John 14:6
Jesus and Truth
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 8:23-25
Jesus is From Above
23 But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
John 12:49-50
Jesus Spoke for His Father
49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
John 8:31-41
The Children of Abraham
31To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
33They answered him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?"
34Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38I am telling you what I have seen in the Father's presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
39"Abraham is our father," they answered.
"If you were Abraham's children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did. 40As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41You are doing the things your own father does."
"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
John 18:37
On the Side of Truth
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” 38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked.
Luke 21:33
His Truth Will Stand
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
Jesus stood up two thousand years ago, and said I AM Truth...He also said that "everyone on the side of Truth, listens to Him."...I think we all should follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life...If we follow His teachings about Truth, then we are really disciples of Jesus...
Jesus wants us to embrace all truth...Truth is the foundation of life...We need truth for our faith...Why believe in anything unless it is true?...Could we believe in Him, if He were a lie?...The answer is no...Accepting the truth, becomes spiritual and about faith...When we can honestly embrace who He is and ourselves for who we are, with all our sins, flaws, and faults -it is quite liberating...It will set us free...When Pilate ask -what is truth, he was not seeking truth...He was seeking a way out of the dilemma he was in...Pilate did not want to have Jesus killed, but he wanted to please the leading Jewish Religious Officials and the large crowd...Pilate was neither accepting truth or embracing truth...He wanted a way out of the truth... He was between the proverbial rock and a hard place...I think Pilate, saw two different truths, when he ask "What is truth?"...A large group opposing Jesus who did not believe He was telling the truth, in what He taught about Himself, and had been saying about Himself...For instance, He walked around and forgave other people's sins...He said I and the Father are One...He told His opposition that they were descendants of Abraham, yet He also told them that before Abraham was even born, I AM (John 8:58)...He told us that His words will never pass away...And they haven't...
So, as we read and study about Jesus we either believe Him, or we believe the large crowd that did not believe these things...Pilate saw this dilemma...Truth has now been taken to a level, a different level...Truth, as Jesus taught was not so much directed at the old set of facts, not of numbers, not of science -where you can look at things and say two plus two is four...We now, in Jesus' eyes must look at Truth differently...Jesus is teaching us in a way, that Truth, His Truths are more about belief and faith (in Him)...When we believe in Him, we can see this linkage between, believing and belief -Truth and our faith...
Jesus either did walk the earth or did not walk the earth...When we study what He taught, His teachings are either true or not true...It is that simple, yet that complex...If we believe, after studying His teachings that they are true, then that is the way we must lead our lives...If we believe in Him, and that His teachings are true and that those truths do set you free, then humanity has no option but to follow those Truths and to follow Him...The problem, I believe, is that if you are in a room with one thousand people, and only one person knows the truth, and the other nine hundred ninety nine do not, then the one person has a problem of convincing the large group, what their truth is...The other problem I see, is that Jesus taught about another world...The eternal world of God...A subject that only He understands well...Jesus tries to teach us these things of another world, but we struggle (at least I struggle)...God lives in, an eternal and infinite world...Man with his limitations cannot understand this truth or this world that Jesus teaches about...What we know about heaven and the other world is what we learn from Him and the Bible...
God was the central and foundation of Jesus' life...He is from above...So not only did He teach about God, He taught about and has the skill set to teach us about God's world...He tells everyone plainly that He is not of this world, He is from above and we are from below...These two worlds (the one above and the one below) Jesus makes very clear are two separate worlds...If you believe Jesus, then He is telling us that He has brought God's own ideas, God's very attributes to us and His teachings, to us -here on earth...Jesus says He dos not speak on His own, He only spoke and speaks what His Father has commanded...God's world and God's Kingdom is a world that we are not familiar with at all...Only through Jesus do we get information about the world above from which He came...That is because He is from above, and we are from below...We do not have information (especially, the information He has) about this "other world" or God's world...How can we even have a valid opinion on this other world, that Jesus is constantly teaching about?...
Jesus makes us think of His teachings, His truths, about the Truths in this other world, this heavenly world...If you believe Him, one might believe He is saying that religion is truth from a macro standpoint...But specifically, Christianity is the Truth, because that is what He teaches (if you believe in Him)...Truth then becomes what a person or group believes in...The very ideas you believe in whether they be scientific (and can be proven or not proven) are your truths...Jesus makes us cross what we believe in as our truths, and links truth to our faith (in Him)...
The Pharisees cannot believe Him, because they do not see Him as the Son of God...I think they have a legitimate question, when they ask Him "Who are you?"...Pilate asks another good question in the statement form, "You are a king then!"...Who is Jesus is?...That is up to each of us to believe or not...He either did walk the earth and did say these things or He did not...If you believe Him, then He is the King of Kings...Then He is the Truth...And if you believe, then you will be following the Truth...Jesus is where Truth, Reason, and Faith all meet...