What is a Great Wrong Answer?

What is a Great Wrong Answer?

Astronomy class in the autumn; I'm sitting attentively at my desk as my professor describes Caludius Ptolemy's working model of our solar system. An image is projected onto the screen in front of me, as my profesor explains in full detail how this model of the solar system excellently illustrates what planets are doing when they orbit around earth. The model even explains why some planets look as if they are moving back and forth in the sky (retrograde motion). Before our professor began telling us about this model he wanted us to know one big thing about it. Beyond that it was a great model for explaining and defending why celestial bodies in the sky move the way they do around earth, our professor wanted us to know that everything about this model...is wrong.

There's not one bit of truth in Ptolemy's model of the solar system, even though it brilliantly illustrates why stars in the night sky appear to move the way they do. It's a great explanation and it makes alot of sense, but it's wrong. The biggest problem with this model is that it is created on the false premise that the center of our solar system is the earth, and because it was built on this premise every piece of information this model gives supports this false premise. Now if the eath was the center of our solar system, and the planets and stars in the night sky still moved the way they do in reality, then Ptolemy's model of the solar system would be almost perfect...but that's not the case. Studies of our solar system have continuously concluded that the sun is the center of our solar system and the earth and all the other planets orbit around it. An accurate model of our solar system would be built on the premise that the sun is the center of our solar system and all the planets orbit around it.

I bring all this up to illustrate that humans can come up with some great wrong asnwers; answers that are brilliant, excellent, explain alot, sound, reasonable and are completely false. There are great wrong answers coming from people all over the world, and many of these answers are thought to be right answers but they are not.

Joel Osteen has preached that most people are good people
who have good hearts. This is a lie, for the heart is "
deceitful above all things  and beyond cure" (Jeremiah 17:9).

What I find most tragic about this is that there are great wrong answers being presented in many churches (or so they would call themselves) across the United States. These churches today are filled with people who give great wrong answers, used to build up their false premises. For Ptolemy, his false premise was that the earth was the center of the solar system (it's not), but for false preachers like Joel Osteen, his premise is that humans are innately or typically good (whereas Romans 3:10 says otherwise, stating, "There is no one righteous"). Because of this, the "sermons" and books Joel Osteen writes tend to illustrate that humans are good people just in need of some self help (one of his best-selling books is titled Become a Better You). On the foundation of this premise Joel Osteen can say some nice sounding things. He can say them with passion and positivity. He can provide some great answers that are elloquent and well structured. However, because the premises he supports are false, all his own answers are just more great wrong answers.

The term "great wrong answer" is my word for this phenomenon. The Bible calls great wrong answers lies, and it calls those who give great wrong answers false teachers/preachers. These people speak lies that lead people astray from the truth found in Scripture. God describes false preachers as men and women who are "prophesying to you, false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds" (Jeremiah 14:14). Jesus says that false preachers will tend to be well liked (see Luke 6:26) and that these people will "perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect [God's chosen people]" (Matthew 24:24). Jesus also tells His followers to beware of "false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves," which means on the outside what they are saying sounds nice and seems right but the truth is their words are full of lies and are dangerous (Matthew 7:15).

So, why do people listen to great wrong anserws (lies) from vocal innacurate pastors (false preachers)? The answer is, we like to hear them. These lies meet the desires of our foolish and sinful hearts. Paul writes that "the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine [Biblical truth]. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths" (2 Tomothy 4:3-4). The unfortunate reality is that we are born sinners who do not want to hear God's truth, afterall "there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God" (Romans 3:11).

The only way for us to want to listen to the truth is for God to change our hearts entirely. God tells His chosen people in the book of Ezekiel, "I will give you a new heart, [Not one that is changed or made better, but a completely new heart] and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws" (36:26-27). This is the only way people can listen and follow the truth. Jesus tells His followers, "I am the way and the truth and the life" (John 14:6). This means that no one can find truth apart from Jesus, and no one can speak truth if Jesus has not revealed it to them. The truth is that truth can only come from those who have a heart for God.

"Hold on, if the truth be known

Truth is more than "to each his own"

... If the truth be known

Do you really wanna know?"

