Salesmen learn how to do it.
Politicians are masters at it. Students in school do it. Husbands do it, and so
do wives. Even preachers get good at it. We learn to do it very early in life.
``I didn't lie to you,'' we say. ``You just didn't understand.''
``Did you do the dishes?'' Mom
says.
``Yes,'' says Annie.
``But what are these pots?''
``Oh,'' says Annie. ``I didn't
know you wanted me to do the pots. You said dishes.''
What does this have to do with
theology?
Everything.
In an irrational universe,
there is no possibility of lying, because there would be no definition. When
Adam named the animals he was seeing distinctions between them so that there
could be communication. If a person does not know the difference between a pig
and a cow he might try to milk the wrong one, with disastrous results.
Sentimentality is emotion
without reason or definition. Without reason every object is of equal value and
equal emotional content. The insane man weeps or laughs at inappropriate times,
because he lacks the power of reason to distinguish. The immoral man does not
want to make distinctions: he wants to
love everyone's wife. He wants to use everyone's money. He wants to slay and call it kindness.
When reason is abandoned, the first casualty is truth, for there is no longer any possibility of knowing the truth, for only reason can define and distinguish between things. This defining power of reason is basic to the very essence of the universe, because it is basic to the very nature of God.
Simply stated, the law of
contradiction means that something cannot both be itself and not itself. A cow
cannot be both a cow and not a cow. If a person does not admit this principle
he has abandoned all possibility of thought. He not only has made it impossible
to lie, but also impossible to convey the truth.
``God is not a man, that He should lie...'' (Numbers 23:19) ``God, that cannot lie....'' (Titus 1:2) The reason why God cannot lie is because the law of contradiction is basic to His own nature. ``If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.'' (II Timothy 2:13).
This is the reason why God so
carefully distinguishes Himself from all the idols of the heathen. He is the
living God; they are dead. He speaks
truth in righteousness; they are lying images. Knowing that He is God, He will
never for a moment pretend that He is not God. He never uses words for
manipulation, but to reveal to us His character, His love, and His will. He
cannot deny Himself. He knows the difference between God and that which is not
God.
In the Garden of Eden, Satan
tempted Adam and Eve to think that God uses words in a lying way, to
manipulate: ``God knows that good things will happen to you if you eat of the
tree. He just doesn't want you to be like Him. You won't die if you eat.'' The temptation wasn't about diet, it was
about words, lying, and obedience.
But because God cannot deny
Himself, the world that He had created was a rational world, subject to law and
meaning. It was the devil who lied. Sin, death, and misery came to mankind in
terms of the words that God had said. He knows the difference between living
and dying, because He knows Himself.
God has shown us the
difference between good and evil; between righteousness and wickedness; between
heaven and hell. Rationality is not something that existed prior to God, in some
natural order in which God lives; rather, rationality is the expression of the
very nature of God and is reflected in the universe that He made. We are
called, as the images of God, to exercise ``judgment'' in our decisions, to
reflect in our minds the rationality of God.
On the First Day of Creation,
God distinguished between the light and darkness, between day and night. On the
Second Day He distinguished between that which was above heaven, and that which
was below. On the Third Day He distinguished between the Seas and the Earth and
had the earth bring forth grass and herbs, ``after their kind.'' On the Fourth
Day, He distinguished between the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, between seasons,
and days, and years. The Sun was to rule the Day; the Moon was to rule the
night--to divide the light from the darkness.
On the Fifth Day He
distinguished between the fowl that moved in the air and the life in the seas.
Each species was to bring forth ``after his kind.'' Then, on the Sixth Day, God
distinguished between the species that move on the earth, so that each would
bring forth ``after his kind.'' He then distinguished between the man created
in His image, and the things that were put in subjection to the man. After he
created Eve, He called her ``Woman,'' distinguishing her from the man.
Finally, God set the Seventh
Day apart from all the rest, and sanctified it, and made it the day of rest.
What more evidence is needed, besides the evidence of our own eyes as to the
order and structure of the universe?
The liar will not accept any of this. His goal is to cloud the mind, to rub out distinctions, to corrupt the meaning of words, so that his lies are not discovered. He will blind the mind with emotion, with prejudice, with feigned words, and debased definitions. If this fails, he will attack reason itself, and carry his assault to the very throne of God. He will call it liberty, freedom from ``rigid and cold logic.'' He hates definition, because he denies the judgment of God.
It is all futile, of course.
God cannot deny Himself. In the last day the final distinction will be made,
for all that sleep in the dust shall come forth, some to everlasting life, and
some to everlasting shame. This day is called the ``Judgment'' and will affirm
the rationality of God and the order of His Throne. God cannot deny Himself, and He cannot deny that Jesus is the
Christ, the Word who was made flesh.
``For thus saith the Lord that
created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath
established it, He created it not in vain, He formed it to be inhabited: I am
the Lord; and there is none else.'' (Isaiah 45:18)
Write:
Pastor C. W. Powell
Trinity Covenant Church (RCUS)
6050 Del Paz Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
Email: mailto:budpow@ureach.com