Speak the Truth

Orthodox Christianity isn’t popular, but neither was Christ, obviously. If we look at the historicity of Christ and examine why He was put on the cross and crucified, it had nothing to do with God’s plan. Actually, the people who put him on the cross thought they were doing a service to their community. They believed He blasphemed the name of God, they thought His teachings were wrong (ironically, he quoted the Old Testament quite a bit), they felt rejected by God because of what He said.

In Matthew, Peter ran to Christ to tell him that the “Pharisees were offended” at what Christ said. He continued in the same manner and let them know that all God will take care of them. It was a battle that didn’t need to be won at the time. He didn’t apologize though, later on he made it clear that what comes out of a person’s mouth is what is in their heart.

What exactly offended the Pharisees so much? Christ quoted Isaiah 29:13 “Because this people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips but have removed their hearts far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” (Precepts can be defined as, by the oxford languages dictionary, a rule to regulate behavior or thought)

This is a tough pill to swallow in this day and age, our “Christian” leaders continue to take man made precepts directly contradictory to the Bible, and preach that they are OK out of “Love” for mankind that God supposedly has. God showed His love by sending his Son to die, so that He may have a relationship with His creation again.

So, what is the moral or point of this post? As Christ said in Matthew 7: 6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn around and attack you.” We are to strive for truth and not to be “Conformed to this world”(Romans 12:2). If we happen to offend, we have said what has needed to be said, but we are to not bother with speaking it after with the offended party. God doesn’t want us to be put in more stress or danger than is necessary for the advancement of His word. Finally, never apologize for speaking the Word of God, even if it does offend. After all, God himself never apologized for speaking the truth.