Always Closer to The Lie than to The Truth

A popular Roman Catholic priest here in Melbourne set up a mobile, drive-through confessional so as sinful drivers could “repent on-the-run.”  A numbered sin-selection list commonly known as, “The Seven Deadly Sins” was taped to the priest’s “Hopemobile”: lust, gluttony, greed, laziness, wrath, envy, pride.  Just as one does when ordering food from a fast-food outlet, a driver then pulled in, looked at the selection list and said, “G’Day Father, two 4’s and a 7 today.” It was the morning of April 1st and it turned out to be an April Fool’s Day stunt.  Nevertheless, on viewing this stunt and reading about it, it brought to mind the powerful hold or grip that this “deadly sins” saying has on society … even though there’s no such saying in the Bible.

It also brought to mind other well-known sayings thought to be in the Bible, equally as powerful or gripping, but equally as absent.  Sayings such as, “God helps those who help themselves” “God works in mysterious ways” “Moderation in all things” “To thine own self be true” “Cleanliness is next to godliness” “The eye is the window of the soul”….as well as those sayings that misquote the Bible, “Money is the root of all evil” and “Pride comes before a fall.”  All these sayings so easily roll off the tongues of the religious and non-religious alike…..even Bible-believing Christians.  In many cases however, they are quoted by people who have set their own moral standards and who look down on others who have no such standard.

I’ve also been giving plenty of thought to the lies and evil that is created by these sayings – all so close to the Bible and yet so far from it.  Why do I say that?  Well, since each saying has the appearance of being godly and from the Bible, most people believe they are and, as a result they don’t bother with the Bible … these become their bible.  On a few occasions when hearing one of those sayings coming from people, I’ve asked them where they got it from. Not always have their responses been underpinned by a spirit of humility, but rather, pride, arrogance and self-righteousness. Replies such as, “Well you should know, it’s in the Bible!” “The Bible says……” “You of all people! Everybody knows it’s in the Bible. Don’t you know your Bible?”

The more religious that person is, the greater their pride, arrogance etc shows up.  I marvel at the appeal that “having a form of godliness” has for people, over and above true godliness itself  2 Timothy 3:5.  I also marvel at the power of spiritual deception and, for the fact that it is God who deceives the truth-rejecter, not Satan the devil as is so often preached and taught in the church 2 Thessalonians 2:11.  On the other hand, how sad it is to observe such people really believing themselves to be pleasing God by their efforts as well as seeing themselves as qualified to reject and ridicule true Bible Scripture.

Does God really, help those who help themselves?  Not in any biblical sense.  Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing.  The Scripture tell us that he who trusts in his own heart (self) is a fool.  God Himself says that the one who makes flesh (self) his strength is cursed.  That means, no matter how much one feels blessed by helping him or herself, the reality is he is cursed (execrated).  It’s only my opinion but I believe that the reason people have so many set-backs in life is so that God can grab their attention.  That’s why I’m far from impressed with the one of whom it is said he, “pulled himself up by his own bootstraps.”  Some may be humble as a result, most I know of are not.

Does God, work in mysterious ways?  Yes, the secret things do belong to God, but that’s a partial truth it is not the whole truth.  The problem with most people (religious or otherwise) who quote that saying is that they do not know God.  They use it as a religious smokescreen to hide themselves with.  If they did know Him they would not respond in the belligerent, intolerant manner in which they do respond when challenged with the reality that God is knowable and in fact wants to be known by them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  They intrinsically know that God’s Bible is always going to clash with theirs.  That is why they work overtime in their efforts to ensure that this does not happen.

How about moderation in all things?  This sounds so biblically righteous and God-honoring, but once again the reality is it is self-righteous and God-dishonoring … just another smokescreen for that person to hide behind.  I have never yet heard someone who says they live by that saying go on and further say that they’re doing so as to gain an “imperishable crown” 1 Corinthians 9:25.  In other words, living by the power and ministry of God for God was never on their agenda.  They are their own god, they have their own agenda and whether they “go to church” or not, it makes no difference.

