Anyone remember that game where you put a paper headband on and then you had to guess what was written on the headband by asking questions?
I bought an inexpensive kids’ version of this game and so I thought this would be a fun thing to play with the grandsons while I babysat them a few days ago.
We had a grand time taking turns being the headband wearer/question-asker. This game’s buttons were all fairly easy animals to guess and so the kids caught on pretty quickly. “Do I live in the forest?” “Am I small?” “Do I have four legs?” It was fun watching them think of questions to ask.
Even the two year old got involved. He’d run over and shout “my turn! my turn!” and so I’d find an easy animal that makes a sound and we’d all start making the sound and tell him to guess. He’d sit there with a big smile and then he’d be off to play with something else until he decided it was “his turn” again!
For the last turn of the game, my oldest grandson picked out a “really hard one” for me. I smiled and thought how hard could it be?
And so I started asking questions. The first question I asked was “Do I live in the jungle?”
Yes! He said. You DO live in the jungle.
Every other question I asked or animal I considered was based on this answer. Yes, I do live in the jungle.
I asked question after question after question. But it just didn’t add up. No animal fit all the criteria. I really had no idea.
Finally, he gave me a few BIG hints.
And you know what? It was a bear.
But bears don’t live in the jungle. And so I was starting with a wrong premise. From there, it became literally impossible for me to reach the correct conclusion.
Did you know it is impossible to reach the correct conclusion if you don’t start with the right premise?
It’s no different with spiritual matters. You won’t reach the right conclusion, if you don’t start with the truth. And there are a few things that we must know about the truth.
Contrary to popular opinion, the truth is not determined by what we happen to believe is true. Believing something doesn’t make it true. The fact that my grandson believed bears live in the jungle does not change the fact they they do NOT live in the jungle. He couldn’t just decide they do just because he wanted them to. He can’t have his “own truth” when it comes to bears and where they live. Why do we think it is any different regarding matters of eternity?
Truth is not determined by the majority. Did you know that the whole world could believe something and it could still be a lie? Popularity, numbers, and votes are irrelevant to what is true.
The truth doesn’t change. Truth does not blow every which way, upon a new cultural trend or direction. Truth is truth and it is immutable. Which we would expect from the determiner of that Truth, who is God– “with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17).
We also need to be aware that people lie. Now my grandson may have been playing a joke on me and told me that bears live in the jungle even if he knew full well that they didn’t. Jokes are one thing. But eternity is no joking matter. And there are many false teachers out there plain out lying to you about the matter of how you get to heaven.
People can be confused and deceived. Some people aren’t purposefully lying. But the fact that they are so kindly sincere in their deceived and confused assertions doesn’t change the fact that what they are passionately sharing just isn’t true.
The truth about eternity can only be found in the Bible. How do we know the Bible is different than any other religious book? Why’s the Bible so special? If you are really sincere in asking that question, then may I refer you to Pastor Dean Good’s series on The Bible (find it here), where he will explain in detail how it is not only special but will also tell you why it can be trusted.
You may assert that the Bible isn’t true or that it’s just a book full of myths. But you can’t really say that honestly until you’ve done the research. Why not do the research? Your very eternity may depend upon it. Isn’t it worth a bit of your time?
Oh, may we start with the right premise: the Bible is true…
so that we can come to the correct conclusion about eternity and where we will spend it.