"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its
original dimensions."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, US author &
physician (1809 - 1894)
Yesterday, my wife & two younger children left for Colorado to visit
the Grandparents, and my oldest left for a short retreat to Northern
Wisconsin. I am alone at home. Earlier yesterday I had been feeling down,
and ran across a video message from Alex Jones (http://youtu.be/lsp5n3Lc1hU) which
really made me feel bad, and quite helpless.
For I know a great many things, and yet I know so little! And what can I do with what I know? In 2008, due to the economic crash, I was
awakened as to a lot of bad things going on in society. So I begin to get Bunker Mentality. What is bunker mentality? Google it!
But what can I do, I kept asking myself.
And how easily I am swayed by the darkness outside, for I know the
darkness within.
As I have wrestled over these feelings and emotions over and over again,
I find that society has no answers. And
I think about that quip, "Ignorance is bliss" and I would sometime
long to go back to days of ignorance, and faced with what looks like some very
great darkness, who would not? It's the
same idea one gets when we look back, with rose colored glasses, at ones youth.
But those glasses are rose colored, and the truth is not there... How can you know what was true? Though you were there, were you not
captivated by your mind's interpretations of events as you had them explained
to you? Childhood is simple, because we
are not able to grasp some things beyond the concrete, and once we have passed
the concrete time of development we are under the tutelage of those who, also
being influenced by their peers and surroundings give to us, their aspect of
knowledge. Again I say, where is the Truth?
I reject outright the simple idea that truth is relative to the
person. As if "my truth" can
be different than your truth and yet both ideas be truth?! It's ridiculous on its face, and logic
demands a better explanation. As Ravi
Zacharias likes to say, Even the relativist acknowledges the truth, that he
should look both ways before crossing the street, for it's either the bus or
me! Both/and
thinking will get you killed! And I am
surprised that we somehow think, within such categorical boxes, that we can
have diametrically opposed ideas, and yet both be right. This "Coexist" bumper sticker
philosophy sounds great, until one realizes that what we believe matters, and
we cannot co-exist, without having either a great conflict, or a great compromise. Neither of which is pleasant to think on, and
so we ignore the truth. And since it was
recently played, another example of this is John Lennon's song, Imagine. The world thus imagined is so devoid of
reality as to be completely un-reality.
But let's travel down this path for just a moment... It really sounds like Utopia that he is
describing. Another look with rose
colored glasses at what the world might look like, only if....
But an honest look at your own internal heart should convince you at
least that this world (Utopia), could never exist... at least not if YOU were
part of it. Remember, I said an honest
look. At this point, I may have some
readers checking out. Offended that I
would suggest they are less than the person they think themselves to be. But even if today, they live uprightly (which
I would argue they don't), they at least would admit some "youthful indiscretions"
of the past. I certainly can. Consider the fact though that these "indiscretions"
affected people then also, for the worse.
Those people have a past history too now, and ought they, and all of us
simply put that in a box? Hiding the past does not remove it from reality. Even if it could be so, it would not be
right. The truth of the matter is that
because of our wicked heart, we have hurt others in the past, and apart from a
change of heart, by the master of our souls, as recorded in Jeremiah 31:31-34,
we have NO HOPE of such a utopia, and will hurt others again. The myth of Co-existence is that while we do
so, we will continue to hurt, maim, and kill others due to our sinful heart
(see Jeremiah 17:5-10). Now I have done it... I dared state the problem is
sin. Anyone not offended yet? You will
surely have to wrestle through this writing now!
If truth is not to be found within us, or our interpretation of events,
then where can we find the truth? We
cannot simply say, in the Scriptures, as I am desirous to do, because someone
will cry foul! Is it not these same
Scriptures which were written down by men, and if men are suspect, how can we
trust the Bible? I do trust the
Scriptures. And one of the best logical
explanations of my confidence in them is a short but significant and logically
cogent statement by Dr. Voddie Baucham, "I choose to believe the Bible
because it is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by
eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. They report [of]
supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and
claimed that their writings are divine rather than human in origin." This is a rational and cogent defensive
statement of my belief in the Holy Scriptures.
Yet, if I choose to, I can still reject the Scriptures, as this
explanation only gets to the probability factor. This makes the veracity of the Bible highly
probable, but not assuredly so. So where
can I turn? Where can you turn?
As I began this commentary, it was on my despondency of the times. And I am profoundly confident in the Holmes
quote above, so I cannot retreat into ignorance once again. And though the quip may be true, ignorance
may be bliss, but it is still ignorance.
So I must respond to the darkness. I have a responsibility to do so for myself,
and my family.
Where is the source of the darkness?
Nothing but men. And as the Proverb states, "The fear of man brings
a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe." (Proverbs
29:25) In Acts 5 we read of both the
fear of God and man. Peter gives a
statement to the leading authorities of the day, in Acts 5:29, "But Peter
and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than
men." So I really must come to a
conclusion to the question of the source of truth. For if the Scriptures be true, then I have a
clear injunction to follow, and that is to trust God.
And the fact of the matter is that the Scriptures are sufficient, but
only for those whose eyes have been opened to the truth, by the Lord. Apart from looking honestly at your own
heart, and recognizing the great wickedness therein, one cannot know the truth. But if one humble himself, if he call upon
the Lord, who will in no way cast out ANY who calls to him (John 6:35-38), the
Lord will reveal himself, and the Scriptures are proven sufficient thereby. There is no other way folks. It is a matter of faith.
But this way, this way is so comforting!
For now I do not have to rationalize away my thoughts into tiny
compartments. Instead, I can trust the
veracity of the One who has revealed himself to me in the Scriptures (He will
do so for you too, if you but ask in humility), and no longer do I have to fret
over the darkness within, for the light has come! (Matthew 5:14 & John 8:12)
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