What lies beneath?

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

 

Ironically on the internet this quote is attributed to a varety of sources; Mark Twain, Winston Churchill and Charles Spurgeon to name but a few. Someone is already telling porky pies. Although, is it a lie if they don't know that they have a misquote when the first quote that comes up in Google might not be a true quote? Is it a lie if the liar doesn't know it is a lie and has wanted to believe what they are told without searching for the truth themselves?

 

In a beautiful sermon I heard some time ago now, the speaker told a story of a woman in a church congregation who had been misinformed about a situation, and who then took it upon herself to broadcast this information, believing it to be true but knowing it was gossip.

 

The story was defamatory. It took the reputation of a pastor of a church and slandered it, dragging it down and making the 'news' public. Of course, in time, the woman found the story to be untrue and humbly went to the pastor she had destroyed the reputation of, to ask what she could do to repair the situation.

 

He responded "on the next windy day, take a pillowcase of feathers to the highest point of the hill behind the town. Empty that pillowcase and watch the feathers fly. Then go and catch every single feather."

 

Lies cannot be undone. They are too insubstantial to pin down, they hold no truth, and are not grounded in anything apart from fantasy. They multiply without warning and masquerade as truth. They do not even hold their own form but are shape shifters, changing as they move along.

 

In a world of modern technology, one comment, one claim, one lie - can go around the world in seconds and become impossible to retrieve, just as feathers on a windy day.

 

Jesus is quoted as saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". I am guessing that this point was being made as he knew it would be contested. What do you believe? Are these words a lie? Are they truth? Was Jesus who he said he was? Was he the son of God? Did Jesus even exist? (Actually, do a bit of research on that one - even athiests have to acknowledge that some guy called Jesus did hit the radar of a few historians at the time). These questions need to be thought about and responded to.

 

Jesus geeks will find the verse in John 14:6.

 

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