One Lie Corrupts the Whole Story

I John 2:21-23

Smokers develop an addiction to nicotine, and get headaches when they don’t get another dose after a while. What many don’t realize is what a deadly poison it is. Farmers used to give a plug of chewing tobacco to their horses to rid them of intestinal parasites. The amount of nicotine in the tobacco would kill the parasites, but one had to be careful not to give too much for the horse’s sake. Just a very small amount of nicotine introduced into a city’s water supply could poison an entire city. Because of the danger from various poisons, tests have been developed to detect minute amounts of poison in water supplies.

In the same way, just a little falsehood can contaminate a large body of truth, making the whole a lie. The more truth a lie is mixed with, the more likely the lie is to slip by unnoticed. The modern scientific method was developed as a way to detect and eliminate errors and falsehoods from science.

In the scientific method, a preliminary hypothesis is formed based on observation. This hypothesis is then checked by other observations of the same event, for example by seeing if the results can be duplicated. If so, then the hypothesis is tested by varying the conditions to see what the effects will be. If it holds up, the hypothesis is then tested in other settings, by other people to verify that it is not some unique action by the researcher giving the results. As the hypothesis is verified by independent researchers, it becomes a theory. Only when that theory has been proven to be true in every possible case is it considered a fact, called a Law. If at any point in the process a discrepancy is found, the hypothesis is wrong and must be changed to fit the known facts, and re-tested.

As a result, we have the Law of Gravity, for example because it can be proven to exist in every case. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, is only a theory. No evidence that it is not true has been found, but it has not been proven that it is true. Simply put a law is truth, a theory is a guess that is probably true, and a hypothesis is an educated guess. Unfortunately, modern scientific writers frequently assume theory to be law, introducing the likelihood of error. This was the cause of Einstein’s break with many physicists just before his death. He believed they needed to prove that the theory was in fact law before depending on it to support some new theory. Otherwise, science becomes increasingly a series of unsupported guesses and dogma, rather than fact.

God has made it possible for every Christian to know the truth. He has provided ways for us to check our understanding of the truth, despite the inexactness of human language, as we see from II Peter 1:20-21. “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” No passage may be interpreted in isolation, but must be compared to the rest of scripture. Any interpretation which produces conflict with other scripture must be resolved, because God’ word is truth. No lie can be part of the truth.

“I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” (I John 2:21)

Just as a minute amount of nicotine can poison the water, a minute amount of false hood corrupts the whole doctrine. There must be none present. I John is written to encourage us to exercise discernment and identify falsehood, in our own lives, and in those we contact, and correct it if possible. It is with that in mind that John presents the next passage.

“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.” (I John 2:22-23)

“Christ” is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word “Messiah.” There are over 1200 prophecies concerning the Messiah in the Old Testament. John and the other apostles were witnesses of his fulfilling all of them, as well as hearing God speak from heaven, identifying Jesus as the Messiah. There is can be no valid question as to whether he is the Christ. Anyone who denies it has to deliberately ignore or conceal the facts.

A person who denies the statements God has made about Jesus and the Messiah cannot truly believe in a God is incapable of lying, or who knows all things, and designed and created the world. Though they claim to worship the same God, it cannot be the same one. By the same token, one cannot truly believe Christ without accepting his claims about God. If God is not real, then Jesus is just another liar.