Seek Out the Truth Yourself

The theme of the primary camp at Kedron last week was "Fruit."  In preparation for the talks I assembled an assortment of interesting fruit facts.  One day I did a demonstration and showed how to easily remove pomegranate seeds using a knife, bowl, and wooden spoon.  Less than half of the kids had ever seen a pomegranate before, and they enjoyed sampling the fruit.  From what I can tell, a pomegranate is an "aggregate fruit" that is technically a berry.  Believe me, botany is not for the timid.  It is very complex and at times confusing, so I tended to share fruit facts I could understand and easily explain.  There is much about fruit I don't know!

The following day we had a local television chef and personality come and visit.  The kids were very excited to see a professional chef they had seen on TV.  He came with loads of different fruit and asked questions about them.  What did he hold up?  A pomegranate!  "Do you kids know what this is?"  Tons of hands were raised.  "A pomegranate!" said the one he chose.  "Who here thinks this is a fruit?"  Again, tons of hands were raised in confidence.  Why, we just learned about this yesterday!  Easy!  "You would be wrong," he said with a grin.  Hands went down in dead silence.  "A pomegranate is actually a flower," he went on to say.  The next time he asked a question, only a few hands went up.  "Not so sure about things, are you?" he asked.  He continued with a terrific demonstration which everyone enjoyed.

Now I admit I am no expert, but what the television chef said had me thinking:  was I wrong?  Did I miss something?  I could find no evidence to support his claim of pomegranates being classified as a flower, not a a fruit.  But the thought came to me:  I wonder who the children believed?  Two opposing views were presented.  Would they believe the professional chef, would they take my word for it, or would they investigate themselves to find the truth?  I saw in that moment a microcosm of what people face when they leave the church into secondary school and university.  They have believed something they have heard without investigating themselves.  When their university professor stands up and tells them what they have believed is incorrect, they begin to wonder.  There stands a professional, a man or woman with education and degrees they highly respect.  It is at that moment many kids forsake all they have been taught in Sunday School as fiction or fables, and choose to side with an intellectual and professional person whom they believe is better qualified to teach them.  Their lack of grounding in truth makes them easy prey to be manipulated and influenced to agree with this new teaching - whatever it may be.  And when the cost in university is being branded as unintelligent or a fool for believing the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, most are loathe to pay that price.

I was very happy with the object lesson I was presented with.  My prayer is that everyone chose to look up the facts about pomegranates and claims of Jesus Christ and His resurrection for themselves.  Both professional celebrities and me can be wrong, for we all make mistakes.  None of us are perfect.  What a great reminder that we need to own our faith by going to the Bible as the source of all truth.  Ken Ham says it well:  "Stop trusting man's word!"  Don't take my word for it, but choose to seek after the truth revealed in Jesus Christ.  If we seek God with our whole hearts, we will find Him!