The definition of 'truth' is 'opposite of error'. Truth means it is conformable to fact. It is correct. Truth in action, is when the human conscience agrees with the intellect. Truth is 'ONE'. There can be only one truth, Jn 17:17-23. Any variation in the one truth is not truth at all, but error.
Truth is a person. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth
and the life", Jn 14:6. When GOD created each one of us, He wrote
His law into our hearts... "When the Gentiles who have no law do by
nature what the Law prescribes, these having no law are a law unto themselves.
They show the work of the LAW WRITTEN IN THEIR HEARTS. THEIR CONSCIENCE
BEARS WITNESS TO THEM, EVEN WHEN CONFLICTING THOUGHTS ACCUSE OR DEFEND
THEM",
Rom 2:14-15. See also Heb 8:10 and Heb 10:16.
It is our conscience that examines these laws. The 'free will' we were given when we were created makes a decision based on what conscience is telling it, and what the intellect is saying. 'Free will' gives us the ability to make the right or the wrong decision in GOD's eyes. GOD made the laws, and over and over again, He has urged us to do right, and warned us against doing wrong. If we did not have free will, there would be no need for urging or warnings. GOD could simply command us to do His will and we would be helpless to resist. By using free will, we decide which course of action will be taken for each individual incident we face in life. By using free will, each decides for himself where he will spend eternity.
GOD sends no one to hell. We send ourselves through the decisions we make in this life. In addition to GOD's laws written in our hearts, GOD also built in a hunger for Him and an innate desire to seek Him out. Since GOD is 'truth', that innate desire is to seek the 'truth' in all things. When we have sought the truth and have found it, then we have found GOD.
That leads into the purpose of this file. In order to find the truth, we have to test for it. We have an obligation to question if we are in the process of entering the wide gate to perdition, or the narrow gate to salvation. "Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who enter that way. How narrow the gate and close the way that leads to life! AND FEW THERE ARE WHO FIND IT", Matt 7:13-14. Clearly, these two verses say that the majority of us are on the broad way to destruction. Don't you want to be on the narrow way to heaven?
In order to insure you are on the right path you have to work at it. You are obliged to look at all the options, examine them with the intellect, and seek an agreement with the conscience. Satan is very clever at disguising himself and at deceiving us into believing what appears as truth, is in fact error. See Isa 5:20, "Woe to you that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness." He is the one who is responsible for so many who are traveling down the broad way. He is constantly telling you that you are on the narrow way, when in fact, he really has situated you on the wide way, the super highway to his domain.
We must not just lie down and accept what we have as being the truth without testing for it on a continual basis. If you just lay back and refuse to test for it, the chances are you are on the wide way as Matt 7:13-14 is trying to tell you.
So how do you test for the truth? I have already given you the answer in the first paragraph. You have to look for error, and you have to see if the truth is conformable to fact. Here are some guidelines. Consult your conscience as you follow these pointers...
1. Have you felt uncomfortable (conscience speaking) with some Bible verses that do not seem to conform to the teaching of your Church? All of Scripture is harmonious and it all should fit together like a giant picture puzzle.
2. When you do question some teaching, do you get definitive answers every time?
3. Do you get meaningless or nebulous answers that don't make sense?
4. Are you absolutely sure that you are in the Church that Jesus Christ founded? He only founded 'A' Church in Matt 16:18. That verse does not say 'Churches'. I am reminded of 1 Cor 10:12, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall."
5. There are over 33,800 different Christian sects in the world today. How can you be sure you have chosen the right one?
6. Remember, 'TRUTH IS ONE', so how can there possibly be 33,800 different Christian Churches, all teaching that ONE TRUTH?
7. If all those Churches taught the same truth, then there would not be 33,800, but only one. What does an examination of conscience say now?
8. That means there have to be 33,799 Churches teaching error. If that is the case, then there are 33,799 Churches on the 'wide path' and only one on the 'narrow'. I don't like those gambling odds of 1 in 33,800. Does that bother your conscience?
9. Most all Churches claim to be the Church of truth. Who do you believe? Which one is right? Which Church does the Bible say is the Church of truth?
10. The Church of truth is spelled out in the Bible. It is the only Church that was given the authority, the one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells forever, John 14:15-17.
11. "But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest, for they have been performed in GOD", Jn 3:21. This verse says it all.
12. If you haven't found truth then you haven't found GOD.
Have you ever thought about eternity as compared to the life in this world? This lifetime is insignificant, a mere blink of an eye, compared to the eons of the tortures of hell, or of the unimaginable joys of heaven. "Eye has not seen or ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things GOD has prepared for those who love Him." 1Cor 2:9...
