But let your communication be,
Yes, yes; No, no:
for whatever is more than these comes of evil.
Matthew 5:37
I listened yesterday to an interview with a graduate of Patrick Henry College on KPLU, an NPR radio station. Patrick Henry College, or PHC, is a Christian college that was started specifically to provide a college education for Christian home-schooled children. The school has accomplished much in the few years of its existence and its graduates are among the best in the nation.
The interviewer, in his closing question to this former student, asked if he knew the Dalai Lama, to which the young man responded that although he did not know him, he was familiar with whom he was. The interviewer then asked him if the Dalai Lama was going to Hell. The graduate replied by telling a story about a previous Dalai Lama who, when he had died, was found with a crucifix. From that he concluded that it is not our place to say such a thing because we never really know what a person really believes. As Charles Spurgeon once said, it would take India rubber lips to get around that answer.
Why are we afraid to tell the truth? Certainly, God has not set us as judges over our fellow man. However, to say that the Dalai Lama may not go to Hell is a lie. Interestingly enough, the other interviewee was a woman that had written a book about PHC in which the male had been highlighted. The author had a female PHC student living with her. One day the author’s husband asked the student, “Do you think I am going to go to Hell?” She hesitated, thinking, then said, “Yes, but I am not jumping up and down with joy over it.” She told the truth in a polite, considerate, and kindly way.
I learned long ago that beating around the bush or using weasel words only exacerbates the offense. When people realize that, in effect, you have lied to them, they will respect you and your message even less. Tact, politeness, kindness, genuine love and concern, along with a respect for the other person, will allow you to say things that are painfully truthful. Some will receive it the way it was intended; some will not.
One thing that is critically important for every person to know is that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). About this there can be no equivocation. About this there can be no beating around the bush. There is only one way to Heaven: it is through faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten of God. All other paths lead to Hell.
Certainly men and women who believe differently will take offense. That we cannot help. Some years ago I was witnessing to some men in a mosque and the conversation was congenial until I quoted Acts 4:12. Upon hearing that, the men became livid, excited, and for a few seconds I wondered if I would walk out of there without harm. Those men needed to hear that, though, and to have told them that if they were sincere in their desire to please God through their adherence and belief in Islam it would only rise up to judge and convict me of the most heinous and egregious cruelty at the last judgment. To have said, “Well, I really don’t know what is in your heart so maybe you’ll make it in the end” would not only have been a lie but would have served to further damn them.
The Bible gives us several examples in the book of Acts of how we should speak: Peter on the day of Pentecost, Stephen before the Sanhedrin, Paul before his tribunals. These men not only scorned weasel words, some of the things they said were blatantly offensive. But these men were filled with the Holy Spirit who gave them boldness. Maybe that’s the difference?
But let your communication be,
Yes, yes; No, no:
for whatever is more than these comes of evil.
Matthew 5:37
Yes, yes; No, no:
for whatever is more than these comes of evil.
Matthew 5:37
I listened yesterday to an interview with a graduate of Patrick Henry College on KPLU, an NPR radio station. Patrick Henry College, or PHC, is a Christian college that was started specifically to provide a college education for Christian home-schooled children. The school has accomplished much in the few years of its existence and its graduates are among the best in the nation.
The interviewer, in his closing question to this former student, asked if he knew the Dalai Lama, to which the young man responded that although he did not know him, he was familiar with whom he was. The interviewer then asked him if the Dalai Lama was going to Hell. The graduate replied by telling a story about a previous Dalai Lama who, when he had died, was found with a crucifix. From that he concluded that it is not our place to say such a thing because we never really know what a person really believes. As Charles Spurgeon once said, it would take India rubber lips to get around that answer.
Why are we afraid to tell the truth? Certainly, God has not set us as judges over our fellow man. However, to say that the Dalai Lama may not go to Hell is a lie. Interestingly enough, the other interviewee was a woman that had written a book about PHC in which the male had been highlighted. The author had a female PHC student living with her. One day the author’s husband asked the student, “Do you think I am going to go to Hell?” She hesitated, thinking, then said, “Yes, but I am not jumping up and down with joy over it.” She told the truth in a polite, considerate, and kindly way.
I learned long ago that beating around the bush or using weasel words only exacerbates the offense. When people realize that, in effect, you have lied to them, they will respect you and your message even less. Tact, politeness, kindness, genuine love and concern, along with a respect for the other person, will allow you to say things that are painfully truthful. Some will receive it the way it was intended; some will not.
One thing that is critically important for every person to know is that “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:12). About this there can be no equivocation. About this there can be no beating around the bush. There is only one way to Heaven: it is through faith in Jesus Christ, the only begotten of God. All other paths lead to Hell.
Certainly men and women who believe differently will take offense. That we cannot help. Some years ago I was witnessing to some men in a mosque and the conversation was congenial until I quoted Acts 4:12. Upon hearing that, the men became livid, excited, and for a few seconds I wondered if I would walk out of there without harm. Those men needed to hear that, though, and to have told them that if they were sincere in their desire to please God through their adherence and belief in Islam it would only rise up to judge and convict me of the most heinous and egregious cruelty at the last judgment. To have said, “Well, I really don’t know what is in your heart so maybe you’ll make it in the end” would not only have been a lie but would have served to further damn them.
The Bible gives us several examples in the book of Acts of how we should speak: Peter on the day of Pentecost, Stephen before the Sanhedrin, Paul before his tribunals. These men not only scorned weasel words, some of the things they said were blatantly offensive. But these men were filled with the Holy Spirit who gave them boldness. Maybe that’s the difference?
Yes, yes; No, no:
for whatever is more than these comes of evil.
Matthew 5:37
