A Broad Spectrum of Beliefs

Matthew 7:13-14 (ESV)
¹³  “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
¹⁴  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Most of us know what Jesus meant here.  There are many paths out there to take. He supports the idea in John 14:6 where He says He is the only way to God.  Christianity is the narrow way.  That’s because Christianity is the Truth.  There can be an assortment of lies but only one truth.

French philosopher, Rene’ Descartes, said that truth is consistent.  It does not contradict itself.  So one way to tell if something is true is to look into the opposing views searching for contradictions.

Detectives use this line of reasoning all the time.  “Where were you at 7:00 Friday night?”  “I was at the baseball game, Angel’s Stadium, watching the game.”  “But 20 people saw you enter the Disneyland Hotel with a blonde woman at 7:00.” 

The truth doesn’t contradict itself.  Truth is a reflection of reality.  If something doesn’t correspond with what actually happened, then it is a lie.

We have the Truth in Christ.  Anything which comes against it is a lie and must have contradictions.  There are lots of good stories, complex stories with so many facets it’s hard to weed out the contradictions.  But, if they do not correspond with the truth, they are wrong and contradictions are contained within the set of beliefs.

Unfortunately, since lies can be plentiful and truth can only have one position, lies pervade our world spiritually.  From Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Wicca, Druids, to Satanism, lots and lots of lies.

The way banks train tellers to recognize counterfeit money is not to have them inspect the counterfeits but to recognize the features of the original, the genuine article.  God has told us to do the same with our “Genuine Article,” the Bible.

2 Timothy 2:15 (NKJV)
¹⁵  Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

So, while there are lots of paths out there we can take, only one is true.  Only one corresponds to reality.  Let’s study our Bibles, talk about what we learn with other believers, and test ourselves to see if we are still on the true path.

2 Corinthians 13:5a (ESV)
⁵  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?