Sep 3

Why Does the Truth Frighten Some People?

St. Augustine said: “We love the truth when it enlightens us, we hate the truth when it convicts us.”

The truth is not something people always want to hear. It often it stands in stark contrast to their lifestyles. In the Old Testament, Zechariah the prophet said, “Your ancestors refused to listen to this message. They stubbornly turned away and put their fingers in their ears to keep from hearing” (Zech. 7:11). Truth can be unpleasant to hear.

In the New Testament, things weren’t any different. In Acts 7:57, Stephen, the first Christian martyr, delivered a message people didn’t like to hear, the people responded by covering their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, and dragging him out of the city to stone him to death.” Obviously, telling the truth can be a dangerous thing.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:10, Paul speaks of people who will spiritually perish because they refused to love the truth. He writes:

He (the man of lawlessness or Antichrist) will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them. So, God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies. Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.

When people hear God's truth – his Word – there are several reactions. First, they can just simply choose to be indifferent to that truth or ignore it entirely, especially is that truth is counter to their lifestyle. Second, they can choose to argue with the truth or employ all intellectual gymnastics to twist that truth into something more suitable to their liking. Even Christians are not resistant to that tactic. Third, they can berate the bearer of the truth. We see that tactic at work today. Most pastors today who are willing to tell the truth are often assailed as bigots, racists, white supremicists (if their white), intolerant, or just plain hateful.

Is this a new phenomenon? No, not at all. As the previous Bible verses all indicate – it's an outcome of truth-telling.

When people decide to enjoy evil rather than accept God’s truth, God is left with no other choice but to condemn them for "enjoying evil rather than believing the truth."

This of course is not what he wants for anyone. The Apostle Peter makes this very clear, “He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” (2 Peter 3:9). But a consequence of God giving us our freedom is that we might refuse his truth and not repent. We may choose to go our own way and reject his truth. There is a reason why Jesus said the road that leads to destruction is broad and many are on it.

In Romans 1:18, the Apostle Paul also speaks of people suppressing the truth – “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress [emphasis mine] the truth by their wickedness.”

So, refusing to love and accept God’s truth, or suppressing God’s truth, are not virtuous pursuits. So, what could possibly motivate people to reject or suppress God’s truth, if such actions only incur his anger? The answer – “their wickedness”. Sin and wickedness keep people from acknowledging God’s truth. Do you know why? People love their wickedness more than accepting the truth. Jesus spoke about this in John 3:18-20:

Anyone who does not believe in him [Jesus] has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil [emphasis mine]. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.

The statement, “people loved darkness more than light, for their actions were evil,” states the obvious – sin and wickedness are things people love. They find them pleasurable, at least for a while.

But even though sin and wickedness are temporaliy pleasurable, they are not inescapable. No one is doomed to live a sinful, wicked life. It’s a choice. When Moses chose to leave the sinful pleasures of Egypt, the Bible refers to his decision in Hebrews 11:25 as follows: “He chose to suffer with God’s people instead of enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. He thought it was better to suffer for the Christ than to have all the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking for God’s reward.”

The sinful pleasures of Egypt were nothing to scoff at. Many a person has sought these sinful and temporary pleasures all their lives. But Moses made a choice. It was a good choice. He chose to abandon those sinful pleasures for something more eternal. He was looking forward to seeing God. He chose the truth and followed Jesus.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus often prefaces his teaching with the words, “I tell you the truth”. In effect, he is saying my truth is not-negotiable. It’s something everyone needs to listen to and adhere to. But why would he be so arbitrary, you ask? It was not because Jesus was an egomaniac. It was because he is the Truth. He was God in human flesh. He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” In other words, “He was not just telling us the truth, he is the truth!” That statement takes truth to a whole new level. Jesus was saying – reject my truth and teaching and you are rejecting me. Rejecting me will have eternal consequences.

When Pilate asked Jesus about the charges being brought against him, Jesus responded in John 18: 37-38, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”[emphasis mine] Then Pilate asks the question still echoed everywhere today, “What is truth?” Tragically, truth was staring Pilate in the face, and he couldn’t see it.

Juxtaposed to Jesus’ claim of being the truth, is today’s post-modern claim that there is no absolute truth, only a plethora of truths.

In Oprah Winfrey’s lifetime achievement award acceptance speech at the 2018 Golden Globes, she said, "What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have."

