The Bible on Trial

Truth, or Consequences~

When I was 16 years old, one of the most popular show on TV was a game show called "Truth, or Consequences!" I think is aired on NBC. As an outing with the family, we went to a filming of a show, and as a lark I decided to see if I could get on the show. Wouldn't you know it, I actually made the cut, and was entered as a contestant on the show. I didn't win. And although it was a  little nerve-wracking, it was really fun being 'on camera'. Looking back on it 44 years later I realize that on that show, as in life, Truth was in short supply. The questions that were asked were deliberately vague and deceptive, and were not so much a test of your knowledge on a subject, but as test of alternate word usage and meaning. In other words, you had to be able to decipher a pun. I think this was a turning point in my life, and aided by my Dad I actually fell in love with puns after this experience (much to the chagrin of my family and friends).

Words mean things, and sometimes they mean more than one thing. This was what the 'apostle' Paul was counting on when he penned his 'Epistles'. Paul has a 'way with words' that allows him to obfuscate and disguise meanings such that you can pretty much take anything you want away from what he says. As Peter (supposedly) said, 'Paul is hard to understand'.

It is for THIS reason that in order to find truth in the Bible, or anywhere else for that matter, we need to find a Gold Standard of truth, whereby we can KNOW that what we are seeing, hearing and reading is, in fact, the actual 'God's Honest' Truth. And this is where the words of Jesus that He gave to His own eyewitness disciples comes in. This is why Jesus said;

"I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word", John 17:20.