Truth or Consequences

The choice is up to you!

Some of you who are old enough to have been alive during the 1950s may recall a popular television game show from that era called Truth or Consequences. Contestants on the show, who were often selected from the studio audience, were allowed a couple of seconds in which to answer an off-the-wall trivia question. 

More often than not the question was an obscure, silly or ridiculous question that the contestant would be unable to answer correctly. When time ran out "Beulah the Buzzer" indicated it was time for the consequences. 

On the rare occasion when a contestant managed to answer correctly, the host would then reveal that the question had multiple parts ultimately leading to failure and the inevitable consequence which usually consisted of the contestant having to sing a song, do a dance or perform some other zany or embarrassing stunt.

That nutty, quirky, madcap, silly television show, even now, offers much deeper insights than the average person may realize. In many ways life mimics the game of truth and consequences; except in life you have the ability to maximize the truth and minimize the consequences. The way to do that is simple; just make sure you know more Truth…then there will be fewer Consequences! 

Every single one of us who woke up this morning on the right side of the dirt, are for another day contestants in the game show of life. We have multifarious ways to reach the truth; but there is ONLY ONE TRUTH! On the other hand the game of life is long on consequences; there are bazillions of them just waiting for you to fail to choose truth. 

If you know the truth, you stand a much better chance of getting the blessing and avoiding the consequence; but most people don’t know the truth! Therefore they endure many consequences because of their ignorance.

God bestowed upon every human being the freedom to choose. Each one of us is totally free to make our own choices and, barring bizarre circumstances that prevent that from happening, most of us have no difficulty in making our own choices about anything and everything. Problems arise when we insist on blaming our poor choices on something, or somebody, else. The reality is we are in charge of the choices we make. In spite of all this freedom, the results of our choices are not always desirable! 

Before proceeding further we must sort out an age old conundrum. I refer you back to the title of this essay. It is “Truth or Consequences” NOT “Fact or Consequences”. We must accurately cipher the disparity between a ‘fact’ and the ‘truth’ if we are to move forward with certainty.

People the world over tend to view these two terms synonymously, when in fact they are separated by a deep abyss of misconception. Until we possess an accurate and precise knowledge of what God has imparted to us via His Word, we will remain in this bottomless crevasse of confusion.

A fact, according to the dictionary, is “something that is known or proved to be true”; unfortunately the definition of truth is stated as “being in accordance with fact or reality”. Unfortunately these definitions only intensify our confusion! We still have no real understanding of the difference between a fact and the truth. Our answer will come in distinguishing between what God says and what men say when talking about truth. 

Factual information may be accurate today; but is very likely to change tomorrow; depending on circumstances, semantics or some other factor like who is setting the parameters. A good current example of what I’m saying is the fact that for most of my life, I’ve been a believer, I’m a conservative, I’m a veteran, I’m pro Constitution, I love my country and consider myself to be a patriot. Therefore, in the past, the U.S. government considered me a good American, a good citizen and someone with solid values. Imagine my surprise when recently I came to understand that these same exact values now get me labeled as a “domestic terrorist”! That is what happens with facts; they tend to change with time and with who is making the rules!

Truth, on the other hand, is something else entirely. Although it may look similar to a fact, it is vastly and totally different in one crucial sense. Although facts may morph for any number of reasons, truth remains static...constant and invariable! TRUTH DOES NOT CHANGE! Therefore the Bible is the perfect vehicle for truth. 

When was the last time you noticed that God changed something that He previously said to you? I’ll wait……….God has NEVER CHANGED ANYTHING that He has ever told us!! God deals exclusively in truth! If He tells us something, anything at all, He then backs it up completely in His Word, and guess what sports fans, THE BIBLE DOES NOT CHANGE!!! If the Bible says it, that settles it! 

Saint Augustine, the fourth century philosopher and theologian was once quoted as saying, 

“Truth is like a lion, you don’t have to defend it. Just let it loose and it will defend itself.” 

