The TRUTH... God's TRUTH

What is "The Truth" -- in GOD's eyes...
and WHO-ON-EARTH decides what is spiritually TRUE?

Rigid doctrines, and personal beliefs, do not generate God's TRUTH.

Selected from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's Terrific Tablets"
http://www.terrific-tabs.com (link)
by John N. Todd III, M. D. (link)

The web-link to this "tablet" is: http://www.terrific-tabs.com/print_truth.htm
To send a "live" link to a friend, copy and paste this web-link in an email message.

This "tablet" interrelates with other tablets: Doctrinal Rigidity [link]
AND: Religious SYNCRETISM [link]
AND: CIRCUMVENTING God [link]
AND: Can the EXISTENCE oF GOD be PROVEN?

5/00; 12/00; 5/01; 6/01; 7/01; 8/01; 9/01; 10/01; 1/02; 2/02; 4/02; 6/02; 7/02; 10/02; 11/02; 12/02; 4/03; 5/03; 7/03; 11/03; 2/04; 3/04; 6/04; 8/04; 11/04; 12/04; 2/05; 4/05; 8/05; 10/05; 12/9/06

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 Many of us, who profess to be God's people (link), have a problem with the "doctrinal" thesis of those individuals (and groups) -- throughout the "religious" world -- who claim something like the following:

"If you do not agree with me, and if you do not accept what I believe, and what my church has declared to be 'the truth' -- then God will not accept you. In our 'religion', we have decided that God agrees with us, and that He has included only our 'members' in His Kingdom. We have deciphered the plan and purpose of God. We know precisely what God wants for us, and for you -- so we will decide whether or not you are qualified to be accepted -- by God. If you reject what we know to be 'the truth' -- then you are condemning yourself to eternal damnation, and doom. Therefore, sign-up with us pronto.... and abide by our laws, rules, regulations, recitations, and our tithing-plan -- before it is too late.... and before you miss-out on your chance for salvation."
Note the following Biblical references. Read these out loud -- and hear what God says:

Romans 14: 1 (NIV) Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.... 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own Master, he stands or falls. And he will stand -- for the Lord is able to make him stand.... 10 You, then, why do you JUDGE your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will ALL stand before God's judgment seat.... 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.... 22 So whatever YOU believe about these things -- KEEP BETWEEN yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

Deuteronomy 29: 29 (NEB) There are things hidden; and they belong to the Lord our God -- but what is revealed belongs to us, and to our children, forever.

James 4: 12 (NRSV) There is ONE Lawgiver and Judge, who is able to save and to destroy. So then, who are you to judge your neighbor?

(SEE additional BIBLE quotations, below.)

Are there different spiritual "beliefs" -- and conflicting doctrinal "truths" -- that are acceptable to God? For example, does God allow and approve a "Baptist truth" -- and a different "Catholic truth" -- and a separate "Jewish truth".... even though the "doctrines" (the rigid "beliefs") of these "religions" are very much at odds with each other? What about the "believers" of Islamic "truth" -- are they excluded from acceptance by the One God -- the sole sovereign Deity of all creation? Similarly, are Hindus and Buddhists omitted from God's love and favor -- because they have not accepted and recited the creed which certain very-fallible-humans dogmatically claim to be "the-one-way".... "the ONLY way"?

QUESTION: Is there a solitary "God's doctrine" -- a set of "truths" in the mind of God -- with a long list of exclusionary rules and regulations and "sins" and misdeeds -- each designed and specified, by God, to "catch" and exclude (under God's own harsh scrutiny) those "believers" who do not swear to fulfill every "jot and tittle" of a certain church's "batch of beliefs"?

The ANSWER to this question will probably be "yes", for some intensely-inflexible individuals, who insist upon a personal agonizing analysis of all Biblical metaphoric "fine print" -- and the answer may be "yes" for those who plan never to question their own frozen spiritual "development".... and the answer may also be "yes" for certain strict "orthodox" religions. The answer to the question is "NO" for those "believers" who accept and understand a loving and caring and merciful and forgiving Creator-God -- who came into this world, Himself, "incarnate".... for the express purpose of explaining and revealing "the truth" about Himself. See links: The Gospel of God; and The Kingdom of God.)

Is the "truth" about God fixed, and finite, and immutable -- in the "spiritual" world.... just as the "laws" of physics seem to be rigidly fixed -- in the mechanical universe? Yes, God's essence and His attributes and His purposes -- are "fixed", by God; and cannot be reshaped according to the whims of humans.... or according to doctrinal variations and concoctions.

Can you tell me, authoritatively, what "truth" I must attempt to "believe" -- in order to satisfy God? Must I adopt your doctrine in order to avoid condemnation -- by God? Must I join your church -- in order to "get-right" with God? Why do you consider your spiritual notions to be correct -- while you sometimes judge the spiritual interpretations of your friends (and your enemies) to be erroneous, and heretical -- or even blasphemous? Who gave you the right and the authority to belie anyone's beliefs? Why do you arrogate to yourself this "privilege" of denigrating the beliefs of others?

