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These days, there are a lot of news sources that blame other news sources for publishing misinformation or fake news. 

With Artificial Intelligence becoming more prevalent, it will become even more difficult to tell the difference. It seems like every other story says something about an “existential threat” to life on this planet or some politician is an “existential threat to our democracy.” Writers and speakers like to use the word “existential” because it makes their story sound more important or urgent. So, we have to ask ourselves if this story is really true or just someone’s subjective opinion.

Let’s think about this word “existential” for a minute. It’s derived from a Latin term meaning “to exist,” and more specifically, to exist in a place of objective reality. Why is that important? Take for example someone who believes the earth is flat. They are not dealing with objective reality. They are dealing with subjective reality. Because in their minds they have convinced themselves through biased information to reinforce what they have chosen to believe. 

The objective reality is that the earth is a sphere rotating on its axis at approximately 1,000 m.p.h. and orbiting around the sun every 365 days. That was true even when people believed the sun orbited around the earth. Think about what Copernicus discovered. The objective reality did not change, but people’s understanding of that reality became more aligned with the truth.

Will Rogers once stated, “The problem in America isn’t so much what people don’t know; the problem is what people think they know that just ain’t so.” Some things never change.

This challenge of perception is as old as creation. 

In the story of Adam and Eve, Satan challenges what they knew God had instructed them regarding which fruit not to eat by saying “Is it really true that God said” (Genesis 3:1) and “surely you will not die” (Genesis 3:4), thus setting the stage to choose subjective reality over, and even contrary to, objective truth. Hasn’t it been said that reality is 90% perception?

In another famous verbal exchange, Jesus proclaimed to Pontius Pilate that “For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). To which Pilate cynically replied, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). He was hanging on to the lie that subjective truth is the only reality to be concerned with. You can see just how important it is to understand the objective realities in which our lives actually exist. There are absolute truths that govern our universe. There are laws of physics, laws of nature, laws of biology, and because we have what is known as free moral agency as human beings, there are moral laws that we need to be aware of as well.

We all know what happens when we defy the laws of gravity—there can be serious if not deadly consequences. We don’t hesitate recognizing these laws as absolute truth, but when it comes to moral law, we revert to the claim that these are subjective realities and only those I choose to believe are actually true; this totally ignores the consequences of breaking these moral laws. To understand where these laws come from, we have to go back to the beginning. And I mean way back.

When we speak of the physical universe, scientists seem to be in consensus that it had a beginning. Having discovered that the universe is expanding, the fact is that it would be impossible for it to have been expanding since forever. The universe does not have an infinite past. It had a beginning.

The German philosopher, mathematician, and logician, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), stated his premise this way: “Everything that exists has an explanation of its existence, either in the necessity of its own nature or in an external cause.” Since the universe did not exist at some point in time, meaning it did not exist by the necessity of its own nature—it was caused into existence by some external force. The only forces we are aware of operate within the time and space continuum of our own universe. Therefore, it had to be a force outside of time and space. It stands to reason that this force was not in the realm of natural causation, which means it has to be of a supernatural causation. “This would suggest the existence of a metaphysically necessary, uncaused, timeless, spaceless, immaterial, personal creator of the universe” (William Lane Craig).

If this is true, then wouldn’t that be incredibly important to know? That is a game changer! If that’s true, God becomes the objective reality of the universe! He is not there because you believe it; He is there in spite of what you might believe. We cannot create our own truth; we only discover what is already true and adjust our thinking to align with reality.

But, how can we know the Creator of the universe? How can we separate fact from fiction? 

It starts with a sincere desire to know the truth. Set aside your own bias and presuppositions. Be willing to embrace the truth as it presents itself to you.

Jesus Christ made some of the boldest historical claims ever made (which in fact, turned out to be true). 

He said “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” And He also said, “No man comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). And, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). He once told his followers, “The person who has seen me has seen the Father!” (John 14:9). And as was stated earlier Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). All of these quotes are recorded in the Bible in the Gospel of John. 

If you have ever watched an NFL football game you have probably noticed the signs behind the end zone that read John 3:16. That is a reference from John’s gospel, chapter 3, verse 16, that says, “For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” 

A few verses before that Jesus tells a leader of the Jewish faith, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God…What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:3, 6). Jesus says in John 4:24 that “God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” And again, in John 6:63 “The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” 

If you have read this far, I suspect you may have a strong desire to know the truth – to know just what is the objective reality that encompasses our lives on this planet. 

I strongly urge you to get a Bible and read the Gospel of John and discover for yourself the many truths proclaimed by Jesus. Then commit to following Him as He leads you and discover, as He said, “You will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32)! 

And just what, you may ask, do I need to be set free from? In a word, from yourself and your own sin nature. I know that may seem hard to accept, because the majority of people really believe (subjectively) that they are a “good person,” not realizing that they have been born with a sin nature that is already under condemnation by a just and holy God. Knowing that His created beings with free moral agency would choose to violate His moral laws, God, in His infinite love and wisdom, made provision for us to be “born again” by his Holy Spirit when we receive, by faith, the grace He has bestowed on us through the death and resurrection of His only begotten son, Jesus Christ. 

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2). And just how do we become “in Christ Jesus”? In the book of Romans chapter 10, vs. 9 & 10, the Apostle Paul writes “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness and with the mouth one confesses and thus has salvation.” In the book of Ephesians, Paul writes in chapter 2, vs. 8 & 9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so that no one can boast.” This means that no one earns their way or can work their way into God’s favor. 

I pray that these words have spoken to your heart and you come to faith in Christ and receive His gift of the Holy Spirit to become a newly “born again” child of God. 

Written by Bruce Horne
– Elder at Compass Community Church, Grass Valley, CA

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