Is it true?

 

Sometimes you wonder if the information you get is actually true, writes Bert Cargill of St Monans Gospel Hall. With the advent of AI, and the ease with which images can now be altered and manipulated, along with the deliberate spread ofmisinformation on social media, how can you be sure of the truth of a matter?

Some organisations like the BBC have “Verify” procedures which check their news
reports to give some reassurance. Against this there are online statements and
Twitter posts which carry the label “Truth”, but that name hides their intent and
content.

In court cases and public enquiries, evidence must be backed up and established by
two or three witnesses. This fundamental aspect of testimony was declared in the
Bible around 3500 years ago (Deuteronomy 19.15) and remains basic to the
administration of justice in civilised societies. False witnesses sometimes try to
bolster an unworthy cause, as happened when Jesus Christ was being tried by
Pontius Pilate. They failed, but the sentence was still a serious miscarriage of justice.

God cannot lie!

 

                                            All photographs courtesy of Unsplash

                                    Scripture Reading

 

Titus 1.2

 

‘In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began’

 

 

What a bizarre statement from a human perspective. I lie, you lie, and we all do so why assume that God would be any different. There is a core issue that we are facing here as we look at the topic of God’s total truthfulness. The issue is that God is everything that we are not. He is pure, He is perfect, He always acts within his character and He is unique compared to you and me.

 

If you like to compare versions of the bible you will see that when translating this verse some of the more modern versions say, ‘God does not lie’ (NET, LITV, NIV). Interestingly the older versions usually say he ‘cannot lie’ (RV, Darby, Wuest, Rotherham). Which is correct you might be asking. Have a look at a Strong’s Concordance’ on your phone or laptop to see what Mr Strong says about this phrase. He says that the word for a lie has a negative particle in front of it to indicate that God is not capable of lying. If you look up ‘Robertson’s Word Pictures’, he tells us that the statement really means that God is the ‘non-lying God’. God is not in the business of lying; it is out of character for Him and he just does not do it.

What does this mean for me? I can trust everything he has ever said! You’ll have a good day after thinking this one through.