BIBLICALIST
CLOSEWhen Truth Is Rejected
Lies People Believe · Chapter 1. Read vertically within a lesson and swipe horizontally between lessons. Scripture is the final authority. All quotations are from the King James Bible.
LIES PEOPLE BELIEVE
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
7 LESSONS ON TRUTH, FEELINGS, SCRIPTURE, SINCERITY, AND AUTHORITY
The world often says truth is personal, changing, and impossible to know. Scripture says otherwise. God is true, Jesus Christ is the truth, and the Word of God is truth. These seven lessons expose common lies and bring every claim back under the authority of Scripture.
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
JOHN 17:17 · KJV01
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
IS THERE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?
Yes. Truth is not created by personal opinion, culture, popularity, or emotion. God is true, Jesus Christ is the truth, and God’s Word is truth. What God says is right whether people accept it or reject it.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.”
Jesus did not say that truth is something every person invents for himself. He prayed that His people would be sanctified through truth, then plainly identified the source: “thy word is truth.” God’s Word does not become true because we accept it. It is true because it comes from the God who cannot lie.
This matters because every person builds his life on some authority. Some trust culture, family tradition, feelings, education, religion, or public opinion. Yet all human authorities can be wrong. God alone sees perfectly, speaks perfectly, and judges perfectly. The Christian is not called to defend personal preference. He is called to submit to what God has said.
“There is no absolute truth. What is true for you may not be true for me.”
- “Nobody can really know what is true.”
- “Every belief is equally valid.”
- “It is wrong to say that another belief is false.”
- “Truth changes whenever culture changes.”
These ideas may sound tolerant, but they remove God from His rightful place as Lord and Judge. If truth is only personal, sin can be renamed, morality can be rewritten, and every person can make a god after his own imagination. But God does not change His nature to match society. He still calls sin sin, righteousness righteousness, and Jesus Christ the only way to the Father.
Believing absolute truth does not mean Christians should become proud, cruel, or argumentative. We do not claim that our own opinions are infallible. We say that God’s Word is true. Biblical love does not hide truth to avoid offense. Biblical love speaks the truth faithfully, humbly, and clearly.
Do not build your beliefs on what feels acceptable in the moment. Let Scripture correct your thinking. Receive God’s Word humbly, obey it carefully, and speak the truth with conviction and grace.
Is there an area where you have allowed personal opinion, culture, or comfort to become more authoritative than the Word of God?
02
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
DO MY FEELINGS DEFINE REALITY?
Feelings are real, but they are not the final authority for truth, morality, salvation, identity, or direction. Our hearts must be examined and guided by the Word of God.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
God does not tell us to deny every emotion. Scripture shows believers grieving, fearing, rejoicing, weeping, and bringing real burdens to God. Feelings can reveal what is happening in the heart. They can show pain, desire, fear, anger, sorrow, or joy. But feelings were never meant to rule us.
A person may sincerely feel peaceful while walking in disobedience. Another person may feel condemned even after God has forgiven him. A strong emotion can be real without being a reliable guide. Proverbs warns that a way may seem right to a man while leading to death. That is why Scripture must stand above the changing voice of the heart.
“Follow your heart. If it feels right, it must be right.”
- “I feel peace about it, so God must approve.”
- “My desires tell me who I truly am.”
- “No one should question what feels right to me.”
- “Authenticity means I should obey every feeling I have.”
Feelings cannot make sin righteous. Feeling peace does not prove that God approves a decision. Feeling strongly about a desire does not turn that desire into God’s will. The heart can be deceived, and the world often encourages people to trust themselves rather than trust God.
The Christian does not deny emotions. He brings them to God. He asks, “What has God actually said?” He lets Scripture expose false conclusions, correct wrong desires, and give light for the next step. When feelings disagree with God’s Word, God’s Word is true and our feelings must come under His authority.
Bring your emotions honestly to God, but test your conclusions by Scripture. Pray, search the Bible, seek godly counsel, and refuse to use your feelings as permission to disobey God.
Have you used a feeling as permission to make a decision that Scripture does not support?
