Seeking Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth: This is a message not so much from God’s word, but about God’s word. It is the truth, nonetheless. It is a message about how to untangle ourselves from half-truth, false doctrine, and erroneous beliefs. But, I will warn you, you must want to know the Truth. Our tendency is to resist change.
“Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.” – Unknown
The Christian world is made up of differing positions – various doctrine (teaching about God) and theology (the study of God). We all have differing theological constructs that shape our view of God’s word. It is these differing positions regarding the elements of God’s word that lead to various camps, churches, and even diverse denominations. Many have been warring for centuries. Most are not all wrong; they are just not all right. They are too often based on half of God’s word.
Others are deeply entrenched in error that extends outside the pale of Christian orthodoxy – beyond the sound teaching regarding the essentials of the Christian faith. This teaching is addressing the former, the incomplete understanding of God Truth.
1 Corinthians 8:2 And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know
Sadly, it is our theological and doctrinal lens that we use to view God’s word. We all have them – many of them – jumbled up in our thinking. They shape our understanding of Truth – our dogma, or opinions. They taint and limit what we see. But, it should be the other way around. We should be viewing our theology and doctrine through the lens of God’s word.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
We must strive to be as the Berean’s in our approach to Truth:
Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Notice that the Berean’s “received the word with all readiness of mind”. We do that. In fact, we do that far too often. We like a pastor and believe everything he says. We like a book, and we believe everything in it. We drink in truth with error without “proving all things”.
But, there is a comma. There is more. The Berean’s “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so”. Now that’s the ticket. They gladly received the word, but also tested all things to the word of God. So should we. It’s not what we know, but what we know that isn’t so, that gets us into trouble.
But, we rarely do. We drink it all in – truth and error. We cling to our cherished beliefs. Unfortunately, I see this in action time and time again in Bible studies. We tend to congregate with those who share our theological positions. We gloat in our like-mindedness, wherein we reinforce our theologically biased views. We rarely challenge half-truth or honestly compare our beliefs to the Word of God. The fellowship is generally good, but the spiritual growth is often nonexistent.
“Our hearts are hungry for truth – so hungry, in fact, that we have to be careful not to consume lies. … A necessary aspect of hearing truth is refusing to hear lies. … Discernment is much easier when truth is the last word standing. … From the moment God puts His spotlight on a counterfeit message, refuse to entertain it. – Chris Tiegreen
The Secret: If you want to know the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth, I have a secret to share with you that will help you find the Truth – the Whole Truth. I believe that God has shown me this to help me understand how to find the proper balance – the entirety of Truth. If you get it and embrace it, it will change your life and, especially, your walk with God.
Imagine with me for a moment. This is a penny. This too is a penny. This second one was run over by a train – making it rather flat and thin. What do the two penny’s have in common? They both have two sides. Can I flatten a penny to the point where it has only one side? No; of course not. No matter how flat I make it, it will have two sides – or cease to exist.
Likewise, a road has what? It has two edges. No matter how narrow the road, it will always have two edges. The edges define the road from the non-road. Like a penny, no road can be so narrow as to have but one side. Even a line, no matter how thin, has two edges. (Note: In mathematics, we refer to a line as a one-dimensional figure having no thickness extending infinitely in two directions. It is merely a mathematical construct. But, in reality, a line still has edges.) Without edges, it would have no surface and would not exist.
God speaks of the narrow road of Truth – “narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life” (Matthew 7:14). God’s road of Truth, albeit narrow, has edges. Like two sides of the same coin, there are two edges of the Road of Truth. The problem is, we tend to major on one side or the other. This is what gets us into trouble – it leads to false doctrine. It leads to half-truth and sets us up to embrace false doctrine. Remember, if we’re half right, we’re still half wrong!
(Please note: I do not believe Truth is relative; it is indeed absolute. Nor, do I ascribe to any gray areas. Moreover, I am not suggesting compromising Truth with false doctrine or the half-truth in order to find the Truth. Rather, I am suggesting balancing absolute Truth with absolute Truth, in order to see the sum total of absolute Truth. This is a message to believers seeking the Whole Truth.)
Our theological lens keeps us from seeing the other side. If not balanced, our personal theology functions like blinders that keep us from seeing both perspectives of God’s Truth. We tend to see what we want to see; we see what we are comfortable with. Often the other side is uncomfortable for us and troubles our belief system, so we discount it. We tend to believe what we want to believe because we want to believe what we believe, and for no other reason.
