THE MEN’S THESAURUS (men don’t always say what they mean) – excerpts:
When a man says: "IT’S A GUY THING"
He means: "There is no rational thought pattern connected with this, and you have no chance at all of making it logical"
When a man says "CAN I HELP WITH DINNER"
He means: "Why isn’t it already on the table?"
When a man says "UH HUH, SURE HONEY,” or “YES, DEAR"
He means: Absolutely nothing – It’s a conditioned response.
When a man says ’’IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN"
He means: "I have no idea how it works"
When a man says "TAKE A BREAK, HONEY. YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD’’
He means: "I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner"
When a man says ’THAT’S INTERESTING DEAR.’
He means: "Are you still talking?"
When a man says "YOU KNOW HOW BAD MY MEMORY IS."
He means: " I can remember the theme song to ’F Troop’, the address of the first girl I ever kissed & the vehicle identification numbers of every car I ever owned – but I forgot your birthday"
When a man says ’OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF. IT’S NO BIG DEAL"
He means: "I have actually severed a limb, but I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt"
When a man says ’I CAN’T FIND IT.’’
He means: "It didn’t fall into my outstretched hand, so I’m completely clueless"
When a man says “I HEARD YOU.”
He means: "I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you’ll not spend the next 3 days yelling at me."
When a man says "YOU KNOW I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE ELSE"
He means: "I am used to the way you yell at me and realize it could be worse."
When a man says "YOU LOOK TERRIFIC!"
He means: "Oh please don’t try on one more outfit, I’m starving."
When a man says "I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE."
He means: "No one will ever see us alive again."
APPLY: What is truth? As our “Men’s Thesaurus” points out – truth is sometimes what we want it to be.
Last week we discussed the worldly belief – that is, that all truth is relative (relative to your situation or how you view life), & we found that a society whose morality based is on anyone’s point of view ends up being totally confused and unable to condemn even the most obvious of evils. Why? Because no one “has - right to condemn another person’s actions”
The Bible (by contrast) has always maintained that there is “Absolute truth.” That there is a standard by which all men will be judged. In Jeremiah 5:1 God ordered the prophet to "Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.”
God believes in “absolute truth.” In fact you can’t worship God if you reject this idea that truth is absolute. In John 4:23 Jesus declared: “…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.”
I. SO, if it so important, what is basis of that “absolute truth? – where do I look for truth?
Recent studies have shown that the majority of Americans believe that “all religions” will lead ultimately to God. That they are all different ways of getting to God. The general concensus is that God reveals Himself in all religious traditions, no matter what they teach. Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Jew – they all have different truths to offer.
On the surface, that sounds tolerant… open minded. (personally, I don’t mind being open minded as long as my brains don’t fall out). But, unfortunately, this type of open mindedness, is the brains on the floor, type of thinking.
This type of theology (that all religions are equal) is merely “moral relativism” applied to God. (i.e. what is true is “relative” to what you want to believe).
As appealing as that type of thinking has seemed to some… it’s a lazy man’s theology and fails to hold up under close examination.
Eastern Religions (Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism) - impersonal deity, pantheism, no concept of an afterlife
Hinduism - impersonal deity, polytheism theism, reincarnation
Islam - impersonal deity, monotheism, eternal life is earned
Judaism - personal deity, monotheism, eternal life is earned
Christianity - personal deity, monotheism, eternal life is a gift
If God reveals himself through all the world religions, then we’re left with two options concerning his character.
Joel Smith of the Wellspring Community Church has observed: "If pluralism is true, God is either a liar or a schizophrenic. The differences are too deep to conclude that all religions lead to the same destination. I suspect that people who support such a view have never really examined where the different faith groups diverge. A god who would devise such a system (where all religions are acceptable) is either:
…A liar, telling one group ’This is the way’ and another group ’That is the way.’
Or he’s schizophrenic. He has a multiple personality disorder. One day he’s Shiva, the destroyer. Another day he’s Brahma an impersonal force pervading the universe. The god you get depends on what day you bump into him."