The Bible is 100% pure truth! We never need to defend it. It will always defend itself. Our job is to make sure we follow the lion!

With a good, solid definition of truth firmly in hand, let’s play some Truth or Consequences. Imagine that you are the contestant. You have been chosen at random from the vast audience of humanity and you are now standing onstage with the show’s host and he presents you with a simple question:

“What is the biblical requirement, according to the church epistles, for getting saved? Please cite the scripture reference and quote it.”

GULP!!! Up until now you may not have given a whole lot of thought to just how crucial the answer to this simple question is. You may even be thinking, 

“So what’s the BIG DEAL, it’s just a Bible verse…right? How bad can the consequence be? Perhaps I’ll have to hop on one foot, blindfolded, singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” backwards while flapping my arms like a chicken! NO BIGGIE!!! This is just a game show after all!”

Life is like Truth or Consequences. If you don’t know the truth….there will be consequences! Before I supply the answer, allow me to provide you with the consequence of not knowing the answer to this simple question. Then, of course, I’ll let you decide how important knowing the answer really is.

For starters Jesus Christ forfeited his perfect sinless life for your imperfect sinful one! He paid the total ransom to buy you back from the ravenous clutches of the devil. He not only gave up his life for your sins, he also did the same for your sicknesses and infirmities as well. 

But wait…there’s MORE!! 

Jesus’ sacrifice also ushered in something that had never been heard of up to that point. On the day of Pentecost eternal life became a reality! 

IS THAT HUGE…OR WHAT? 

Instead of maybe seventy or eighty, or perhaps even ninety years of life and then a VERY LONG dirt nap, God Almighty, by way of His son Jesus Christ turned the tables on our adversary. But of course all of what I just told you is predicated upon whether you correctly answered the question posed in the game a moment ago.

If you are scratching your head and wondering what I’m talking about, then you are poised for extreme consequences that will last an eternity...which is an EXTREMELY LONG TIME! But there’s still time to turn this game around and here’s what you need to do. The correct (and only) answer to the question is simply to do what the verse below directs.

Could God have made it any easier?

Why it’s so easy even a caveman or a rank unbelieving sinner can do it! But I warn you, there will be many who will try to tell you it’s not that easy. They will insist that you must work for it! Yes, they will no doubt offer you any number of answers to this question. All of which WILL BE WRONG! Unless, of course, they harmonize with what Romans 10:9 says. 

Being a good person is much touted by many of the religious among us who think salvation is by works. That my friend is not going to cut the mustard! This is what God’s Word says:

That’s not to say that being a good person isn’t a good idea or a worthy ambition!  It is certainly much more preferable than being a jerk. It simply isn’t the answer to the question. 

Another shortcut to eternal consequences is thinking that all you need to do is ask Jesus to come into your heart or to take charge of your life or any other of the many variations on that theme. All of them are nice sentiments, but once again they are not the correct answer to the question. None of these things are what the Bible directs us to do. The TRUTH is what Romans 10:9 requires. Anything less and YOU LOSE!!

That was fun and educational wasn’t it? Why not play another round now that we’re all warmed up? Great! This time the question is a two parter:

Part A…What is truth?

Part B…What will truth provide for you?

The answers to these questions don’t necessarily carry such dire consequences like our earlier example, but they are, nonetheless, vital to your understanding while learning and studying the Bible. The answer to Part A can be found here:

The correct answer to Part A is GOD'S WORD IS TRUTH!!! God’s word is the only place where you will find unaltered, unfiltered and unadulterated TRUTH. The answer to Part B can be found here:

The correct answer to Part B is that THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE! Who in his right mind does not want to be free?

Yes, the game of life is very much like the game Truth of Consequences. Nobody really desires the consequences but all too often they are not adequately prepared to avoid them. The most critical thing in all of life is that you KNOW THE TRUTH OF GOD’S REQUIREMENTS CONCERNING YOU! That way, instead of reaping a bitter harvest of unwanted consequences, you will bask in the everlasting Truth of God’s love.