Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. 2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. 2 Peter 3:1,2
Social Media has exposed us to multiple ideas, frameworks of thinking, and opinions expressed as facts. For example someone could post how the covid vaccine killed more people than it helped and the government forced it on us, followed by responses to that post screaming the exact opposite. What do we believe? Is it necessary or worth your time to explore the issue and find the truth. Maybe not, but when it comes to finding the truth about God and eternity and why are we here and the meaning of life - these are issues that you have to form an opinion on. This is commonly called finding "your truth." "Your truth" implies that truth is either relative or can't be known so let's all believe what we want to believe and treat everyone's understanding of reality as equally valid so we can all get along.
Peter would disagree with that and say there are two ways to think - unwholesomely and wholesomely and his reason for writing both epistles is so that we may choose the latter. He says the truth, not your truth but the truth can be found in the Bible. He doesn't mention Bible by name because it didn't exist but he describes it - the writings of the prophets (Old Testament) the Command of Jesus (the gospels) the writings of the apostles (epistles and Revelation) If we know these, when a false teacher or influencer spouts opinions as truths we are able to say, "That's your truth but it's not the truth" and stand on solid ground.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matt. 724:27
My older NIV states the man dug down deep. In order to "found" something, it takes work - digging, sweating, excavating. If we approach the Bible that way, we won't be twisted by the opinions of man but hold fast to the truth about life because there is A truth and He is knowable.
In closing I'll give one example. The prevailing "truth" in our culture is that since sex is such an integral part of marriage, the wise thing to do is to see if you are sexually compatible before marriage. God's word calls that the sin of fornication and tells us to wait for marriage. When the storms come, we find out which house stands and studies show that couples who have premarital sex have 3x the divorce rate of virgins at marriage. That's truth. If you know the Truth, He will set you free to live the good life. I saw a person wearing a "life is good" shirt today and I thought to myself, "Yes it is!!"
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