“No one is so blind as he who will not see” – Warren Wiersbe
(Paraphrasing: “None so deaf as those that will not hear. None so blind as those that will not see.” – Matthew Henry)
“We have a right to believe whatever we want, but not everything we believe is right.” – Ravi Zacharias
It is our tendency to see one side of Truth that leads us into doctrinal error – right into the ditch nearest our perspective. Many times our theology is not all wrong; it is just not all right. If it is all wrong, we are in the wasteland beyond the ditches – that’s a story for another day. Our beliefs are, more often than not, just too narrow; they are just too one-sided.
Mark 4:24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given.
However, our narrow views can, in time, lead to serious doctrinal error as it keeps us from seeing all of God’s Truth. If we are not careful, we defend our beliefs against the opposite extreme of Truth – or those in the other ditch. As we do, we dig in and tend to move further and further into the ditch – further and further away from the sum total of Truth. Pride will gladly keep us there. Correction to our theology requires humility.
“Truth always requires some level of faith and humility in order to receive it.” – Chris Tiegreen
As I have said before, quoting Dudley Hall, “there is a ditch on both side of the road”. For every element of God’s Truth, Satan has not one, but two counterfeits. He cares little which ditch we tend towards, so long as we wind up in a ditch. Usually it is ditch nearest our proclivity to believe a narrow, one-sided understanding of God’s word – and as a result, a complete understanding of who God is. As fallible humans, we tend towards adding to (Proverbs 30:6; Deuteronomy 12:32), or taking away from God’s word (Revelation 22:19), to suit our tastes – or our preconceived notions.
“Whenever you choose [Jesus], you have to choose against something else. You have to leave behind a tradition or a preconception or a pet doctrine …” – Chris Tiegreen
No coin can be so thin as to not have two sides. Neither can a road be so narrow as to not have two edges. It is the edges that define the road – delineate its boundaries. The edge demarks the road from the non-road, from the ditches, as it were. Likewise, it is the extremes of Truth that define the sum-total of any given element of Truth. They demarcate the truth from the non-truth – the end of truth and the beginning of error. It is the tension of Truth that keeps us in the center where we belong. It is truly ‘intentional’ – pardon the pun!
Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
This is an extreme example. Do not these two verses, back to back words of Solomon, seem to contradict each other? Who among us would dare to say one or the other is wrong. Clearly, both are true. It presents a paradox of sorts, often a rather perplexing, seemingly irreconcilable paradox. Unfortunately, the seemingly contradictory scripture is rarely found back to back, as in this example. Sadly, it makes it easier to ignore the truth in tension.
So often in scripture, there are verses that seem to contradict one another. However, they don’t – they compliment. All of God’s word is true. It is a combination of, and our willingness to accept, seemingly contradictory scripture that gives us a complete picture of God and His word.
It is a surefire indication that we are off to one side or the other if we ignore or discount scripture that gives us heartburn with respect to our cherished beliefs. It is our narrow view, an unbalanced perspective, which causes us to markdown one verse over another, to major on one side of the road or the other. However, oddly, if we stand in the truth, we become the enemy of both sides.
“Mark whether, if ye stand out prominently in the truth … Men who love the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and will have it, and are therefore called a nasty set … Ah! we have lost what once we had.” – Charles Spurgeon
Seek Truth, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself standing in the middle of a war. If so, you will be shot at by both sides. If you are standing in Truth, both warring factions – those in the opposing ditches – will see you as part of the other side. Each camp will attempt to paint you in the most extreme light – with those in the other ditch. It is the Delphi technique at work. This is what we tend to do in church and Bible studies.
However, we must be careful to be sure we are truly centered on the road of Truth, and not merely deceiving ourselves wherein we are in the opposite ditch of those we debate.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. …
We must strive for the center – the balance – to embrace all of what God teaches us, even the opposing extremes of Truth. For, to choose either side is dangerous, indeed. We do this to our detriment. The key is to accept both – both complimentary elements of Truth, that is; not the erroneous beliefs of those who have moved just off the road into an adjacent ditch. Learn to walk in the tension between two truths. To be sure, both are equally correct. Doing so will pull us out of error and back to the balance of truth. Together, they give us a completed and complimentary view of God and our walk as Christians.
