When the Bible is removed from our society," he says, "we are left with no standard, no measuring stick, no moral rule, no understanding of sin. So we try to justify our actions and make sin more acceptable." (Call Christian Perspectives Ministry at 613-273-4333 for a copy of their newsletter, or for prayer support).
It has been said that all roads lead to God, or that people from all religions are standing in one huge room looking out different coloured windows at the same Light. But that was not true historically, for Noah or for Sodom & Gomorrah. Such "equality of truth" was also proven false when He chose Abraham as the father of a covenant people. One nation became a unique light in darkness, and God preserved them and caused them to prosper while they loved and followed Him. (They also suffered, when they forgot their special covenant with God.) Even the good Persian kings Cyrus and Darius of the Old Testament who honoured the "God of the Jews", and then the wise men who honoured Jesus the "King of the Jews", left no legacy of value for the kingdom of God. They were not prophetic leaders, but wise followers of God's leading star.
Perhaps a more fitting analogy might be drawn with the kingdom of God as a huge mountain, surrounded by many roads. Some places give a distant view of the cloud-topped mountain. Some trails even skirt the foothills as they meander off to distant lands. But only Jesus Christ is the gateway, and the narrow path leading up the mountain to its veiled but certain summit. He walks this path with us, with the wind of God's Spirit and vital directions from His Word. So we are led to the gate, and through it, and upward on our lifelong Christian pilgrimage.
There are many tangled "truths" that wander around and away from God and the way of true life that He alone offers. There are new-age jungles of experimental gurus; gusts of "positive thinking" and self-help guides; shifting quicksand ethics; twisted philosophy that hides dryrot (sins) as a necessary component of character, as if negatives need to "balance" the positive; and many volcanic causes and fixations -- hot, furious, and short-lived -- to grab our attention for right or wrong. All these can make us crash-test dummies in life, offering merely a mirage of the "truth that sets us free".
Yet Jesus came not to affirm us as we are, but to re-make us. We must be born anew, from above, in order to really be alive, both now and for eternity. To live apart from God and the life He offers is to be less than alive, like walking in a dream or fantasy, blind to the truth of His presence and the abundant life He offers.
The trouble with dreams is that every once in a while, like in the days of Noah or Sodom, we are woken up. The fortunes of fantasy vanish. In Jesus Christ we have the "Way, the Truth, and the Life". Other "truths" pale by comparison and, like moon shadows shaped from dimly reflected light, they disappear with the dawn.