Truth and Pride

Biblical Truth. A Parable. Very Important!

There are two things in this world and in God’s world that are very important to understand and they are Truth and Pride. I know that the situation you will read in this parable is not likely to happen in today’s world but bear with me, it has great relevance to the Bible and the Truth therein.
One truth that is evident in all things is that a person can never know if he has the full truth because it is the truth he has never heard that keeps him blind. In the same manner it is hard for humans to know that they are proud if they are too proud to see the truth about themselves and their pride. Now for the parable:
A man named Joe begins work at a new shop assembling a machine. His foreman instructs him on how to assemble the machine in great detail. Joe works for a couple of years happily assembling the machine and has no idea that what the foreman had told him was wrong.
Now we have no idea why the foreman did this. Perhaps the foreman had been taught wrong in the first place or perhaps he was evil and wanted vengeance on the company, either way what is important is that all these machines were faulty either because a part had been assembled wrong or a part had been left out and this fault had been killing hundreds of people.
A few months later another man named Peter working in the shop noticed the incorrect assemblage and mentioned to Joe how the machine should be assembled properly. Now Joe had been trained by his foreman and had been doing the work for over two years AND had trained others as he had been trained and therefore Joe decided Peter was wrong and never changed how he assembled the machine or taught others about the mistake. One day the faulty machine also took Joe’s life.
In this parable the foreman is a preacher, teacher, neighbor or anyone that tells a story about the Bible. Joe is an ordinary person hearing the Bible story. Peter could be a preacher, teacher, neighbor or even the Holy Spirit that knows the truth and tries to correct Joe. Joe’s pride and his belief in his foreman kept him from recognizing the truth and he kept killing people. Joe did not recognize his pride and refused to hear anything that contradicted what he had been taught. This is a thoroughly dangerous state of mind. It is also how many are misled about the Bible.

Here is the point to this story: How do you know what you have been taught is the full truth of the Bible if you have never heard the full truth? You don’t. How do you recognize if you are proud in some way if your pride is hidden from you because of that pride? You don’t.
What is the solution? First, never be so bold (or proud) as to keep a closed mind to new teachings. Once you open your mind and heart you have taken the first step in defeating your pride. This will also be the first step in hearing the truth. How do we recognize the truth? As your pride leaves you and you begin to open your heart and mind to the Holy Spirit that is who will guide you to all truth. This is not always a quick thing and in fact hidden pride is hard to destroy simply because it is hidden from us because of our pride and free will. Another thing that will help is common sense. God gave it to us so use it instead of relying on what you hear from man, and I include myself in that statement.
God gave us all free will and that free will combined with the very tiniest amount of pride will keep us from listening to the Holy Spirit and therefore we will not allow ourselves to be blessed with the truth. In today’s world there are many teachings of the Bible that are either twisted (which is to say assembled wrong) or have left something out. Any of these can cause our spiritual death. It is God’s Will we need to follow, not our own.
The first test for you will be from the first chapter and verses from the Bible. Find out for yourselves if there is pride in you or if you are listening to the Holy Spirit guiding you. Open your eyes, ears, hearts and minds for a truth you have probably never heard. Let’s start a new adventure in God’s word.