Charles Spurgeon warned: “half the mischief of the world … is perverted truth”. Likewise, so is half the mischief in the church. … “All the water outside the ship can’t sink it. It is the water inside that perils the ship’s safety”, Spurgeon says. When we defend erroneous beliefs and half-truths, we bring the water into the ship.
The Rest of the Story: Twisting scripture, verses out of context, and ignoring the whole verse or passage … are but a few of the subtle techniques used to defend false doctrine. It is by these means that we erect our defenses from within our doctrinal ditches.
“There is nothing more offensive to God than the distortion of His word.” – Dr. Youssef
Our tendency to camp out in one ditch or another often leads to scripture twisting to defend our position. If we have to go to the ‘Greek’ to make it say something beyond its face value, we are likely in error. However, it is usually not an outright twisting of scripture, but rather willfully ignoring the context. Thus, the verse used as a proof text appears to say something, or apply to a belief that it does not, when properly read in context. It becomes a defense for our pretext using a proof-text taken out of context (paraphrased from the late Dr. Walter Martin)
“My flesh doesn’t like certain verses … we must read to whole passage, it’s all God’s word” – David Nutter
Related to ignoring context, is a tendency to conveniently leave the rest of the verse or passage out when it is quoted. I remain shocked at the number of Christians know selected partial scripture verses – only. They are usually shocked when I quote the rest of the verse or passage or explain the context. It frequently leaves them without words – sometimes angry.
“Half-Truths make the most successful deceptions” – The Stream
If we cannot make our case for our personal theology without twisting scripture, lifting verses out of context, or citing a half-verse, it is a sure sign something is wrong with our position. We are likely in a ditch, defending a false doctrine. Truth requires no monkeying around with God’s word. Truth defends itself, if we allow.
“People want to know truth, but they don’t like the truth God has revealed” – Chris Tiegreen
A more heady technique to defend our one-sided doctrine is to use scripture to interpret scripture. Don’t get me wrong, scripture indeed interprets scripture – to a point. It is when we use our “pet” scripture to reinterpret the scripture that would re-center us in the balance between the intended tension of God’s word that we get into trouble. Most times scripture simply means what it plainly says. The tension that is created is meant to define the boundaries of Truth.
“When the plain sense of scripture makes perfect sense, seek no other sense” – Walter Martin, The Bible Answer Man
These are words to live by. They will keep us out of a lot of doctrinal trouble. When scripture makes perfect sense, it is not incumbent upon us to redefine it to suit our liking – to suit the verse on the side of the road of Truth that we prefer. The tension in scripture is, more often than not, intended.
Ditches: For every component of God’s truth there is a counterfeit. Moreover, there are always two counterfeits, two opposite forms of deception. They are two separate ends – degrees – of a spectrum where God truth lies in the center. False truth is on either side, making up extremes of error in two opposite directions.
Satan, the father of lies, would have us believe there is but one counterfeit. Thus, feeling confident we avoid the one we are aware of, we are all the more likely to fall for the other, the one we fail to recognize. How clever. How deceptive.
These two ditches constitute two clever means of deception the devil uses to get us off track. One direction or the other is suitably flavored to our individual taste. He cares little which direction we prefer, so long as we wind up off the centerline of truth. These extremes, if you will, amount to ditches on either side of a narrow road of God truth.
John Bunyan in his classic work, Pilgrim’s Progress, speaks of Christian’s journey where a “deep ditch lay on the right side … where the blind have led the blind throughout the ages and where both have miserably perished … on the left hand was a dangerous quagmire into which, if a good man falls, he finds no bottom … The pathway was also exceedingly narrow …”.
The devil would have us face down, wallowing in one ditch or the other. It makes no difference to him which ditch; either is just as in error. Either robs us of God power and checks our spiritual growth right where we fall in. It has been said that ‘the only difference between a rut (ditch) and a grave are the dimensions’.
Many straddle between the ditch and the truth, leaning to one side or another. Each has degrees of truth and error mixed into their understanding in differing proportion. They stand with one foot in God’s word and the other in a ditch wherein they add to or take away from God’s word to defend their off-balanced position. These straddling are better off than being completely in the ditch, but they are compromising and being robbed of power as a result. These are harder to discern.
Deuteronomy 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Others wind up full tilt in a ditch, embracing the error as God’s truth. In fact, many sadly wrap a complete, albeit perverse, theology around their position. Pride often enters in at this point holding the deceived in error. Now, believing they are in a groove (as opposed to a ditch), they defend their position with increasing fervor. Building a complete theology around their newfound belief, in time, they become fully convinced they are in truth. They begin believing their own warped words over that of God. To them, everyone else is in error.