THEREFORE, IT IS FALSE TO BELIEVE THAT “ALL RELIGIONS” LEAD TO GOD
II. So, If I can’t get “ABSOLUTE” truth from just any old religion… where am I to find it?
Well, you’re in the Church of Christ here – you know what I’m going to say. John 1:17 declared …the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
In other words, God’s Grace & God’s Truth comes to us thru Jesus Christ. That may explain why Jesus used the phrase “I tell you the truth” repeatedly throughout His ministry. If you count the times it occurs all four Gospels – Jesus uses that phrase 76 times.
It’s little wonder then that Matthew 7:28-29 tell us that “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.”
III. When I was corresponding with an atheist on the Internet recently, however, he rejected this concept.
“How do you know that your Jesus has any advantage over founders other religions?” he asked. The simplest answer would have been “because the Bible tells me so.”
Jesus said: “I am the way, THE TRUTH and the life. – no one comes unto the father but by me.”
Peter declared: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
That’s the simplest answer… the Bible says so, therefore it is true.
Now, the more involved answer to the atheist (and the one I challenged him with) was this: Jesus had credentials no other religious leader ever had. This is the answer used by Jesus in John 5:31ff
For example, Buddha existed about 500 years before Christ. He came up with what he thought was a good idea. Others around him also thought this was a good idea, and there grew up a religion around his teachings. But no one ever predicted that Buddha would appear when he did and teach as he did.
Likewise, Mohammed was born over 500 years after Christ and he had what he thought was a good idea. Others around him thought his ideas were good and a religion formed around his teachings. However, no one ever predicted that Buddha would appear when he did and teach as he did. Nobody ever said… someone is coming with a good idea
By contrast, the Old Testament has over 300 prophecies declaring that someone was coming, and some of those prophecies were made nearly 1000 years before Jesus was born. The Israelites were repeatedly told, not only what this man would teach, but where he would be born and how he would die.
One man has observed that when we consider 10 of the prophecies about Messiah these are the odds that the prophecies about the Messiah would be fulfilled by him.
· Born in Bethlehem 1 in 200
· Preceded by a messenger 1 in 20
· Be betrayed by a friend 1 in 10
· Have his hands and feet pierced 1 in 100
· Be wounded and whipped 1 in 25
· Be sold for 30 pieces of silver 1 in 100
· Be spit upon and beaten 1 in 10
· Betrayal money thrown in temple and given for potters field 1 in 200
· Be silent before his accusers 1 in 100
· Be crucified with thieves 1 in 100
Considered collectively, there was one chance in 10 billion times a billion that the prophets could have accurately predicted these 10 specifics by chance, or that one man’s life could fulfill these detailed prophecies by chance alone. It is obviously IMPOSSIBLE.
That Jesus fulfilled all those prophecies was the more involved answer…
BUT, the Best Answer to the atheist’s question could best explained by the following story:
A missionary and a follower of Mohammed were having a discussion one day. The Mohammedan wanted to impress the missionary with what he considered to be the superiority of Islam. So he said, "When we go to Mecca, we at least find a coffin, but when you Christians go the Jerusalem, your Mecca, you find nothing but an empty grave."
At this the, missionary smiled: "That is just the difference. Mohammed is dead & in his coffin. And all other systems of religion and philosophy are in their coffins. But Christ is risen, and all power in heaven and on earth is given to Him! He is alive, but they are all dead.
What is absolute truth?
* The truth is you and I have been sinners and we can’t clean away those sins on our own
* The truth is God has created you in His image and He loves you…
* And the truth is that God so loved you… that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
You can know all the other facts this world can teach you… but if you miss this one truth, that God has offered you salvation from the debt of your sins, you’ll miss out on God’s salvation and heaven Salvation will not depend upon your point of view… it will depend on what you do with Jesus.
As the old Gospel hymn declares:
"Jesus is standing in Pilate’s hall
Friendless, forsaken, betrayed by all:
Hearken what meaneth the sudden call!
What will you do with Jesus?
What will you do with Jesus?
Neutral you cannot be;
Someday your heart will be asking,
’What will He do with me?’"
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Ants In The Sleeping Bag - John 4:4-4:42
The Rejection Of Truth - Genesis 3:1-3:10
The Search For Absolute Truth - John 18:33-18:38
