\u201cHave you brushed your teeth?\u201d You\u2019ve heard that question since you were young.<\/p>\n
Sometimes the answer was \u201cYes\u201d; other times \u201cNo.\u201d The truth would be somewhere in the middle — as kids we had lots more important things to do, so 10 strokes back and forth on the front teeth and we\u2019d think we were good to go.<\/p>\n
TV commercials and our parents drilled into our minds that we didn\u2019t want the dreaded tooth decay. Instead, our parents longed to hear, \u201cLook, Mom, no cavities!\u201d (And then they rewarded us with candy!)<\/p>\n
Tooth decay is painful. When the dentist says, \u201cYou\u2019ll only feel a slight pinch\u201d — buckle up. They also know it can be painful financially.<\/p>\n
Today our society suffers from \u201ctruth decay.\u201d Our courts require us to place our hands on a Bible and promise \u201cto tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help me God,\u201d and yet the truth often eludes us in today\u2019s legal system, in our legislative bodies and government entities.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t handle the truth!\u201d is an often-quoted line in a popular movie from the 1990s but today the truth is that most people don\u2019t want to hear the truth. Educators and scholars lecture that there\u2019s no such thing as \u201cabsolute truth.\u201d \u201cYou can\u2019t handle the truth\u201d has been replaced with \u201cI don\u2019t want to hear the truth\u201d as we place our hands over our ears (and our hearts) and in effect say, \u201cI\u2019m not listening!\u201d<\/p>\n
During Jesus\u2019 mock trial, Pilot asked Him, \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d An ad I saw in a major national newspaper\/trade publication said in part:
\n The truth can\u2019t be glossed over.<\/p>\n
The truth has no agenda.<\/p>\n
The truth can\u2019t be manufactured.<\/p>\n
The truth doesn\u2019t take sides.
\nBut the apostle Paul warned Timothy, \u201c… there is going to come a time when people won\u2019t listen to the truth but will go around looking for teachers who will tell them just what they want to hear\u201d (2 Timothy 4:3, TLB).<\/p>\n
That time has arrived.<\/p>\n
Truth decay wreaks havoc in our culture, in our relationships and in our churches. It\u2019s piped into our homes and devices through television, the internet and social media.<\/p>\n
How do we combat \u201ctruth decay\u201d?<\/p>\n
The only remedy for \u201ctruth decay\u201d is to return to the One who said, \u201cI am the way, the truth and the life.\u201d The implication of Jesus\u2019 declaration confounds the culture, yet it remains the only hope for the world. This is the unaltered, unfiltered, unapologetic truth. Jesus declared God\u2019s words are truth (John 17:17) — words that need to be applied generously and frequently that will set a person free (John 8:32). Truth should be presented creatively and consistently using current communication platforms. Most importantly, the truth must be delivered with love (Ephesians 4:15).<\/p>\n
Our entire country is desperately in need of a \u201ctruth infusion.\u201d No legislation can stop the cultural decay. Only God\u2019s truth can change a heart and correct the course of a nation.<\/p>\n
________<\/p>\n
John Kyle is director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHave you brushed your teeth?\u201d You\u2019ve heard that question since you were young. Sometimes the answer was \u201cYes\u201d; other times \u201cNo.\u201d The truth would be somewhere in the middle — as kids we had lots more important things to do, so 10 strokes back and forth on the front teeth and we\u2019d think we were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[818,1104,1154,1155,113],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8003"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}