03
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
CAN SINCERITY MAKE A LIE TRUE?
No. A person may be deeply sincere and still be sincerely wrong. Sincerity cannot change false teaching into truth or save a person apart from faith in the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Paul spoke about people who had zeal for God, but their zeal was not according to knowledge. They were serious, religious, active, and sincere. Yet they were seeking to establish their own righteousness instead of submitting to the righteousness of God.
This is a warning to every person who trusts religion, family tradition, baptism, church attendance, personal goodness, or effort instead of Jesus Christ. A person can be passionate about religion and still be wrong about salvation. The issue is not merely whether someone believes strongly. The issue is whether he believes what God has said.
“It does not matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere.”
- “All religions lead to God if people mean well.”
- “Being religious is the same as being saved.”
- “God will accept me because I am trying my best.”
- “Believing in God is enough, even without trusting Christ.”
Sincerity is valuable, but it is not the same as truth. A sincere person can follow a false gospel. A sincere person can believe a false teacher. A sincere person can reject Christ while thinking he is serving God. Sincerity does not remove guilt, pay for sin, or make another way of salvation acceptable.
Jesus Christ alone is the way to the Father. He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again. Salvation is not earned through religious effort. It is received by faith in Christ. Scripture does not tell sinners to trust their sincerity. It tells them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do not rest in sincerity, family tradition, church membership, or personal effort. Search the Scriptures and make sure your faith rests in Jesus Christ and His finished work alone.
Are you trusting Christ and His finished work, or are you trusting your own sincerity, religion, or effort?
04
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
IS MY EXPERIENCE ABOVE SCRIPTURE?
No. Personal experiences must be tested by Scripture. Dreams, visions, impressions, testimonies, traditions, and religious feelings are never above the sure Word of God.
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God.”
Peter had personally seen the Lord Jesus Christ in glory on the mount. He had witnessed something extraordinary. Yet Peter pointed believers to “a more sure word of prophecy.” His experience was real, but the written Word of God remained the fixed standard.
The Christian faith is not built on stories, emotions, or private revelations. It is built upon the sure revelation of God in Scripture. Personal experiences may be meaningful, but they must never be used to create doctrine, change the gospel, or correct what God has already spoken.
“I had an experience, so no one can question what I believe.”
- “God told me, so Scripture does not matter.”
- “A dream or vision proves that a doctrine is true.”
- “My testimony is enough proof that a teaching is biblical.”
- “A supernatural experience cannot be questioned.”
Experiences can be misunderstood. Feelings can be powerful and still lead in the wrong direction. Even a supernatural claim must be tested. Scripture warns about false teachers, false prophets, false spirits, and false gospels. That is why the Bible commands believers to try the spirits and compare every message with God’s Word.
If an experience contradicts Scripture, the experience is not from God in the way it is being interpreted. God does not contradict Himself. He will not give one person a message that overturns the doctrine He has already revealed in His Word.
Thank God for His providence and for real answers to prayer, but keep Scripture above every personal experience. Ask, “Does this agree with the Bible?”
Is there a belief you have protected from biblical correction simply because of an experience you had?
05
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
HAS THE BIBLE BEEN CHANGED?
God gave His Word, and God has promised that His Word will endure. The believer does not accept the claim that God gave perfect truth and then failed to preserve it for His people.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
“But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”
God’s words are pure. They are not uncertain guesses from men. Jesus said His words would not pass away, and Peter declared that the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. The Bible has faced ridicule, opposition, false teaching, and attempts to weaken its authority throughout history. Yet God’s truth remains.
The gospel still saves sinners because it is not built on a temporary human message. It is the Word of the living God. The believer can open the Bible with confidence, not because men are perfect, but because God is faithful and able to preserve what He has spoken.
“The Bible has been changed so many times that nobody can know what God really said.”
- “The Bible is only a collection of human opinions.”
- “God inspired the originals but left us with uncertainty.”
- “We cannot trust any Bible translation at all.”
- “Differences and attacks prove that the Bible is corrupted.”