- Newsboys

There's a line from David A. White's character in
God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness that I appreciate.
When he's asked what is truth he responds,
"Truth is a person - the person of Jesus Christ."

We, as believers, see that God reveals His truth in His word, the Bible. Paul writes that "all Scripture is God-breathed," meaning that God spoke it (2 Timothy 3:16). In the book of Psalms it is written "the word of the Lord is right and true" (Psalm 33:4). This might surprise some of my readers, but the truth is that the truth is always true. Jesus even says that the truth found in the Scriptures will never cease to be true. He says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away" (Matthew 24:35).

If we too believe in the truth and believe what God's word says, then we will not pass away either. We will have eternal life (John 3:16). The Scriptures say that a person who reads the Word of God and dwells on its truth is "like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither - whatever they do prospers" (Psalm 3:1). Those who read and trust in God's word will never wither. They will never die.

Brothers and sisters, this world is filled with some great wrong answers, and they could come from anyone and anywhere, but God says that only His word is true. It's true today. It's true tomorrow. It'll be true throughout all eternity. It will never lead anyone astray. It will always lead to life and life in abundance; more than any false preacher could deceivingly promise. If you are looking for right answers/good answers, then there is only one place to look. God says, "call on Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 23:12-13). In a world of great wrong answers, there's is nothing better than finding and belieiving in the perfect best answer.


Sources

• The Bible (New International Version)
• Astronomy Today 8th Edition: Chapter 2 The Copernican Revolution
• American Gospel: Christ Alon (1 Hour Version) [Osteen Quote at 12:18]
• Newsboys: Truth Be Known (Everybody Gets a Shot)
• God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness
• BibleStudyTools: Verses about False Preachers
• DailyVerse.net: 52 Bible Verses about the Word of God

Mark 10:18 Only God is Good

Mark 10:18

"'Why do you call me good?' Jesus answered. 'No one is good—except God alone.'"

There is a story in the gospels (the four books about Jesus' life titled Matthew, Mark, Luke and John), and this story appears in three of the four gospels. It's the story where Jesus encountered the rich young ruler, and this story begins with a very wealthy man falling on his knees before Jesus and saying, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Mark 10:17). In the accounts of this story in Mark, Matthew and Luke Jesus then asks the rich young ruller this, "Why do you call me good?...No one is good—except God alone." (Luke 18:19). What Jesus and the rich young ruler discuss next is worth reading and understanding, however this post will focus on Jesus' first statement in this conversation, "There is only One who is good" (Matthew 19:17).

Unlike as it is often used in the english language, the word "good" biblically is not a synonym for the word "great." The word Jesus uses for good is ἀγαθός (agathos) and it's the same word used in Matthew 7:18 where Jesus talks about how "only good trees can bear good fruit" and in Luke 19:17 where Jesus says that the father will say, "Well done, my good servant!" to those who can be trusted with what God gives them. This good is not about a quality of a product or person but about the level of righteousness that something can have; it's about how close something follows God and abides in Him. Bibilically, the opposite of "good" is not "bad," but "evil," and those who are evil seek to oppose God and stay away from what He commands. We, as believers, should keep this in mind, when we use the word "good" in our daily lives. From a Biblical standpoint, only God and everything He deems righteous is good; only what abides in Him can be good.

Since only God is good, we need to look to Him as the sole example for what is good. We, as believers, will not find anything good where God is not present. Everything we long for that is apart from God will never satisfy our thirst for good things, but Jesus says, "Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst" (John 4:14). Jesus later on explains the good water flowing from Him is His words. If we have faith in what Jesus says and who He is, then we drink His water that satisfies. Jesus says, "Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them" (John 7:38). In answer to the rich young ruler's question, Jesus says that believing in Him is how anyone can inherit eternal life. When the living water of Jesus Christ wells up inside of us, we can then pass it on to others. We can lead them to who God He is and what He says, so that they too can have eternal life. We can direct them to the one who is good and from whom all good things flow; God alone.

Sources

• The Bible (New International Version)
• Biblehub.com (good)
• Dictionary.com (good)