Wrestling: Paul speaks of wrestling, saying that, “we wrestling not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers”. I do not believe it was an accidental choice of words. It is not a random metaphor. Greco-Roman wrestling was common in his day. He recognized the parallels and similarities in the battle with the devil.
Those who are good at the sport of wrestling (BTW, I am not referring to the TV so called ‘professional-wrestling’, but the real thing) realize it is more about deception then brute force. Strength, while important, is not nearly as important as mastering the craft of deception – setting your opponent up for an offensive move, to open up a weakness, to help him beat himself.
If I want my opponent to raise his head, for example, I snap it down, so that he resists forcefully in the opposite direction. As he does, I use his effort and momentum against him – to carry him where I wanted him to begin with. As wrestlers become more experience, more clever and subtle techniques are required to deceive a more worthy opponent. But, strategic deception is employed, nonetheless.
Satan is a master at wrestling. At first, he will simply pull us into whichever ditch we have a natural proclivity towards. Once out, and as we gain experience, he will pull us toward a ditch he knows we will refuse. As we recoil he simply helps carry us clear over the road of truth into opposite ditch – the one we failed to recognize behind us as we focus on the one we know. Many times we simply throw ourselves into the ditch for him. Either way, he has us where he wants us.
“It is funny how mortals picture us always putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out. If this fails, you must fall back on a subtler misdirection of his intention.” – C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters
I had a number of sub-ten-second pins, in fact, my co-captain and I had a running wager over who could pin their opponent the fastest, while also using the most flamboyant technique – style points you know. While I pinned a lot of guys, I was never good enough to pin my opponent without holding his shoulder to the mat. But, Satan can. Now that’s high-scoring style. Once in the ditch, he will humiliate or embarrass us so we become defensive. We defend our position with ever increasing passion, refusing to recognize we are in error. By this point, pride will often keep us right where we are – where he wants us. We pin ourselves without his assistance. Furthermore, we too often invite others into the ditch with us. We become ‘ditch evangelists’– thereby, doing the work of the devil for him.
Most times we fail to recognize we are in a ditch. But it is always a sure sign we are if we find ourselves discounting or outright ignoring seemingly contradictory scripture, making excuses to deny the power of God in our life – to excuse unanswered prayer centered on God’s word. Excuse making is lying; lying is of the devil, the “father of lies”.
In know ditches, I have been in most of them myself at one time or another. I know firsthand what it is like to defend erroneous beliefs and to allow pride to keep me there. Moreover, God has led me to study the ditches, comparing their beliefs against His word.
Sometimes it seems that spiritual growth requires bouncing from ditch to ditch – especially, early on in our walk with God. The solution is to not get stuck in one. The sooner we extract ourselves from a ditch, the sooner we move on with God. Just be careful not to fling yourself into the opposite ditch.
No doubt many, reading or hearing this, are saying, ‘who do you think you are?’ How is it you think you have it all figured out? Let me be clear and honest, I do not have it l all figured out. No sooner do I believe I have been in all the ditches, I find myself in another. And once again, I must humbly admit I was wrong and climb out of the ditch. What I do know is that this teaching is true. God uses it time and time again to help me embrace the Tension of Truth.
Like Tiegreen states, it indeed takes “humility” to accept Truth … and that we are wrong – or too narrow in our understanding. But, we must in order to grow in the Lord. May, God grant us the humility to accept the complete cannon of scripture. May, God enable me to discover and share the Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth – in love. For it is the road of Truth, albeit narrow, that encompasses all of God’s word, His full counsel – even that Truth which is seemingly in tension with other Truth.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
You see, we hold the key. As believers, we have the precious Holy Spirit – the Spirit of Truth – within us. The Holy Spirit will lead us “into all truth” if we allow him. But, we must be willing. We must be humble enough for Him to show us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth regardless of what we believe or want to believe.
Every Bible study’s mission statement should be:
Come “let us reason together”.
Sadly, few approach it this way. Most are merely congregations of folks sharing the same theological bent. “Iron sharpens iron”. If only we would lovingly hold each other accountable where truth is concerned there would be far less mischief with respect to Truth. Maybe, more to the point:
“Perhaps we need to ‘let God be true, but every man a liar’ when we approach the words of Scripture”. (ICR)
Perhaps, indeed!