Heart Check Part 3 – Give me time to create the evidence!

In 1867, a man hatched a plan to dupe folks that believed the Bible. He planned to create a statue of a giant man and have him buried at a friend’s farm. So he took a 5-ton block of gypsum and had it sculptured into a colossus more than 10 feet tall that weighed nearly 3,000 pounds. He planned to have this giant discovered by well diggers and pass it off as a “petrified man.” The giant was buried in 1868 and left to be dug later in 1869. This discovery dominated the news, in a blink of an eye, a tent was erected around the giant and $0.50 was required to see it. 2500 people came the first week! Shares to own the giant were sold to a group for $30,000! 

Enter B.T. Barnum...of the circus, he tried to purchase the statue but was turned away. He decided to have one made just like it and many people paid go see it at his circus. In a very short time, over half a dozen more Giants were produced and shown around the country. Finally, a mining engineer and a famous paleontologist exposed the hoax. All of this effort, time, and money spent just two vindicate a person's, biased heart.

As we examine the hearts of the men that put Jesus on trial we see their bias. 

To review:

The Biased Heart…intends!

* The Biased Heart does not care about                   right or wrong, just a personal agenda! 

* The Biased Heart sets out to prove what               it already believes.

* The Biased Heart side steps truth and                   looks for ways to attack.

When you want to prove your point so bad, you will actually be willing to fabricate evidence to support your point of view! Aware of it or not, this attitude will control your actions - "Ignore the Truth, it gets in the way of my point!"

You will produce false evidence - 

        * The Biased Heart will try and create                proof.

Mark 14:55–57 Inside, the leading priests and the entire high council were trying to find evidence against Jesus, so they could put him to death. But they couldn’t find any. Many false witnesses spoke against him, but they contradicted each other. Finally, some men stood up and gave this false testimony: 

Even after the Resurrection, they refused to face the Truth! 

Acts‬ ‭4:13-22…And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 

Why would they want to deny a real miracle?

This will taint everything our "point" is endeavoring to prove! This tactic has damaged the testimony of Christianity countless times. In an effort to validate our faith, we create evidence. How many "fake stories" have we heard and used believing the story is true, only later to be faced with the embarrassment that it is not! Some of these stories have ruined other's lives! How many times have we manipulated facts to support our point? 

Partial truth is not Truth! Believers need to stand firm on Truth and freely admit we do not possess all the answers, the Scriptures do not explain everything, and honest Faith is required to walk this path. Surrendering to the Truth that “finite beings” can never fully understand an “Infinite Being” should not be difficult unless our pride or fear controls us. 

The So What: Do you make sure what you heard is Truth before you use it? Are you embarrassed about God and the Scriptures when you cannot understand what God did, or what the Scripture states? Do you avoid Scripture Truth when it does not easily fit into your concept of God? Are you ashamed that the "wise" of this world think you are foolish or superstitious? Can you live with the Truth that the real Christ from Scripture will never be popular in this world, that is why there are so many "designer" Christs?  

* Excavation of the Cardiff Giant, 1869

* P. T. Barnum (Credit: Henry Guttman/Getty Images)