You Can't Handle the Truth!
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 21 Sep 2008 in From Steve's Study ::
So yelled Jack Nicholson to Tom Cruise in the film A Few Good Men. And yet this could well be used as a description of our world at present. People today find it very hard to accept any “Truth” claims. As soon as anyone stands up and declares that they have a mortgage on the Truth, there is a chorus of dissenters and hecklers.
Andrew Denton, in his film God on my Side was very disturbed by the claims to exclusive truth made by the Christians he spoke with. He looked at the damage done by religious “fundamentalists” of many faiths and concludes that “anyone who says, ‘There’s only one truth, I know what it is, and if you don’t ascribe to it you’ve got it coming to you’ … needs to be looked at carefully”. In other words, it’s OK to believe what you like, just don’t kid yourself into thinking you’re the only one who has the answers.
The Apostle Paul lived in a very similar age – an age with many gods and beliefs clamoring for a place in the people’s lives. Yet, in our passage this morning (Acts 17), we see him stand up and make claims about truth that have eternal consequences.
The way he does this is helpful, I feel. He doesn’t just stand up and proclaim an ideology, or tear down the ideologies of others, instead, he talks about a person. He tells the people about the man Jesus, who walked the streets of Galilee, cared for the sick and outcast, said and did amazing things & who finally was crucified by the authorities. These things are well attested and barely denied even in our day. However, this Jesus didn�t stay dead! Soon after his death he was seen by many people and now lays claim to being the judge of the earth.
There is an important question of truth here. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, then Christianity is a waste of time, but if he really did rise, we need to take heed of what he says.
Can you handle the truth?
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