How Do We Really Know Truth?
For many years I have been concerned about the amount of conflicting views in and outside the church on what is and isn’t truth. With so much information on the Internet regarding doctrines, denominations, different Bible translations, even this article.. how do we have any hope of knowing what and who is telling us the the truth and who and what isn’t truth? Sometimes it can be totally overwhelming as to what we are supposed to believe. So I wanted to write a little bit about this since at one point in my life, due to so many conflicting voices and religions, I almost lost my faith altogether and do not want others to go through this necessarily.
I got so distraught with the teachings of men – with all differing opinions as to what was wrong and what was right (even finding that the preachers at my own church didn’t always agree) that I asked – begged God to please help me to see the wood for the trees amongst the deluge of information and opinion overload from multitudes of Bible scholars and teachers.
The response from God was a surprise, and one I don’t suggest for others – this was just how he chose to deal with my issues. However what i learned may help some.
After I prayed (my confusion about how I could know real truth from falsehoods taught by men went on for several years) He said to me; stop going to church (for now) – and I (God) will teach you and rebuild your faith. To be honest I was not expecting any clarity at all – I was actually quite hopeless.
What happened next was amazing. The first thing God taught me that his spirit alone – The Holy Spirit is able to teach me and discern for me if what I am seeing, hearing or reading is true or false (I found this hard to believe but found out later this is actually in the Bible. Jesus himself taught this about the Spirit – I will reference the verse here later).
Rest assured you can know what is true and what is false – but there is ONE piece of small print; you MUST be open to hearing what you don;t want to hear. What I mean by this is that it is in out nature to believe and migrate to those teachings that suit us and fit our current lifestyle. If you are not open to anything the Holy Spirit wants to teach you.. then you are in great danger that God will leave you believing falsehoods (seems harsh of God to let you believe a falsehood? This is also in The Bible I found out – that God allows those that choose to believe what they know to be false – and even magnifies this error. God is known as the great magnifier so be careful what you choose to believe as whatever you do will be magnified so that the desires of all men will ultimately manifest their fruit and be seen by all of creation.
Please note: This article is incomplete as I am working at the mo – I will complete as and when I can. This article represents my current understanding and opinions, and shares my experiences regarding ‘how to know truth’ in these days where there are so many conflicting views. I have learned never to demand that anyone takes what I (or any other man) for ultimate truth but you must search your own heart in guidance of The Holy Spirit and look to The Bible for ultimate truth.
To be continued…
I love God, Christ, The Bible. art, painting, playing music, improvising music, guitar (first instrument), drumming (not very good at it:), and anything musical or art related. Quick note – my articles are usually spun off in minutes so forgive any errors – hopefully you get the essence of the article and I’ll pick up mistakes later. If you want to write of 101ChristianMagazine and inspire and edify Christians with articles on faith, general news, hobbies or anything that interests you email me at: epgb101@gmail.com:)