This lie is often used as an excuse not to read the Bible. It says, in effect, that God is strong enough to inspire His Word but not strong enough to preserve it. Scripture teaches the opposite. God’s words are pure, settled, and enduring.
Biblicalist reads, quotes, and teaches from the King James Bible as its standard English Bible. The proper response to doubts is not to abandon Scripture. It is to read it, study it carefully, compare Scripture with Scripture, and let God’s Word speak for itself.
Do not let skeptical claims keep you from reading the Bible. Open it, study it carefully, and allow God’s Word to correct what you have assumed.
Have doubts about the Bible kept you from actually reading and testing its message for yourself?
06
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
IS THE BIBLE OUTDATED?
No. The Bible is not an old book with no authority over modern life. It is God-breathed Scripture, given to teach, correct, and equip God’s people in every generation.
“For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.”
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword.”
Paul wrote that all Scripture is profitable. God did not give His Word merely as a record of ancient religion. He gave it for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The Bible speaks to the deepest issues of every generation: sin, death, pride, greed, fear, false worship, family, purity, justice, salvation, and eternity.
Technology changes. Nations rise and fall. Culture changes its language and values. But the human heart has not changed. Men still sin, die, need forgiveness, and stand accountable before God. The Bible is not outdated because God is not outdated.
“The Bible was useful in the past, but modern people need something more relevant.”
- “Biblical commands no longer apply today.”
- “Culture decides which parts of the Bible still matter.”
- “Modern morality has moved beyond Scripture.”
- “Jesus replaced doctrine with a message of love only.”
The Bible must be rightly divided and read in context. Not every command addressed to Israel is given to the church in exactly the same way. Yet all Scripture is profitable, and no generation has authority to erase what God has said. Proper interpretation does not weaken the Bible. It helps us understand and apply it faithfully.
Jesus did not remove the need for truth, doctrine, repentance, holiness, or obedience. He said that God’s Word is truth. Love for God and love for people must be defined by God, not by modern culture. The world may call biblical truth old-fashioned, but God’s Word remains living and powerful.
Let the Bible shape your view of modern life rather than allowing modern life to edit the Bible. Read it daily and ask God to show you where your thinking needs correction.
Where have you been tempted to call a biblical command outdated simply because it is unpopular today?
07
WHEN TRUTH IS REJECTED
DOES THE MAJORITY DECIDE TRUTH?
No. A belief does not become true because it is popular, repeated often, approved by culture, or accepted by the majority. God’s Word remains the standard.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.”
“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”
The pressure to follow the crowd is powerful. People fear being called narrow, judgmental, old-fashioned, or different. Yet God warned Israel not to follow a multitude to do evil. Jesus taught that the broad way has many travelers, while the way that leads unto life is narrow. Numbers do not determine truth.
Throughout Scripture, the majority was often wrong. In Noah’s day, the majority did not enter the ark. Israel repeatedly followed false gods. Religious leaders rejected Christ. A large crowd can repeat a lie so often that it begins to sound normal. But popularity has never been proof of truth.
“Most people believe it, so it must be right.”
- “A popular teacher cannot be wrong.”
- “If society accepts it, Christians should accept it too.”
- “A large church proves that its doctrine is sound.”
- “Standing alone always means that you are mistaken.”
The Christian is not called to follow trends, personalities, influencers, churches, or public opinion without testing them by Scripture. Truth may be unpopular, but it is still truth. A teacher may be gifted, respected, or followed by many people and still teach error. A church may be large and still need correction.
This does not mean that Christians should be suspicious of everyone or proud of being different. The goal is not to disagree with people for the sake of standing apart. The goal is to be faithful to God. We listen carefully, test every message by Scripture, and follow the Lord even when obedience places us outside the majority.
Do not let fear of people silence biblical conviction. Stand humbly, speak truthfully, and remain faithful when obedience to God places you outside the crowd.
Where do you feel pressure to agree with the crowd instead of standing with what Scripture clearly teaches?
WHEN TRUTH
IS REJECTED
You have examined seven common lies about truth, feelings, sincerity, personal experience, Scripture, and public opinion. Continue into the next chapter to examine common lies about God Himself.
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