How big was that carrot again? by Gary Rose

I wonder, is this little guy telling the truth? Maybe yes and maybe no. He may be innocently "stretching" the truth, not realizing he is doing so. Perhaps that carrot was not as big as he remembers it, or maybe he just wanted to impress others. All this raises the question: when (or if) is it ok to say something other than the absolute unvarnished truth?

Consider Jesus' ongoing discussion with the Pharisees...

John, Chapter 8 (World English Bible)

  ¹² Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” 

  ¹³ The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.” 

  ¹⁴ Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.   ¹⁵  You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.   ¹⁶  Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.   ¹⁷  It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.   ¹⁸  I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.” 

  ¹⁹ They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” 

Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”   ²⁰ Jesus spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.  ²¹ Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.” 

  ²² The Jews therefore said, “Will he kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come’ ?” 

  ²³ He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.   ²⁴  I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am  he, you will die in your sins.” 

  ²⁵ They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” 

Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.   ²⁶  I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.” 

  ²⁷ They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.  ²⁸ Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.   ²⁹  He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” 

  ³⁰ As he spoke these things, many believed in him.  ³¹ Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples.   ³²  You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 

  ³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’ ?” 

  ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the bondservant of sin.   ³⁵  A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son remains forever.   ³⁶  If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.   ³⁷  I know that you are Abraham’s offspring, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you.   ³⁸  I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.” 

  ³⁹ They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” 

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.   ⁴⁰  But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.   ⁴¹  You do the works of your father.”  (emp. added vss. 40, 41 GDR)

They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.” 
  ⁴² Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.   ⁴³  Why don’t you understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word.   ⁴⁴  You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. (emp. added vs. 44 GDR)  ⁴⁵  But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.   ⁴⁶  Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?   ⁴⁷  He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are not of God.”

Jesus told them the truth and the Pharisees just didn't want to hear it. Since genuine truth comes from God, denying truth denies God. And, logically, if you hold to lies by denying God, you are the offspring of the devil. For a long time now, I have acquired the saying: "If God is not your father, then the devil is your daddy". Truth is truth and a lie is a lie; stretching the truth puts one on shaky ground. DO NOT DO IT- this means you, Gary! And if it applies to me, it does to everyone else as well!!!

Measure your carrots VERY CAREFULLY!!!

Bible Reading February 15 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading February 15 (World English Bible)

Feb. 15

Genesis 46

Gen 46:1 Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.

Gen 46:2 God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" He said, "Here I am."

Gen 46:3 He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.

Gen 46:4 I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes."

Gen 46:5 Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

Gen 46:6 They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt--Jacob, and all his seed with him,

Gen 46:7 his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.

Gen 46:8 These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.

Gen 46:9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

Gen 46:10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

Gen 46:11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

Gen 46:12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

Gen 46:13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.

Gen 46:14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

Gen 46:15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

Gen 46:16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

Gen 46:17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

Gen 46:18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.

Gen 46:19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

Gen 46:20 To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

Gen 46:21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

Gen 46:22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

Gen 46:23 The son of Dan: Hushim.

Gen 46:24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

Gen 46:25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.

Gen 46:26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were sixty-six.

Gen 46:27 The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.

Gen 46:28 He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.

Gen 46:29 Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

Gen 46:30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."

Gen 46:31 Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, "I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, 'My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

Gen 46:32 These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.'

Gen 46:33 It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, 'What is your occupation?'

Gen 46:34 that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

 

Feb. 14, 15

Matthew 23

Mat 23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples,

Mat 23:2 saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses' seat.

Mat 23:3 All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don't do their works; for they say, and don't do.

Mat 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them.

Mat 23:5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments,

Mat 23:6 and love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues,

Mat 23:7 the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi, Rabbi' by men.

Mat 23:8 But don't you be called 'Rabbi,' for one is your teacher, the Christ, and all of you are brothers.

Mat 23:9 Call no man on the earth your father, for one is your Father, he who is in heaven.

Mat 23:10 Neither be called masters, for one is your master, the Christ.

Mat 23:11 But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.

Mat 23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Mat 23:13 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

Mat 23:14 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don't enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter.

Mat 23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

Mat 23:16 "Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.'

Mat 23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

Mat 23:18 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?'

Mat 23:19 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

Mat 23:20 He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it.

Mat 23:21 He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it.

Mat 23:22 He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.

Mat 23:23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

Mat 23:24 You blind guides, who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel!

Mat 23:25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness.

Mat 23:26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also.

Mat 23:27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Mat 23:28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Mat 23:29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,

Mat 23:30 and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'

Mat 23:31 Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.

Mat 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

Mat 23:33 You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna?

Mat 23:34 Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city;

Mat 23:35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar.

Mat 23:36 Most certainly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Mat 23:37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not!

Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left to you desolate.

Mat 23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!' "