Truth or Fiction?

READ: Psalm 119:137-144

The Word of the Lord is right and true.

Here’s a quiz, given with a little help from truthorfiction.com—a Web site that does the legwork to check out those too-good-to-be-true stories we hear so often. Here are some scenarios you may have read about. Are they “Truth or Fiction”?

1. NASA computer finds biblical missing day.
2. Airlines team up Christian and non-Christian pilots in case of rapture.
3. Bill Gates spoke to high schoolers, detailing his 11 rules for life, including, “Life is not fair; get used to it.”
4. Atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair is petitioning the FCC to get religious radio and TV off the air.
5. Find errors on new quarters and make money.

Each of these stories has circulated widely, and it would take some research to figure out which, if any, are true (well, maybe not in the O’Hair deal since she’s been dead for several years). But that doesn’t stop people from spreading these stories without bothering to check them out.

Fortunately, truthorfiction.com has done the research and reveals that Nos. 1 through 4 are all false. Only the money-making No. 5 is true. Some of the new American “state series” quarters have upside-down images on the reverse. Find one of those, and you have a numismatist’s dream come true.

Finding the truth is always important. Yet the slogan of today’s world is often “Truth is what you make it to be.” In other words, my ideas and your ideas can be polar opposites and still both be true. That is just postmodern gobbledygook. There is a truth that prevails, and that truth is this: God is our source of all Truth. What He says in His Word trumps all other claims, and only through trusting in the Way, the Truth, and the Life—Jesus—can we live in the truth (Psalm 33:4).

Consider these truths: God created the heavens and the earth. God is love. All have sinned. Jesus rose from the grave and is alive today. Salvation is found in Christ alone. The Holy Spirit indwells believers. God inspired the writing of the Bible. The Bible provides truth for living.

These are truths you can stake your life on—truths that are solid, dependable, and uncontestable. Base your life on the truth God has provided. —Dave Branon

REFLECTION

• What are some stories I’ve heard recently that I don’t really know are true? Have I ever spread a story without finding out whether it is reliable?
• How familiar am I with God’s Word and its truths? How can I become more aware of the fundamental truths of the faith?

Truth begins and ends with God.

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