In opinions the world is drowning. Many, if not most, people don’t know the difference between truth and opinion. Here are some opinions to add to the flood:

• The world was better before the internet.
• People who need to be spoon-fed won’t grow.
• Those who don’t read, can’t lead.
• Each individual should assume responsibility for his health ─ both physical and spiritual.
• Vain repetitions seem never to die away.
• Pet theories or truths often fall into the category of jokes.
• Too many words fly around the world; too few, up to Heaven.
• Reading the entire book of Proverbs once a month is a most needed exercise for the masses, and myself.
• Politics is a spiral ─ mostly downward.
• Blogging is a highly overrated past-time (or full-time job).
• One should never number things that don’t need numbering, such as a list of disparate opinions.

Here are some statements of truth. They belong to a totally different order from the previous list:

• There is only one God.
• There is only one truth.
• God created everything that exists out of nothing.
• Human beings were created for God.
• Jesus is Lord and Savior.
• The Holy Spirit reveals God’s plan in the Bible.
• Jesus established one church.
• God created the nuclear family as the foundation of human society.
• Jesus will return to seek his people.

I think my opinions are good ones. You think yours are, too. In our world, opinions are truth, feelings supplant facts, theories ignore reality. Superstitions have never really died out.

Human beings have an enormous capacity to ignore facts that contradict their vision or theory. The Jews said, “We have never been in bondage to anyone” John 8.33. The scoffers said, “All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” 2 Peter 3.4. This is the process of deliberately ignoring contradicting facts, vv. 5-6.

This process has been reinforced and developed even further to produce people who live in an alternative world, where facts mean nothing and consequences are disconnected from the actions that produced them, while at the same time they talk about Science, History, proofs and evidence. The world has never walked in darkness as it does in our era, with its philosophies, theologies, movements and theories, in all areas of life: in religion, morality, politics, economics, personal values.

The need for the light of Christ, in its purity and simplicity, has never been so great. Evangelizers (a synonym for Christians) may think that no one is interested in the gospel, when in fact people’s hearts are searching and crying out for peace, forgiveness, purpose, and fulfillment. It is necessary to define the love and fear of God in biblical terms, to show the value of self-sacrifice on the altar of divine priority, and to proclaim the day of the Lord, when all will enter eternity, receiving judgment according to the acts performed in this life and the words spoken that originated in the heart.

The world needs and wants hope, but has little idea where it is to be found. People need love, but don’t even know it when they see it. In the darkness men and women grope for faith, for something solid to believe in.

Will someone offer it to them?

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J. Randal Matheny

Randal and his wife Vicki have lived and worked in Brazil since 1984. He is one of God's little ones. He seeks to speak the truth simply and lovingly. Comments at this link.

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