“Your truth.” Those two words are so entrenched in our society today that we hardly recognize them for the incomprehensible nightmare that they are. Among other things, the philosophy of "your truth" destroys families when a dad suddenly decides "his truth" is calling him to a new lover, a new family, or maybe even a new gender. It's a philosophy that can destroy entire societies, because invariably one person's truth will go to battle with another person's truth, and devoid of reason and an absolute standard of truth, only power, shaming and cancelling decides the victor.

When one embraces the philosophy "your truth", it puts an incredible, self-justifying burden on the individual. If we are all self-made projects whose destinies are wholly ours to discover and implement, life becomes a descent into chaos. To autonomously live by the motto, "Live your truth" is not only exhausting, but it’s also illogical. Despair and depression, not to mention the human casulities left behind in one's selfish wake, are the inevitable result of anyone bent on being their own sovereign.

For example, in today’s “celebrations of life” – for that is what they are called now – people want to do everything they can to put the best spin on a deceased person’s life. Their words are flowery and eloquent, humorous and no doubt, sincere. Underneath it all they are trying to leave people with the impression that the deceased person will not only be missed, but that they are in a far better place.

But is that the truth? Are they in a better place? Or is this just wishful thinking? Such a statement would be true if it was said of those who were devout Christians – people that feared God and follwed his truth, but it is highly disingenuous to make such a statement when everyone knew the deceased person lived a dissolute life. It would be better to say nothing than to be untruthful and misrepresent someone’s life.

But people have chosen to use euphemisms today to paper over life’s harsher realities. They do this because they do not want to face the truth about their eternal destiny. So, it should come as no surprise that in poll after poll, people can readily embrace the truth about heaven, but few will embrace the truth about hell.

Ernest Hemingway once said, “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”

Jesus never depicted anyone going to heaven unless they firmly placed their trust and faith in him. For instance, he said to Martha after her brother Lazarus died, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Do you believe this, Martha?” (See: John 11:25) In other words, Jesus was saying, “Do you believe the truth that I am saying to you right now?”

It is hard to understand why people would fear the truth when it can be so life-changing, so hopeful and freeing? Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

It seems that we fear the truth because of where it may lead us. We often deny the truth in hopes that if we ignore it, maybe we won’t have to deal with it. But instead of following Jesus and being set free, some wolud rather wonder aimlessly around pursuing their own version of the truth.

The popular Pursuit of Wonder YouTube channel (almost two million subscribers) gives an excellent concise insight on Existentialism. One segment is noteworthy:

Now more than ever we are exposed to a plethora of ideas about life. The Internet has made it so we can consume a seemingly unending amount of content on the topic of living most effectively. However, simultaneously, this access to information has also allowed the consumer to realize just how conflicting most ideas are. In the West, the popularity of traditional religion (has) reduced as a result. (And) for many, the increasing access to information has revealed that the world is basically without any discernible truth, and most ideas about how to live are inconclusive and unreliable. It is fair to speculate that this could be a major contributing factor to the modern world's increasing levels of anxiety, cynicism, and disillusion.

Choosing between conflicting ideas of how to live has always been an issue. But in the modern world, where conflicting ideas are constantly smacking us in the face, we can often find ourselves failing in our attempt to find footing in this reality. At birth it's as if we are all given a slab of clay. We get to choose what to mold it into. However, … there is no right or wrong way to mold the clay. Rather there are endless ways, all equally absurd, all equally meaningless.[1]

Jesus described this meaningless pursuit in Luke 9:24-25, "If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?"

In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says the following, “For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

How strange we humans are that we would pursue such meaningless and absurd interpretations of what truth is. The broad road with its many "truths" leads to destruction and Jesus says it will be well-travelled.

Are we afraid to deal with God’s truth because it is painful or contrary to what we want to hear? Do we find it easier to go through life denying God’s truth and accepting only what is pleasant to our ears?

When it comes to making a serious decision about accepting God’s truth, above all other “truths” we must understand the urgency before us. Governor Felix is an example of this as the Apostle Paul talks to him:

A few days later Felix came back with his wife, Drusilla, who was Jewish. Sending for Paul, they listened as he told them about faith in Christ Jesus. As he reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,” he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again.[2]

As far as we can tell, Felix never found a more convenient time to accept God’s truth. Like Felix, you may find God’s truth to be frightening, uncomfortable and even inconvenient. But like Felix, you don’t have to wait for a more convenient time. The Bible says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”[3] Heeding his truth will set you free.

[1] Pursuit of Wonder, “Existentialism & The Internet - Why We’re Getting More Anxious,” YouTube 4-30-19) [2] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ac 24:24–25. [3] The Holy Bible: New International Version. 1984. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.