Truth Floats

There once was a ship that sailed from the Old World toward a distant and unknown land. On the second day of the third week of the voyage a violent storm arose, the ship began to take on water, and the ship's only life boat was smashed against the side of the ship.  The captain, fearing the ship would be lost, called out to his crew, "Men, the ship is going down!  Save yourselves!  Each of you get hold of a life preserver and gather at the bow." Two or three minutes passed and eventually all of the men stood together at the bow of the ship.  One small group of men stood together each holding a single cannon ball.  Another group, stood in a small circle holding onto a large anchor.  Still another group huddled together holding on to each other.  The last group had red and white floatation vests strapped firmly in place.

As the ship slowly sank into the ocean, the men all smiled politely, made small talk about how lovely all of the life preservers looked on each other, and commented on how wonderful it was that the men were so open minded with regard to what actually constituted a "life preserver". Finally the ship sank below the water's surface and so did the men with the cannon balls, the men with the anchor, and the group of men holding on to each other.  Alone on the water were the men with the life vests wondering what ever happened to all of their shipmates......

Truth.  We believe in that word and live by it every single day.  We know when we get on an airplane that the man in the cockpit with the wings on his jacket is a pilot. If he were not a pilot but a salad chef we'd get off fast.  Why?  Because we understand that just because the salad chef believes in his heart he's a pilot, it doesn't make him one.  We put gas in our car because putting coffee in the tank wouldn't get us to work.  Gas is gas and coffee is coffee.  I could go on all day with these ridiculous analogies but I think you get the point.  We live knowing that some things are true and others aren't.

For some reason when it comes to religious world views we have developed the nonsensical idea that all religious beliefs can be equally true and equally valid as long as the believer is sincere and as long as no one claims any exclusivity.  Let's get this out on the table.  I have great respect for someone who is passionate for what they believe.  If you're an atheist and believe that there is no God then it doesn't make much sense for you to say that we're both right.  If you're a Muslim and believe that Jesus was a just a prophet and the Christian believes he was God then we both can't be right.  If you're a member of the New Age movement and believe that we are all (with the rocks, trees, and air) collectively "God" and the Bible says that God is the creator of all that is, we can't both be right.  Jim Jones convinced 913 people that he was the reincarnation of Jesus, Buddha, Lenin, and Father Divine.  He lead them to commit mass suicide because of that belief.  They were sincere but most of us would agree it was not a valid belief.  We can love each other and respect each other but let's not belittle each other.  

The late Adrian Rogers once said. "It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error. It is better to speak the truth that hurts and then heals, than falsehood that comforts and then kills"  I think a rational but loving discussion between the men on the boat would have been good, don't you? 

 "Hey dude, that cannon ball is going to sink like a rock!  I think there is another floatation device aft." 

"I like my cannon ball.  It will float just fine."  

"Hey here is an extra cannon ball.  Let's chuck it overboard and see what happens."  

"SPLASH"  

"Dang, you were right!  Where did you say that other vest was?"

I don't know what your world view is.  You may be a Christian, a Muslim, a Mormon, an Atheist, an Agnostic, a Hindu, a Buddhist, or a Wiccan and you are absolutely free to do so but I challenge you to take a look at your world view and begin to ask yourself is it true and if it is how do you know?

Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me."  The Apostle John said "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." No ambiguity there! We're going to go deeper next time so put on your seat belts. We're grown ups here and can speak openly in love, right?  Either Jesus was God in the flesh and the only way to the Father, he was a liar, or he was crazy.  But he didn't leave us the option of making him just one of many fine spiritual leaders.  This will fly in the face of twenty first century  reason, religious tolerance,  and political correctness but I know if you set aside pride and think rationally we can have a real live dialogue that may just change your life..  Don't forget to check out our main site "The I61 PROJECT.ORG"

In Christ's love, David