Speaking Truth To Our Neighbor

"It is not that some people want to be understood, it is that they speak and act so as to be misunderstood."

"Like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death is the man who deceives his neighbor and says, "I am only joking!" (Proverbs 26:18-19) Good-natured ribbing can turn caustic, hiding its verbal abuse and retaliation behind the pretense of "I was only kidding." Even our private apologies for and public "confessions" of sin are oftentimes no less duplicitous and disingenuous. When confronted with sin, the guilty often blame others for misunderstanding what was said or meant. Such confessions sound more like an excuse to justify rather than admit guilt. Insincerity is the trademark of those attempting to minimize their guilt, operating for their own self-interest. Those who are spiritually-minded, when confronted with their sin humbly examine themselves and with no protest, repent seeking forgiveness from God and the offended. We can do no less if our light is going to shine when speaking truth to our neighbor!

Of Honest Doubts

Doubts are healthful, if they are honest. As one has wisely observed, "Doubt is the spade that uncovers the truth." Honest doubts prod us to be vigilant in our search for truth. People with honest doubt sometimes err in the pursuit of truth. However, if we are going to remain spiritually alive, we will not remain in that error if we are honest. Spiritually alive people who err in the pursuit of truth will show themselves to be alive spiritually not only by examining their beliefs when challenged, but by also correcting their beliefs when wrong. Thus, they show themselves to be in the faith (II Cor. 13:5). If the the longest journey any of us will make is coming to ourselves (Luke 15:17), then the most critical step of that journey is the first. The first step for that long journey is an honest self-examination not doubting the truth but recognizing the possibility I could be wrong!

A Thinking Man's Religion

The New Testament is a way of life for people who are willing to think. However, to be sure, thinking is not the sine non qua (the essential element without) of only those who possess a degree of higher education. In point of fact, many with a lesser degree of formal education often grasp the meaning of the text, with greater ease, than some who have attained a higher degree of education (cf. I Cor.1:26-31).

Among the apostles and writers of the NT only a few of them possessed a higher education by academic standards. A fact, duly noted by the opposition to Christianity in the first century, “When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13 NIV). These men at times, were impulsive, impetuous and ignorant of the “bigger picture” of God’s purposes. However, no one can read or study their lives and seriously regard these “unschooled” men as credulous simpletons.

The academic and so-called religious world (and on occasion brethren) often fear what they are either unwilling to admit they do not know and/or honestly examine a contrary position to their own. Consequently, they disdain those who are humble in their confidence of what they believe.

Jesus taught the people to think for themselves with regard to the message of the OT as it pointed to the Christ and “the common people heard Him gladly” (Mark 12:37). Read carefully the gospel of “Mark chapters 11 and 12” noting the arguments advanced by Jesus contain no trace of esotericism (an understanding for only the enlightened or intellectual). One only needed to know what the OT said and to think about it in a proper way to come to the truth.

We must encourage independent study and thinking with regard to God’s word. Paul’s admonition to Timothy is: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15 NRSV). Our faith is not dependent on what another says the Bible teaches. It is to be determined by the Word and to that end we must think for ourselves. Some would discourage independent thinking because it puts them at risk. After all, one who is honest and truly thinks independently may end up differing with them.

The unifying factor of all truly faithful people is found in the truth, not in their agreement! Agreement in error is not a unity that is pleasing to God! However, if we reverence the Bible as God’s word, and we are honest in our pursuit of the truth, such like-minded people are obligated to examine their differences without regard to personalities or resorting to insults and innuendos. Independent thinking seeks neither to be right for right’s sake (I’m right you’re wrong) nor for the sake of winning an argument (I’m smarter)!

True independent thinking, in the midst of differences, seeks to be right for the sake of humbly submitting to it. This is true religion for all thinking people – it is for truth’s sake and not for self!