Mark Twain famously said, “get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.” We might reasonably presume that this was going on in his lifetime. It is so today, even where Christianity is concerned. When we speak of our faith, however, we would rather go with the word truth to defend our faith. Even though Pontius Pilate on that famous Friday asked, “what is truth?”, we lay claim to the truth of God’s Word, manifested in Jesus. We steer clear of using the word fact because it carries the burden of proof, evidence.

Do you ever play out evangelizing conversations in your mind? What if you’re talking with someone, and the topic of faith comes up? When asked, “how do you know it’s true?”, how do you respond? The hackneyed phrase, “God said it, I believe it and that settles it!” doesn’t wash anymore. I’m not even sure if the answer of “you can’t make this stuff up” would work. We cannot be dismissive when someone takes the chance to engage in one of the historically “taboo” subjects. God and politics. Tread lightly, and be prepared for pushback.

This savvy generation knows full well that facts, even truth, get distorted. When we fly right to FOX, we get one version. Lean left toward CNN, and you get the opposite rendering of the news. It grieves me when I see how “evangelical Christianity” has been grossly misconstrued. It is far too easy for us to assign labels, especially to that which we oppose. I think we should leave facts to the sciences. On the plus side, more and more academicians are becoming convinced of the facts to our truth claims. Let us as brothers and sisters in Christ be more focused on the truth which we feel in our heart, spirit and soul. Faith is more a feeling, a hunch. I borrow that from the great film Keeping the Faith. We are called, I believe to be prepared for the plans God lays out for us. Be ready for the opportunities our Lord presents us to give an accounting for the faith and hope that is in us. Our hope, faith and peace come from the one God who supersedes all the doubt, uncertainty, cynicism and “spin” of the world. Stake your claim on that fact: that God so unconditionally loved and loves the world that He gave His only son. Believing in that, we will not perish, but have everlasting life. Tell that truth, and then we will all wait for the facts to come out.

Pastor Art