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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
"You Think You're So Smart . . . "
Do you remember the guy who always knew all the answers and didn’t mind showing you up with those answers. I remember him, and I probably ought to forget, but I can’t. He was such a “smarty-pants” that we all hoped to find a question he could not answer. We never did.
In the past few weeks we have seen a well-known newsman and his network embarrassed by a story in which the facts were not properly researched. Some are saying the network was so anxious to write the “story” first that they did not fully investigate the facts. They “found what they wanted,” though the story proved to have no foundation.
You don’t have to have a political agenda when you see something like that today. In fact, the news is full of other stories in which people “found what they wanted.” Just this past week Public Television aired a story about scientists who were so determined to find the “missing link” of man’s evolutionary chain that they did not really investigate as they should have. Today, the world calls it “The Piltdown Hoax.”
In the story, someone (the culprit is not known for sure) altered some bones to make them appear very ancient and planted them near the small community of Piltdown in England. We do not know just why this was done. It is thought that he/they wanted others to find and claim the bones were fossil remains proving Darwin’s theory of evolution. If that is true, they may have wanted someone to make a “fool” of themselves when the bones were examined more fully.
Unfortunately, such examination did not take place for years, and the story of the “find” obtained a place in Encyclopedia Britannica and the British Museum of Natural Science. For forty years those bones were touted as the “missing link”, and it was looked upon as proof that man came from monkeys and apes.
It was not until recent years that the truth was revealed that it was a hoax—a “nasty, vicious hoax” that ruined careers and reputations, said one commentator. Scientists have commented that the “discoverers” were so anxious to find the missing link that they lost their objectivity. Instead of following the facts, they followed their feelings.
This story has been discussed in over 500 publications, and several television presentations. Such names as Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes mysteries) and Teilhard de Chardin (noted ethicist) have appeared as possible suspects in this interesting and ongoing subject. Scientists have puzzled over the reason for this fraud, but there has been no logical conclusion. The bottom line for some academics is what we have mentioned before—they found what they wanted to find, though the facts did not fit the find. Their objectivity gave way to the desire to prove what they already believed.
Science took a “hit” in this story because people discovered that science is not always as objective as we are told. But this problem is not isolated to science or archaeology. In fact, it has its appearance in news, politics, business, economics —and religion. Why do you think there are so many different religious denominations in the United States alone? It is not because the Bible is incapable of being understood. It is not because God likes the division and confusion that results from religious chaos. It just may be that too many are searching through the “scriptures” just to find what they want to find. Sure enough, they’ll find it. Well, they think they find it.
It is clear from those scriptures that division and confusion do not have their source or their approval in God. Those same scriptures tell us:
“...God is not the author of confusion but of peace,” 1 Corinthians 14:33.
If men are divided it is not because God wants it that way, 1 Corinthians 1:10. Jesus did not encourage His disciples to “find a religion that suits you.” Jesus prayed for and the Bible demands that unity, not division reign in the church for which He died.
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:20-21
As individuals, we all are susceptible to the desire to “find what we want” in the Bible. If we want to find a passage that allows loose ethical and moral behavior, we will “find” something that satisfies us. The Bible says that those who follow this desire are “untaught and unstable” and that they “twist to their own destruction, as they do also, the rest of the scriptures,” 2 Peter 3:16. We must be careful.
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“It is amazing how people deceive themselves and others when it is in their interests to do so.”
“Nothing is as easy as deceiving yourself, for what you wish you readily believe.”
“One who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived.”
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Truth and Freedom
One Spring day, four high school boys “could not” resist the temptation to skip morning classes. After lunch, they showed up at school and reported to their teacher that their car had a flat tire. They were relieved when she smiled and said, “Well, you missed a quiz this morning, so take your seats and get out a pencil and paper.” Still smiling, she waited as they settled down and prepared themselves for her questions. Then she said, “First question – which tire was flat?”.
Brethren, Christians cannot lie and get away with it. Ananias and Sapphira thought they were deceiving only Peter and the other believers. But the apostle said to them, “…thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God,” Acts 5:4. Truth is an attribute of an absolutely JUST God. When we lie or deceive someone, we offend Him. And, because He is God, He must uncover every untruth. If we do not acknowledge it in this life, make no mistake about it – we will when we stand before God!
Because we live in a world that is highly competitive, we are tempted at times to “shade” the truth to reach our goals. Lying may bring short-term gains, but it will always bring long-term losses. If you are a Christian and feel drawn to compromise all that you have left behind as a new creature in Christ, please remember that the best way to avoid lying is to do nothing that needs to be concealed. God will send trials to all of us – not to impair us but to improve us.
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