What about to thine own self be true?  The reality is, that saying is in a Shakespearean play but it is not in the word of God.  Often people will quote that with regards their conscience and follow it up by saying they would never do anything that would harm their conscience.  The Bible makes it quite clear to us however, that without the divine intervention of God, our hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. That word “wicked” means ‘desperate’ ‘incurable’ ‘sick’ and ‘woeful.’  Explain that once to one who believes thine own self to be true and the real truth never fails to show up – not from the word of Shakespeare, but from the word of Jeremiah 17:9.  God always confirms His word!

Is it true that cleanliness is next to godliness?  No.  Unless a person turns away from self and turns to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and surrenders all to Him, it’s not.  There’s only one way to be made clean and that is by having our sins washed in the blood of the Lord.  This is an internal deal, it has nothing to do with external activity that gives appearances to the contrary.  When Jesus tells us we are already clean it is always in reference to the word He speaks over us, not the word we speak over ourselves.  God tells us that without Him the best we can do is filthy.  How’s that for a stinging blow to the human ego!  On the other hand, being cleansed by God will forever make us godly, not next to godly.

And now … the eyes are the window to the soul.  That’s not what the Bible says.  Jesus said that the lamp of the body is the eye and that when your eye is good your body will be full of light.  But when you’re eye is bad, your body is full of darkness Luke 11:34.  He is talking about the light of divine revelation and the effects that it has on a person when he or she receives it by faith and commits to living it out under the power of God.  In other words, He was speaking of the Christ-reliant, not the evolutionary humanistic, self-reliant.  No matter how noble the window saying sounds, if one is not becoming transformed by the light of the gospel, their eye remains bad and their body remains full of darkness.

Now to those Bible misquotations.  Societies in every culture thrive on these, with large sectors of Christendom being no different.  It has often been my experience both in and out of the church to hear people mishandling the Scriptures.  Let’s take “money is the root of all evil” for example.  The loudest voices of this misquotation have been those who appeared not to have too much of it themselves, leaving me with the impression that perhaps they were envious or jealous of those who do.  It is the love of money that the Bible addresses, not money itself.  Money itself is not evil, otherwise God would not allow His people to have any of it.  It is only when money becomes our god or idol do we bring about all kinds of evil 1 Timothy 6:10.

As for pride comes before a fall … I’ve been hearing that since I was a very young child back in the 1950’s!  Everybody quoted it – priests, nuns, parents, police, aunts, uncles, school teachers, do-gooders – and as I was to discover many years later when I became born again, even Bible-believing Christians have not been exempt from doing so.  And for memory, not one person quoted that saying as a godly warning, but rather, as a self-righteous judgment and perhaps even a hoping that a fall would take place in the person who had those words spoken of over them.  No wonder God was never in that deal. He never honors biblical misquotations expressed in self-righteousness.

The reality is, Proverbs 16:18 tells us, “pride goes before destruction (crashing, hurt) and a haughty spirit before a fall.”  I can’t help but often wonder what might have been the outcome in many people’s lives if that Scripture had been quoted correctly and explained properly by the people who should have known better.  In my post: A Great Curse Of Society I make mention of religious and non-religious people who are crushed by burdens and that everybody wants them lifted.  Every person in authority who misquotes Scripture from the Bible and uses it as a weapon of fear, judgment and control over others needs first to address pride and haughtiness within themselves. If they don’t, they do not speak for God and will, at some point experience their own fall.

As for those so-called seven deadly sins – No such saying is in the Bible.  It did not come from the mind of God, it came from the mind of medieval religious man and has ever since been capitalized on by Romanism.  They certainly are sins, but they are not grouped together in the Bible and, they are no more deadly than any other sin.  However, there is a grouping of seven sins listed in Proverbs 6:16-19 that God says are “an abomination to Him.”  I would to God that all those people who hold resolutely to these non-Bible sayings would check them out and allow God to speak to them – especially about the lying tongue.  Why? Because all part-truths presented as whole-truths are always closer to the lie than to The Truth. “Lord, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.” Psalm 15:1-2.