Fake Truth

Yeah, that’s a new expression isn’t it? What in the world is “fake truth?” Isn’t that one of them oxymoron things…sort of like talking out of both sides of your mouth at the same time? I asked Jennifer what an oxymoron is and she said it is kind of like an “idiot savant.” I said, “Huh?” and she said, “You know, like an idiot savant.” I said, “Huh?” And she said, “Like an idiot savant, someone who is so smart that they are dumb.” I said, “Okay,” and walked away realizing that whatever she was talking about she couldn’t be talking about me cause she mentioned the words, “so smart”…but then she did mention something about “dumb” as well. I’m so confused! Probably it was a good thing I walked away so that she didn’t elaborate any further.

Anyway, folks who know me know just how plain and simple I am, probably too much so for some folk’s liking. But then, you got to remember my roots. I grew up in a family with five boys and one girl. My brothers were competitive at times and sometimes a bit ruthless. I remember what my brother Gary told me one day while Kim and I were expecting our first child. Kim looked like a tick ready to pop and the thought of twins came into the conversation. Gary said that he’d make one suggestion, and that was that if we had twin boys and if they both looked like me, that we ought to name them “Ug” and “Lee”. I thanked him for his suggestion and decided to once again just walk away.

The other night I attended the Wild Game Banquet at Harris Baptist Church and my what a spread they put on. You know when you go to one of them things that you are either tired of your wife’s cooking or you are a bonified Southern Redneck. Well, I never tire of my wife’s good vittles, so I must be one of them Southern Rednecks. Please note that I capitalize the “r” in Redneck out of respect for that people group that is the backbone of South Carolina. I reckon that’s why I love and often repeat that mantra that says, “Nutt’n could be finer than to live in Carolina.” Anyways, at Harris’ wild food shindig the other night, Frank Thomas and David Clegg asked me if I was gonna eat some of their one of a kind beaver stew? Now I’m gonna tell ya, even a Redneck has his limits, but being the adventurous type, I dove into the pot with ole Slim Sims (he was the guest speaker). But let me also tell you, I scrambled right back out just as fast. Beaver stew…man, a fellars got to be mighty hungry to eat certain things.

I sorta told a “fake truth” when asked about what I thought of that beaver stew. I replied, “Well, it was the best beaver stew I ever ate.” Now that was basically true, sorta kinda. Since it was the only beaver stew I’d ever had, I had nothing to compare it to, so it was kind of a fake truth. It got me off the hook anyway. Eating beaver stew was interesting, to say the least, and I’m glad I ate it, but I don’t reckon I’ll add beaver to my list of things I really want to hunt for its palatability factor.

Well, I was lying in bed with Kim one night with little Addie between us and I was talking about how some folks would rather change the meaning of the Bible to fit their lifestyles rather than change their lifestyles to fit the Bible. And in the midst of the conversation I said something to the effect that some folks make truth sound false and falsehood sound true. And suddenly, little Addie piped in, “Sort of like fake truth.” Whoa! I stopped for a minute and contemplated what she said and I thought, you know, that’s pretty deep for a first grader. And it got me to thinking!

When one looks at the world around us there is a lot of fake truth out there. In fact, I was watching the news the other night and they put up a “truthometer” so that they could tell the truthfulness of statements made by political candidates. They would state a comment made by Obama, Clinton, or McCain and then put it to the “truthometer” test to see which statements or which parts of each statement were true and which were false. And depending on the statement’s truthfulness, the truthometer registered false, somewhat true, half true, mostly true, or all true. That’s a complicated way of saying what my first grader called fake truth, which is no truth at all.

But it’s not just politics where we see half truths or fake truth or whatever, but in religion as well. Truth is truth and falsehood is falsehood and anything in between is called double-talk, saying one thing but meaning another. Paul said to simply let your “yes be yes and your no be no.” In other words, speak truth…not double talk. Our doctrine, or those things we believe, teach and live by, are truths based on the Word of God. Paul said to guard that doctrine which was passed down to us, so that we would not be led astray, being tossed to and fro by every whimsical form of teaching that comes down the pike. And sound doctrine comes from the Word of God, not our feelings regarding such matters.

It saddens me to read about and know from personal experience what happens to churches, groups and denominations that do not hold to sound doctrine. The establishment of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) in the early 1990’s, which according to Baptist Press (BP) is “a network of congregations organized in objection to the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention,” is such an example. Just recently the BP reported the story of Broadway Baptist Church in Texas that had Cecil Sherman, the first Executive/Director of the CBF as its pastor, during the years of ’85-’92. Today that church, which allows homosexuals to be both members and leaders in the church, is embroiled in controversy surrounding the creation of a pictorial directory that would have homosexual and heterosexual couple’s pictured side by side. According to deacon chairwoman, Kathy Madeja, there is great hurt and conflict in their church. Wow! You think? One wonders how that church got there. Well probably, by not being led to have sound doctrine and then guarding it, by making one bad decision after another, by letting culture influence the church rather than the church influencing culture, by teaching fake truth rather than the truth about moral and leadership issues! A more recent group that is forming is the New Baptist Covenant led by former presidents Carter and Clinton. They don’t have to worry about guarding their sound doctrine because they will probably never have any. How can I say that? Because Bill Clinton, during their inaugural conference in Atlanta recently, said “it is not necessary to believe in the literal truthfulness of the Bible.” (Christian Index)

But as Southern Baptists we believe the Bible, the whole Bible, to be the Word of God. As such, we have adopted a summary statement of our core doctrines, our beliefs, those teachings we hold dear, and that is the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. Too many Baptists do not know what they believe and therefore cannot articulate those beliefs. Too many are Baptists because their parents were Baptists or they married a Baptist, or they like the music in the Baptist church they joined or they have friends there. But ask them what it means to be Baptist or what doctrines one cannot walk away from, and they do not know. Let us be careful to first of all have sound doctrine, and then let us guard it. Fake truth is no truth. And like I’ve said many times, “So long as Baptists stand on the Word, I’ll stand with Baptists.” Sound doctrine is the life blood of true Believers. Paul said, it is a matter of life and death. “Watch…your doctrine closely, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearer.” And that’s not fake truth…that is the truth! (I Timothy 4:16)