Know The Truth Instead of Buying It

My stepdad and I had a discussion about the truth.

I told him that the truth is easy to see if you're honest with yourself. It stands up under great scrutiny, and it does not eventually fail like falsehood does.

What is your definition of "truth"?

Most people will say "truth is the opposite of a lie." That's like saying, "light is the opposite of dark" or "knowledge is the opposite of ignorance." You see, it doesn't really tell you what truth is.

I tried to describe it to my stepfather like this. According to dictionary.com, truth is defined as agreement with a standard or original. We all probably know about the Constitution that America was founded upon. Now if you read the Constitution, and it read,

Preamble

We the Monsters of the United Grapes, in Order to form a more zany Union, establish Insanity, insure domestic Hostility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Harm, and secure the Curses of Bondage to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United Grapes of Tennessee.

You would know that it was not the truth. People know that the original Constitution reads

Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

That would make the first paragraph a lie, a falsehood, untrue, a fraud, a phony, or a counterfeit. The second paragraph is the truth, it is right, it is correct, and it is the ORIGINAL. Anything that changes from that original is what is not the truth.

My stepdad says, "Well, Mistye, there are so many different religions and beliefs. So how can you say that the one Jesus talks of is the truth. First of all, Jesus said in John 14:6 that

• "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

I've read and heard this verse so many times in the past. But when I heard it in this context, it was so new. I knew He was the ONLY way to go and the ONLY way to get through to God and into heaven. But I usually ignored the part about Him being the TRUTH.

I also had to explain to my stepfather that sometimes Jesus seems so cloudy or hard to understand because what we have been presented with as being Jesus is really just a copy of a copy of a copy. I asked my stepdad had he seen a copy of a copy after putting the original on a copier machine. The copies are never as clear as the original page that has been printed fresh off the printer.

Jesus is much the same way. Jesus is God come down in human form who dwelt on earth for 33 years.

John 1:1 - King James Bible

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 - King James Bible

................................................................................

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

So Word=God was in the beginning and Word=He was made flesh and dwelt on earth (with us humans) full of TRUTH!

So God/Jesus are the original because they came from the beginning. Who better to be the original than the original that made itself?! No man can taint what was made before man was made. But throughout thousands of years of religion, our image of God and Jesus has been tainted by being made a copy of another copy.

Even if a page looks like an original, if you copy its copy, you'll soon see it wasn't the true original because its copy of its copy looks blurry.

When you know the truth it will be so clear to you. There will be no doubt. Why worry yourself with buying the truth when you can know it for yourself?

My stepdad has obviously been trying to buy the truth. He seems to mess around and pull "truths" from so many different religions that he has made his own religion it appears! The best way I can describe it as he would is that He believes that God is not a father figure who hears or answers prayers like I believe that God is a Heavenly Father, but He's just a spirit of love. He believes that Jesus was just a man. He doesn't believe in hell, the devil, or ghosts/spirits. I don't think he believes in heaven either. Now don't get me wrong, I do respect my stepfather, but he is a great example I use because we have long discussions about religion that give me a glimpse into how agnostics/deists/atheists think.

I feel for him because he will risk his soul on a collaboration of half-truths. He picks a "truth" from this religion over here, and then a "truth" from this one here. But you can tell he doesn't really believe in it because he'll change his mind. If it was the truth, there'd be no changing of the mind. Maybe he can settle for a 99% truth, but I need a whole 100% heap of it! If the Preamble of the Constitution read:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Insanity, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I'd still not take it. It looks like the Preamble, most of the words are the exact words, but ONE WORD IS WRONG. If you're not familiar with the original copy of the Constitution, you'll take it as truth and you'll even pass it on to others as truth and will lead them astray. But you'd be selling yourself short. Know the truth for yourself instead of having to buy it from a bunch of unsure people. If I only believed 95% of the bible, it wouldn't do for me. I believe 100% of my religion. And if God shows me a flaw, I'll amend that. But so far, I'm satisfied. I'm 100% sure of where I'm going when I die. My stepdad is unsure because the people He believes are unsure.

So Jesus is the original or standard we should base our conduct and attitude upon. I wouldn't base mine on even Mother Theresa and Mahatma Ghandi. Even they would have revealed that they did not lead perfect lies all of their lives. Jesus however lived a perfect life.

It also says in Heb. 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin."

No one else is a good enough original! Jesus should be our role model in life. We should model our behavior and attitudes after His. He was tempted, persecuted, lied on, mistreated, and talked about, but never sinned even against the very people who did Him dirty. He forgave His murderers AS THEY MURDERED HIM!.

JESUS ALONE IS THE ORIGINAL. HE IS THE STANDARD. HE IS THE TRUTH!