Answer this.... concerning God's truth: is there one "God" for the Jews, and a different God for the Catholics -- and for the Presbyterians; and the Mormons.... and is there yet another God for the Muslims -- and for the Hindu's, and for the Buddhists? Since earnest "believers" in each of these "faiths" worship "THE ONE God" that each "religion" positively (and sometimes belligerently) identifies as the sole God-of-Creation -- why can't all of us who claim to be included among "God's people" (link) agree-upon and "accept" the fact of a solitary loving GOD.... and why can't we "yield" a bit in our frozen and rigid notions about the "one-way" to this "One-God"? Why must each "faith" reject all other heartfelt and soulful spiritual understanding.... as if to claim "possession" of God -- for themselves, only. (See Restricting God.)

Can it be that God Himself -- using His own "selective process" -- has ordained into existence the various "humanistic" conclusions to the spiritual "feelings" which many of us humans, of differing religious "faiths", consider to indicate the "real" truth, from God?

If spiritual "truth" is a matter of opinion, then whose opinion really matters? Which human-being can we other-humans trust -- to teach us the spiritual "facts"? Whom should we follow? If I happen to "believe" the wrong "preacher", or "accept" an erroneous doctrine, will I be rejected by God?

(Do you think that your denominational church has deciphered the absolute answers to understanding the intentions of God -- for all of God's people.... even though your church's interpretations and "answers" differ from mine, and from true-believers of other "faiths"?

To repeat.... have you, yourself, arrived at the "right" faith, in the sight of God -- and are all other beliefs, that differ with your interpretation, erroneous? Is is up to you to attempt to force-feed your beliefs upon others, with the threat of God's eternal damnation if the "hearer" of your words does not immediately adopt your "creed"? Do you think it is your personal duty to "convert" other humans to your way of thinking, and thus to "protect" them, for "salvation"? If you have been led to believe that you have this "duty", from whom do you get your orders.... and whose doctrine do you attempt to "sell"? (Aren't you literally embarrassed to pretend, to yourself, that you are deciding, for God, who is acceptable to God?)

Another question: how (and when) can you and I know, for sure, that our "beliefs" are pleasing and acceptable to God? Must we worry and fret, for a lifetime, that our "internal" thoughts -- our musings and questionings in our search for "God's truth" -- may be offensive to God? Should you or I be afraid (superstitiously intimidated) to question our church -- or to develop our own spiritual understanding -- based on our personal study and meditation and contemplation and prayer -- and based on God's "revelations" to each of us? That is, should I surrender and abandon my own heart-felt conclusions and beliefs (which I consider to be God-inspired and God-revealed truths).... and must I then adopt someone else's doctrinal views.... which may be based on theories and interpretations that are unacceptable, to me? (See link My Secret God.)

To state the same point, a little differently -- if you and I disagree about "ultimate reality", and about God's truth.... is it proper that you should become angry with me, and hostile toward me -- because your beliefs do not make sense to me? Must I yield my own spiritual feelings and "intuition", and flippantly accept your "religious" theses.... and bow down before the altar of your church-of-humans? Do you conclude that I am wrong, and that I will therefore be denied "admission" to the Kingdom of God (link) -- because I do not memorize and recite the creed of your "church"?



The following paragraphs were copied (slightly modified, here) from my chapter on The Sovereignty of God (see link). These remarks seem to be particularly pertinent to the present "tablet" concerning "The Truth". Consider the following:

There is a major point which I have stressed in other chapters of this book; and that "point" is as follows: the truth from God, and the truth about God, and the truth concerning God's sovereignty and His power.... these "God's truths" do not magically come into effect, and do not "spontaneously" become "true" -- simply because someone "decides" to believe them -- or because one claims to "accept" them.

In other words, "the truth".... about God, or (for that matter) about any other subject.... does not suddenly become true, and real, and functional in one's existence, just because that someone has "made a decision" to "accept" that truth. And, contrariwise, the "truth" about God does not become untrue or ineffective, simply because an individual, within his or her humanly understanding, has concluded that God, and the power of God, are a "matter of opinion", and hence of dubious fact or consequence.

( Romans 3: 3 (KJV) For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith OF God without effect? )

( In another "tablet", I have analogized the "spiritual truth" about God, with the truth and the effect of the "physical" laws of the mechanical universe. For example, the "Law of Gravity" {let's call it, here, the "Truth of Gravity"} does not wait upon an individual's acceptance, before gravity can become effective in that individual's life. That is, "gravity" does not become true and valid and effective just because you "choose" to believe it; and it does not wait to become effective until you have made up your mind to "accept" it! Neither does the "Truth of Gravity" go away, or become ineffective, simply because your human-brain cannot understand it; or because you "make a decision" not to accept it; or because you change your opinion, and decide that it is not believable.)

