What is Truth?

Question: I know that this is a broad question, but try to answer anyhow. I have a philosophical mind sometimes.  Thanks.

My Reply:

"Jesus is Truth", or "the Truth is Jesus.”

Jesus said in John 14:6 "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, nobody comes to the Father but through Me."

The Bible also tells us that "if you say that we don't sin, then you call God a liar and the Truth is not in you." This Truth that is either in you or not, is Jesus Christ.

---Pastor Andy

Liars or Not-Liars, that is the question.

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Question:  If a chicken says, "All chickens are liars", is the chicken telling the truth?

My Reply:

Lol, this question reminds me of a song from Henry Rollins called "Liar". At the end he says, "I'm a liar, and I'll keep on lying...I promise." That makes my brain hurt trying to figure out, lol, but it's similar to your question, and still twists my brain around like a pretzel.

I'll say no, the chicken's not telling the truth.
I say this because truth's not relative. But the comment that the chicken's giving is a relative term (or an opinion).
It's like when somebody says that all people are liars. Not everybody lies, but because that person only knows liars, he assumes that everybody lies.
So what if the chicken is basing his assumption on what he knows, versus the truth? And since the chicken believes enough to say that all chickens are liars, his mind is made up, and so by not willing to believe otherwise, he closes off any other options or chances of hearing the truth, since it would be otherwise to his opinion, or relativity to the truth. :)

---Pastor Andy

What's the difference between the Quran and the Bible?

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My Reply:

A lot of people may think that because both the Bible and the Quran claim the name of God, that they're very much the same.  But there are really a lot of differences between the two.  Some of these differences between the Bible and the Quran are:


-The Bible was written by evangelists and scribes inspired by God.
-The Quran was written by generals inspired by greed, power, and conflict.

-The Bible was written 500 years before the Quran, and speaks of the Truth.
-The Quran was written later, supposedly based upon the Bible, yet contradicts the Bible, even claiming the Bible to be corrupt.

-The Bible tells of Jesus being the Messiah who died on the cross, was resurrected 3 days later, and ascended into Heaven.
-The Quran tells of Jesus falsifying his death on the cross, walking around 3 days later claiming to have died, and of Him ascending into Heaven.

-The Bible's books are categorized in chapter and verse.
-The Quran is categorized only by verse (or is it only by chapter? Or maybe it’s every 10 verses.)

-The Bible has many styles in its writings (letters, prophesy, prayers, history, songs, wisdom, laws, Gospel, etc.)
-The Quran is basically written in the form of the Bible's Proverbs (wisdom), and instructions (do this, not this, accept these people, not those people, trust these people, hate and don’t trust these people, etc.)

-The Bible is the Word of God, telling of God’s history with and among His people.

-The Quran is a word of humans, meant to persuade, advise, and tell of Muhammad’s history among his people.

-Muslims don't consider translations of the Quran holy. Only the original language to them is holy.

-The Bible is Holy regardless of the language it's in (you've also got to figure, God created all languages).

-The Bible is Truth-based.

-The Quran is more opinion/advise-based.

-In the Bible, Jesus says not to trust anyone who comes after Him claiming to be the Messiah, for such will only be false prophets.
-The Quran says to believe Jesus and to trust the Gospels.

…just to name a few.

 ---Pastor Andy

Meanings of Creeds and Baptism

 Question:

1) What are Creeds in Christianity?

2) What are the major branches of Christianity? And what are the differences?

3) What does being baptized mean?

My Reply:

Wow, big questions :)

1) So what are Creeds in Christianity? Well, in the old days of the early Church, many people went off and began preaching other gospels, confusing people and sending them onto the wrong tracks...much like how religious cults today confuse people about Jesus and Christianity.

So the early church put together creeds in order to profess and make it clear as to what the real Church believes about Jesus Christ.  I suppose you could say it was an early version of apologetics, or defending the Truth.  It's all taken from scripture and from what was being preached by the original evangelists. So in other words, the purpose of the creeds is to teach, remind, and confirm the Truth, and to recognize and disprove the lies.

