The Bible on Trial

Believe it, or not~

What is it about lies that is so attractive to most people? Really! There as a old saying; "How do you know when politicians and preachers are lying? When their mouths are moving".  An important issue when trying to decide whether someone is tellling the truth or not is that you must realize that sincerety has nothing to do whith truth. In fact, sincerety is often a hindrance to the dissenmination of truth, because the more overtly sincere a person is, the more likely they are not telling you the whole truth.

When Jesus was here on earth the leadership of the Jews in Israel were VERY sincere in their telling the people of Israel just how big of a liar was this upstart teacher from Nazareth. According to their understanding of the LAW Jesus had it all wrong. The Doctors of the Law knew the Law backward and forward, and in their view, at least at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, he could not possibly be the long looked for Messiah. After all, John the Baptist said in no-uncertain-terms that he (John) was not the Elijah that was to precede the coming of the Messiah; so therefore, how could Jesus actually BE that Messiah.

Yet the Sanhedrin actually knew who Jesus was, and this scared them to death. If Jesus was the Messiah then these very leaders were destined to loose their power over the people, and their substantial incomes; and THIS they just could not allow. Their sincerety in telling lies about Him changed from an honest sincerety and scepticism about who He was, to that of KNOWING the Truth, knowing He was their Messiah, and chosing to tell the people lies to maintain their religious and political positions.

As it was then, so too is it today. Sincerety, as a rule, is a two-edged sword, and it can be nearly impossible to tell what is true based soley on its application in public discourse. Believe it or not-just decide by facts, not sincerity.