And so it is with "spiritual truth". "The truth" is true, whether or not you, or anyone else, believes and accepts the truth. Similarly, an individual's profession of doubt or unbelief does NOT negate "the truth" -- or the effects of the truth.

Note the following Biblical references. Read these out loud:

Romans 14: 1 (NIV) (This first reference is repeated from above) Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.... 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master, he stands or falls. And he will stand -- for the Lord is able to make him stand.... 10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat.... 13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way.... 22 So whatever you believe about these things, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves.

Mark 7: 6 (NIV) He (Jesus) replied (quoting Isaiah 29:13): "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 They worship me in vain. Their teachings are but RULES -- taught by men.' 8 You have let go of the commands of God, and are holding on to the traditions of men. 9 And He said to them: 'You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God, in order to observe your own traditions!' "

Luke 16: 15 (NRSV) So He (Jesus) said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others; but God knows your hearts -- for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.

Acts 17: 24 (NRSV) The God who made the world and everything in it, He who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything -- since He Himself gives to all mortals life and breath, and all things. 26 From one ancestor He made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and He allotted the times of their existence, and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God, and perhaps grope for Him, and find Him -- though indeed He is not far from each one of us.

John 8: 31 (NRSV) Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth -- and the truth will MAKE you FREE." (JNT note: "Make you free" from "religious" laws, churchy rules and regulations, rigid and exclusionary doctrines; etc.)

Romans 8: 5 (NRSV) For those who live according to the flesh (JNT: "flesh" -- human and humanistic answers, and explanations) set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death -- but to set the mind on the Spirit is life, and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's Law -- indeed it CANNOT. 8 And those who are in the flesh, cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit -- since the Spirit of God dwells in you.... 14 For all who are LED by the Spirit of God are children of God.

1 Samuel 16: 6 (NIV) "Surely the LORD's anointed stands here before the LORD." 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things MAN LOOKS AT. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

Galatians 2: 21 (NRSV) I do not nullify the grace of God -- for if justification comes through the Law -- then Christ died for nothing. ("Justification": deemed "just", or righteous -- in the sight of God.) ("Law" -- rules, regulations, and doctrinal do's and don't's.)

Romans 6: 13-14 (NRSV) No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness; but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as INSTRUMENTS of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under Law, but under grace.

Psalm 62: 1 (NRSV) For God alone my soul waits in silence. From Him comes my salvation. 2 He alone is my rock and my salvation -- my fortress. I shall never be shaken.

Romans 8: 30 (NRSV) And those whom He predestined, He also called -- and those whom He called, He also justified -- and those whom He justified, He also glorified. 31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?

Psalm 27: 1 The LORD is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?


Don't ALL of us -- we who hope that we are included among God's people -- accept that all spiritual "TRUTH" about God ("God's Truth") -- comes totally and unequivocally, now and ultimately and forever -- from the mind and eyes and Spirit and plan and intention of God Himself -- God alone.... regardless of what doctrinal variations we earthly creatures imagine and invent -- or "make a decision" to accept, and "believe"?
(Acts 17: 29 Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that The Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.)

Also, we should be able to agree that it is not our human-obligation to belittle and besmirch the spiritual understanding of others. After all, God Himself decides when and where each of His people will awaken to Him, and begin to "see" and "hear" Him -- and to "feel" God's presence (the Spirit of God) in their lives.

As for me, personally, I cannot imagine, nor do I believe, that the Almighty God of the Universe, who made each of us worldly creatures for His own plan and purpose and pleasure -- intends for His accepted individuals (His "chosen" ones) -- to argue, and fight, and kill each other -- in vain attempts to define, and remold, and limit God Himself.... all for the "benefit" of certain religions, and "doctrines", and "churches". 

So, what is "God's truth" -- according to God? Is "the truth" what you say it is.... or what I say.... or what the other folks say? Or, is it what your "church" or my church claims..... OR is it still, as always, what God has declared -- and what He Himself continues to decide, and to dictate?

Do you and I and other human-beings have anything whatsoever to do with defining or altering "God's Truth". Does God change Himself according to what I suppose about Him, or suggest to Him? Is God likely to reshape His own configuration, because of an "upgrade" by some church's "Council of so-and-so" -- or because of the conclusions and edicts of a denominational church-of-men? 

My understanding of God's truth is that God "designs" and "calls" and accepts individuals of His own choosing, for His own purposes -- and at His own time, and for His own reasons..... regardless of whether or not those chosen (link) individuals have yet been awakened by God to a specific "set" of "religious" beliefs. We humans, in or out of a doctrinal persuasion, have nothing to do with formulating or circumscribing or defining or limiting God -- to our own human "specifications". Neither are we mortals..... irregardless of our "church affiliation".... granted any voice or vote, in telling God whom He may accept and "save".

You and I are free, of course, for a lifetime, to seek answers to our own spiritual questions -- and to cordially discuss our conclusions with each other, and with those of different faiths.... but we have no right or reason to attempt to impose our own doctrinal decipherings on those who do not see God -- the Almighty Creator of the Universe -- as we "picture" Him.