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Recently we have been shocked by Iran's president
Ahmadenajab's remarks that the Holocaust did not really happen. (Not to
mention that this tragedy is one of the most thoroughly documented
events in history). We are struck by a glaring disregard for the
biblical value we call "Truth."
 Before one can arrive at spiritual and revelatory truth, he must have a commitment to basic "intellectual honesty."
II Thessalonians 2:10
With
all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not
receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Several
years before my salvation experience, while taking drugs with some
philosophy students at Harvard, I told them I was "searching for the
Truth." Afterwards, when I shared with some the gospel, I was surprised
to find that not everyone was interested. I said to a friend, "Don't
you remember when we were searching for the truth when we were taking
drugs?" He said, "You were searching for the truth. I was just getting
high."
Commitment to intellectual
integrity is just as essential after we come to saving faith in Yeshua.
In fact, we as the community of faith must be those who uphold the
standard of truth.
I Timothy 3:15
...the church, which is the pillar and ground of the truth.
If
we do not maintain those values, who will? Muslims are often motivated
by "honor" more than the truth. Therefore, Ahmadenajab equates his
Holocaust denial with the Danish cartoons about Muhammed; as if to say,
"If they can dishonor our prophet, we can lie about the Holocaust."
Once sharing with a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews from Shas (who had
come to attack us), I asked them if they believed that the Lubavitcher
rebbe was the Messiah. They said, "God forbid, no!" I then asked them
why they didn't go to attack them instead of us. They replied, "No, we
only attack you." When I asked them why, they said, "Because the
Lubavitcher rebbe was at least a good Jew." I said to them, "Do you
hear what you are saying: it doesn't matter to you whether he is a
false Messiah; only whether he upheld Jewish traditions." When racial
or religious pride becomes more important to us than truth, we are
heading for deception.
Another area of deception is our lusts.
Ephesians 4:22
... according to deceitful lusts.
A
popular Israeli music album was once called, "Sweet Illusions."
Sometimes we allow ourselves to ignore something we know to be false or
wrong, because we are getting some kind of secondary benefits from the
lie. We prefer our pleasure to the truth, and thus we let our lust open
the door to a spirit of deception.
Even a
number of Hollywood films in recent years have portrayed horribly ugly
demons disguised as beautiful, sensual women. When a man yields to
lust, what he sees is not really there. His mind betrays him. Once my
wife noticed me examining, just a little too long, a certain billboard
advertisement. She quickly punched me in the side, and said, "Don't you
realize that picture is a phony. Why should you look at a fake, when
you have the real thing?"
Biblical truth is not philosophical (John 18:38). Truth is a person (John 14:6). Biblical truth is not academic alone, but a moral commandment that must be obeyed (Romans 2:8, I Peter 1:22, I John 1:6). Let us always gird our loins with the commitment to intellectual honesty, moral courage, and historical truth (Ephesians 6:14).
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