Truth is Not Always the Whole Truth

We live in a time where everyone has their own version of truth and that is becoming a real problem. I've frequently had people comment to me that "their truth" was different than mine, referring to their concept and belief in God. The issue is that something can be "true" and not be the whole truth. I use the picture to the right as a prime example. This meme is all over social media, used as a motivational encouragement. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? And it is absolutely true... but it's not the whole truth. The fact is that Coca Cola was created by pharmacist, John Pemberton in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886. He served it in glasses at his soda counter. In the beginning, averaged serving 9 servings per day at that counter and it began becoming more and more popular. There was no such thing as bottles or cans of soda in those days, and he began looking for a way to make the drink portable so that his market could expand. The drink began to expand to other pharmacies, but the market was still very limited. They began bottling the drink in 1894. So, YES, it is true that even the giant corporation of Coca Cola began small, but the story itself is simply not accurate. So while there may be "some" truth to the meme... it is not THE factual TRUTH!  

Let me share another story that I read on an Internet site. The story spoke of a man whose car had jumped a median, crossed oncoming traffic causing other cars to leave the road before crashing into a car in a driveway, and yet the driver was not ticketed.  It sounds horrible, and it was absolutely true. But what was the whole truth? The fact is that a child had run out into the street and in an effort to not hit the child, the driver steered his car into the median, which caused him to lose control of his car. So "truth" can be subjective to knowing the whole story. Just as it just may be true that only 25 bottles of Coca-Cola was sold in bottles by the first guy who bottled it, that leaves out the part that by that time it was being served in glasses as several soda counters, each serving thousands of servings in their location every year before it was ever put into a bottle. Knowing the whole truth changes the story greatly. That's why it is so important to know the whole truth.  Partial truth is a dangerous thing. That's why when a person is sworn in to testify in court they are given the oath: "Do you solemnly swear that you will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you, God, under penalty of perjury." A partial truth will not do.

So, what am I getting at? We hear people quoting a partial truth all the time. They say, "And the truth shall set you free!"  That is a true statement, taken from the Bible itself... BUT, it is taken out of context. For you to understand that statement and stand on the promise of it, you have to put it into proper context. In the gospel of John, chapter 8, the Pharisees were questioning Jesus, challenging who he was and his authority. As he tries to tell to tell them that He had come to them, sent from the Father and he says in verse 45, "because I tell you the truth, you cannot believe me." Now let's go back a few verses. The Bible tells us that many who were there listening to him began to believe what he was saying. To them he says in verses 31-32 he says, "If you hold to my teaching you are really my disciples. THEN you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free." So the WHOLE truth here is that IF you are a disciple of Jesus, a follower, one who lives according to the teachings of Jesus, THAT truth will set you free. Context is everything! In verse 51 he says, "Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death!"   The truth that sets us free is the GOOD NEWS, the Gospel.  We must know the truth... know the gospel and know and follow Jesus' word and commands... and that truth will set us free.

It's important to know the whole truth!