Truth

We had our Bible study class this morning, and I had done enough studying so that I was able to participate without seeming too clueless. I wouldn't describe myself as being overly religious, but I do have sort of a thirst for knowledge. I know that there are millions of people who rely heavily on what they find in the Bible to guide their lives, and I guess I could do with a little guidance myself. The lesson today was on the book of Jeremiah. He was a prophet whose main assignment was to inform the people of Judah, and Jerusalem in particular, that they were about to be ravaged by the Babylonians, and they should prepare themselves for the destruction that lay ahead. Jeremiah was not well received because, even though truthful, his message was one of doom. To add to his problems, there were other prophets who were painting a rosier picture, and they were finding more willing ears among the populace. Jeremiah knew that he was the true prophet (he was working directly with the Lord) and that all the others were false prophets. Which brings me to what I wanted to write about today. How do you know what is actually the "truth"? To translate this into today's relevance, let's consider the stimulus package that became law in February of this year. One group of prophets claims that the bill is exactly the right answer to all the economic problems facing us today. The other prophets say that the remedies put forth in the bill will change for the worse life as we know it. Our dilemma is that we don't know which of the outcomes is the "truth". Jeremiah lamented that no one paid any attention to his true prophesies, but willingly listened to the lies put out by the persuasive arguments of the false prophets. The question did come up - how are we to know who is giving the "true" message?Jeremiah put this question to the Lord, and the Lord answered that when the foretold event comes to pass we will know who was telling the truth. Needless to say, this answer doesn't comfort me one bit, because if the false prophets have their way, an awful lot of damage will have been done and it will be too late to fix it. Is there anyone out there who actually knows if the stimulus package is going to work? I sure sure wish he would come forward and put an end to our anxiety. ---But, could we believe him??