The Bible on Trial~

The Heart of the Matter~

My cousin is dying! He called the other day, and gave my wife and I the news that he is dying of pancreatic cancer and has but a little while to live. To me, this is and unmitigated disaster, because he has been a stalwart force in my life since we were children, and the thought of him dying is abhorrent to me. Yet there it is! He and his wife are facing a reality that is not at all what they imagined, when they were married more than 50 years ago.

The reason that I am upset is that years ago we became estranged because in my enthusiasm for the truth I mailed him a copy of our newly published book The Spirit of the Church (Tate Pub. 2007), by Rick Sterling and Dennis Neufeld. Thinking in my innocense that this would be something he would be interested in reading it simply because I was one of the authors. It turns out I was wrong in that innocense. He called me and told me that he had only read two chapters of the book, and threw it away as a complete heresy to the Christian Church, and never wanted to talk about it again.  I was willing to let this go, even though I was disappointed that he had not read enought of the book to understand the context. We then gradually grew apart, through both physical distance, and an emotional and spiritual rift that clouded our relationship for years.

His calling me to tell me his plight brought to my mind how what Jesus said about the truth being a two-edged sword is truth. Both of us could have reached out sooner, but I am glad he called, because we still have a little time to close the gap, and renew our friendship.

Truth is the Heart of the Matter. Speaking truth has and will continue to separate us one from another. Yet we must still love those that reject truth, knowing that they may not be rejecting us at the same time. We won't know the ultimale outcome until all is accomplished.