The Truth, the Myth and the Lie

""The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:1-4)

The Twenty-Third Psalm is one of many classic feel good scriptures.  An accomplished speaker can place special emphases on certain word that will causing burdens to disperse and smiles to radiate from once frowning faces.  Those of us who enjoy an ethnic flavor often rejoice in that moment when the preacher tone up and roar, "The LORD is my Sheppard."

       

What do we think off when we think about LORD as a Sheppard or a protector?  If you are like most Christians, you think of someone who will shield you from the hardships of this life.  Since David described him as a Sheppard, we ask him to protect our family and us, from sickness and diseases like heart trouble and cancer.   We ask for traveling grace and protection when we travel and the list could go on.  Some even pray for and testify of the LORD putting gas in their car.

It’s tempting to read the verses in the Bible of God as a protector with a kind of absolute interpretation, applying these verses to ourselves directly and proclaiming it to be the truth for all times and places.  If I read about God as a shield, it is logical that I want him to be a shield in all situations.   However, does God protect all of us in every situation?   Most of us cannot answer the question with a simple "Yes" or "No", we must add a disclaimer.  How often have you heard the phrase, "He might not come when you want him but He is always on time"?  From what perspective are we speaking?  Does God have to show up every time we get into trouble?  Here is where a type of disclaimer comes in handy.  In one sense, we will never know how many times God actually protected us, then there are times when God simply left us to karma.   Reaping what we have sown is as much a part of the scripture as God building a fence around us.  In a world with the freewill to make our own choices, we cannot get around the fact that hardships await us—Jesus promised us as much.  However, he has a perfect will for us and that includes different kinds of protection.

Trying to answer the questions of what God do and do not do without adding the disclaimer exposes a cognitive dissonance.  This is one of many common examples of cognitive dissonance activated when people confront the scriptural reality of their concept of God's protection or even miracles.  Cognitive dissonance is the mental stress or discomfort experienced by an individual who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values at the same time; performs an action that is contradictory to one or more beliefs, ideas, or values; or confronted by new information that conflicts with existing beliefs, ideas, or values.  Therefore, if you are reading this right now and you are feeling uneasy, nervous even; it is a normal reaction.   This is what cognitive dissonance does, but confusion can be the prelude to clarity. 

We need be careful that we do not use too cavalier approach when interpreting the scripture.    Christian values suffer most when myth and lies impregnate the truth through bogus interpretation.  This fallacy occurs when we shape the scripture in such a manner that it says what makes the listeners feel good.  When we read the Old Testament we see that God was a deliverer to the Children of Israel, in the New Testament, to the church he was a comforter. 

 The three Hebrew men who was about to be casted into the fiery furnace knew they served an all-powerful God, but they did not pray for God to display his power.  When asked by the evil King they confirmed their faith by stating, "Whether He deliver us or not He is still God."  Deliverance was not a prerequisite of their faith, yet God showed up.   John the Baptist sent a message to Christ, his concern was are you the Christ or shall we look for another. Deliverance was not a prerequisite of his faith.   After receiving an answer from Christ, John was contented to languish in Jail and face execution, refusing to tone down his rhetoric.  Jesus did not show up and save John's life.  Stephen, like his Savior, when confronted with death called upon God to receive his spirit.  It seems the Martyrs were comfortable with dying to be with their LORD.

"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Revelation 6:9-11)

Let us come together and reason, do we believe in God?  Maybe we should rephrase the question, “what God do we believe in”?   There is the God of Moses who left his children to wander in the wilderness forty years because they were rude and disobedient.   There is the God of John the Baptist who left the forerunner of his son to languish in jail until a grumpy old King ordered his head removed.  Then there is the God who allowed the execution of his Son for a crime he did not commit, and there is that God, whose vial of wrath is overflowing.  Both Simon Peter and Paul expressed a profound desire to die to be with the Son of God who said I am going away to prepare a place for you.   

There seems to be a new God in charge today, one that has changed all of the rules.  This new God has "flip the script' and it's about now and not the hereafter.  The rules only apply when it comes to getting stuff.  The wages of sin is passé and the feel-good gospel is in vogue.   The rowdiness of the world has invaded the church house and the sacredness of worship is discarded or desecrated.   Money and power have become the new gods of salvation.  To be able to use the word salvation, I must post the question; do we still believe in salvation of the soul?   What is it that drives us to church each Sunday?    Is it the performance of the preacher, the choir or the dance team?    Is our desire to get our ‘praise on’ greater than our desire to be like Jesus?  Imagine Jesus, that person that we say we want to be like, telling his disciples, let us go to the temple and get our praise on "Yawl"?

Humanity has reached a level of indifference and intolerance to the truth.  From our leaders in high places to the lowly minions whose life is a constant struggle, the truth has become elusive.  Many have bought into the lie because it is the acceptable thing to do.  Without an honest dialog, we quickly digress into a conversation of lies.

In a conversation of lies, stretching and shaping the truth is a necessary element to accommodate or appease the person or speaker who might have a difference of opinion.     Sadly, to say, in many instances nothing can resolve the differences when we elevate our opinion above all other opinions.