2) What are Christianity’s major branches? You know, I'm not really sure anymore, for there are so many branches out there now. Also, not all the denominations believe the same thing within their own denominations. So I can't really say.

3) What does Baptism mean, or what happens when you are Baptized?

Many things occur in baptism:
1) First, Baptism is not a means of salvation.
2) Jesus said that nobody can even SEE the Kingdom of God unless they're born from above. In Baptism, we're made a new creation – even a new race (the Christian race) – for like clothing, the old comes off and the new comes on.
3) Baptism is also described as dying and being born anew (from above...same word in the Greek). We die and are buried in our watery graves (dying with Christ), and being born anew when we come up out of the water (resurrecting, in a sense, but not to be confused with the resurrection to come).
4) You've heard the term, "blood is thicker than water"? In terms of baptism, "Water is thicker than blood", for it's in the waters of baptism that we're bonded with the other members of Christ's Body (the Church).
5) It’s the sealing of the deal…as accepting Christ is compared to getting engaged, Baptism can be compared to the wedding.  You’re saved when you enter into a relationship with God by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you become part of the Body of Christ (fellowship of believers, Church) at Baptism.

I have a blog post that may help you understand some, also, put into context of a conversation.

---Pastor Andy

Can Truth exist?

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Dear Pastor Andy, can’t truth and lie exist only in imagination? I mean morality, not science. You can't deny something real, like math...math is real.

My Reply:

OK, let's look at it your way..."math is real". I tell you 13x7=28. You tell me 13x7=91. Only one of us can be right, right?
Now, I can show you 3 ways to prove that I'm right...addition, multiplication, and division. And when I do the math my way, it always comes out 28.

Where's the truth? Is it true to say that 13x7=28? If you said you agreed, then would you be lying, or maybe compromising? But even in compromising, are you not betraying the truth, even a little?

My point is that there's a right way and a wrong way. There's also not only a truth, but even an Absolute Truth, and that Absolute Truth is what leads to the correct answer. But if such is the case, then all the other ways must be wrong, or lies, for they don't result in the correct answer. And if you say your way is the correct way, even though it doesn't come up with the correct answer, then you either must be lying, or wrong.
So yes, Truth does exist, so does Absolute Truth.

To see 3 ways that 13x7=28, CLICK HERE.

---Pastor Andy

Do You Believe In Ghosts?

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Question:  Do you believe in ghosts?

My Reply:

Do I believe they exist? Yes. Do I believe in them? No, meaning that they're not ghosts as we know from media or hype...they're demons. There's no such thing as a friendly ghost. Their main goal is to get people to become confused about God, and thus lose their faith in God.

If we believe ghosts are dead people, then we're saying God doesn't know what He's doing, God doesn't see all that goes on, or one may assume that even dead people can continue to torment the living, thus questioning God's promised judgment.
They may tell you things or cause you to believe that they're protecting you. This is also how bad people prey on their victims...they work on them through trust.

My point is, yes, they exist...I know this for a fact. But they're not something to mess with, become interested in, or "believe in".
Demons lie, and have no truth or good in them.

---Pastor Andy

Closed-minded vs. Open-minded

Question: Who's more closed-minded, atheists or theists, and why? (And yes, this is a generalization).

My Reply:
Well, first I think we need to define "closed-minded".
Christians are accused of being closed-minded because instead of accepting many theories and beliefs as true, we choose to keep to one Truth.

Many who claim to be "open-minded" believe that Truth is relative. Actually, I'm not even sure they believe in any truth at all, for unless it's inclusive, they're not willing to believe it.  But in everything, there has to be an absolute Truth. So technically speaking, those who aren't willing to believe in the One Absolute Truth, those who claim to be "open-minded", are actually closed-minded, for they refuse to believe that which is true.

To say something is true means that something has to be false (or untrue). But to say that there's no truth is to say that everything is actually untrue, or false.  So those who claim to be "open-minded", who say they believe everything, can't be "open-minded", for they refuse to believe that one Truth exists.

Also, to say that something is false or a matter of opinion means that something has to be true or fact.  That one thing that's true and fact is what we Christians stand on.  Does that mean we Christians are more closed-minded?

---Pastor Andy