We’re All Subject to The One Absolute Truth About God Whether We Believe in it or Not
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Acrylic on Canvas, 180 cm x 90 cm (71″ x 35.5″), ONFS
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Jesus said, “…for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” (John 18:37)
Truth is not subjective but absolute.
Finding the one absolute truth about God is the most important issue in our lives. Our eternal destiny depends upon our knowledge and submission to that truth, for we are all subject to the absolute truth whether we believe in it or not. No one can “create” their own “truth” by what they believe.
For example, the absolute truth is gravity exists. I cannot, through my belief that gravity does not exist, create and live in my own independent universe devoid of gravity.
This same principle applies to God and morality. Each of us has the freedom to believe or to not believe in God, and each of us has the freedom to believe or to not believe that abortion is immoral. But none of us, through our own personal belief, can “create” a “truth” to which we are absolutely subject.
Our personal beliefs cannot negate our absolute subjectivity to the absolute truth.
God has revealed the absolute truth to us through the Bible and the Person of Jesus Christ. Anyone can make this claim, but how can anyone know for certain that it is the absolute truth?
God has proven his testimony to us by doing something only God can do: Fulfilling Bible prophecy.
In the Bible, YHWH, the God of Israel, the God incarnated in the Person of Jesus Christ, sets forth this challenge to all other gods (and indirectly the people who believe in them and worship them):
“‘Present your case,’ says the LORD. ‘Set forth your arguments,’ says Jacob’s King. ‘Tell us, you idols, what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; whoever chooses you is detestable.” (Isaiah 41:21-24)
This painting portrays peoples’ different attitudes toward the absolute truth of God. I have depicted “Wisdom” as a woman, which alludes to Proverbs 1:20-33; 8:1-9:12 (and in a broader sense Proverbs 1-9).
The different characters, along with the Scriptures that exemplify them are (from left to right):
INDIFFERENCE
“God declares, ‘I spoke to you again and again but you did not listen; I called you but you did not answer.'” (Jeremiah 7:13)
DISTRACTED
“Be careful or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life and that day of Christ’s return will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.” (Luke 21:34)
REBELLION
“…All will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
UNBELIEF
“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” (Psalm 53:1)
WISDOM
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)
PRESUMPTION
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
AVERSION
“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
MISINTERPRETATION
“The Apostle Paul’s letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16)
IGNORANCE
“The waywardness of the ignorant will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to wisdom will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” (Proverbs 1:32:33)
***For the sake of clarity (especially to those unfamiliar with the Bible and the context out of which these verses have been taken) some of these Scriptures have been slightly modified, blending words from different respected translations together or adding information from the general context into the specific verse. The meanings have not been changed.
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