We live in an age in which mythology and opinion pass as fact. From the news we watch to the education our children receive in our schools, everything seems to be slanted. In fact, it is so slanted that it is often difficult to sort out truth from fiction, reality from mythology, and history from ideology. In the past the presumption was that things were slanted in favor of the majority (the white majority). Now we find ourselves facing an affirmative action version of the truth that endeavors to make up for the sins of the past. That might be a laudable goal were it not for the fact that ideology regularly triumphs over truth in the newspapers, TV news bureaus, and social media of our land. Even worse, the classrooms of America have become the war rooms of those who are waging battle against history as well as bias, against truth as well as prejudice. It will not serve us well.
Look at what happened to Christianity when agendas began to operate along side of truth and fact. There was a time when it was presumed the Scriptures presented facts and real history but now even a majority of Christians assume that errors and legends are wrapped up with the facts of the Bible. More concerning is that the result of this has not been a renewed call to discernment but the presumption that the faith is more sentiment than history, more emotive fiction than real truth and fact. The end result is that even Christians find it hard to explain why reincarnation is not compatible with the faith or why it is so wrong to repeat creeds without buying into what the words say and mean. It has become a muddle. The fruits of this muddle are shown in the willingness to created a localized truth and a faith that fits the person. As comfortable as such a faith might be, it will have no power to forgive the guilty sinner, rescue the lost, redeem the captive soul, or raise the dead. Its power is only to make the believer feel good -- for the moment, anyway.
The state of Christianity often mirrors the reality around us. In both we have chosen to be consoled by a fiction of our own creation more than the truth that endures and the Word of the Lord that is eternal. Coming off the heels of Easter, we would do well to ask ourselves what was preached of Jesus' death and resurrection? Did we hear but a symbolic meaning to events that may or may not have happened or did we hear the facts preached for our justification and salvation? Did the Church offer the facts of the Scriptures without embarrassment or hesitation or did the Church bow down to the gods of feelings to preach a message that made folks feel good but still in their sin and death?
Although Joe Friday never said it, he should have. Just the facts. It is better to preach with conviction the facts of Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection than it is to focus on their symbolism or sentimental meaning. While this stands true for the annual walk to the cross the empty tomb in the Church Year, it stands even truer for regular preaching of God's Word to God's people -- especially the funeral. Grief can drink in the sentiments of the moment but these cannot plant hope where death was and they cannot heal the broken heart. Only the real Christ of Scripture (that is also the Jesus of history) can break through to the heart of the wound and need and heal and restore our brokenness.
It is a sad day when our kids go to school to hear an opinion about things of which no truth can be said. They will grow up in the prison of somebody else's opinions and be kept from the reason to discern myth from fact. But it is surely a worse day when our people go to Church only to hear opinions about things of which no truth or fact can be said. For when they die, the grave will be the least of their worries as they rise to face a God who is real and a real salvation they thought was imaginary.
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