My Truth vs God’s Truth - What Does the Bible Say?

“Live your truth.”

It’s a phrase we hear all the time but is it actually biblical?

In this episode of Does The Bible Say That?, we talk about the idea of “my truth” and how it compares to what Scripture teaches about truth itself.

We discuss why this concept is so appealing, why it ultimately falls short, and what it means that Jesus said He is the truth. We also explore how our experiences and emotions fit into our faith and why they must be submitted to God’s Word rather than used to define truth.

This conversation is a reminder that truth isn’t something we create; it’s something we align our lives with.

Check us out!

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YouTube: @SeriouslySisPodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:07

Hey, hey, it's Seriously Fitz Podcast, and we are back with our series about things the Bible does not say.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Correct.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

And this week we are actually going to talk about Julia's favorite.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

They've all been my favorite.

SPEAKER_02 0:20

Are you sure? Yeah. I think this one right here for her.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah, and by favorite meaning I hate it the most. And I feel like I say that everyone. Like, I really hate this one. I really hate this one. This one's bad. Introduce it.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

So we're going to be talking about live your truth.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

What is that?

SPEAKER_02 0:42

I mean, that's what we're here to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

What does that mean? What is your understanding of that phrase?

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Oh, that's very easy to, I think, comprehend. That is the cop out of I can do anything any way I want to because that's my truth. This is what I believe to be correct or righteous or proper. It really makes it to where there is no standard now, is there? Just yours.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

Correct. Correct. And I think it's a very um self-serving statement. Right. And I think you can only really go with that if you are believing in a self-serving gospel. Because if you really do believe the word of God, then you know that it's really not about us. Like in terms of making the word about us. Right. Like it's about Jesus. It's about what he did. It's about his love for us. Yes, he came and redeemed us. Yes, he came and died for us, but it was to transform us into something, not to give us a past to continue to live the way that we want to live. And if you have, if you understand that version, the only version of the gospel, then statements like my truth can exist. But if you are in a um congregation or a church or something like that where it's all about you and what God is going to do for you and how you're going to be blessed and all of these prosperity things, then I can see how you end up with that mindset.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Yeah, um, I think that it makes me think of people saying there's two sides to every story, there's your side, this side, and then the truth. Well, indeed, there is only one truth. So you can't have two sides to a story. You know, you can't technically have two true sides to a story. I had this happen recently where I had something happen where someone got into an accident, right? And for the accident, I got to see some video footage to see the accident and everything that happened. And when I watched it, it looked like that person ran into the back of a vehicle. That's what it looks like on the camera. And when I explained that to them, they were like, oh no, they backed into me. But when we watched the camera, a different truth came out. And she said, It looks like I just ran right into the back of that vehicle. Because you did. Right? So, like, I guess we confuse truth and perception.

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

You know, and I and I talk about that a lot, people with people like, oh, if that's their perception of what happened, it may not be true, but you might have to listen to it in a leadership standpoint, of course, in life. Maybe you don't have to, but in a leadership, you know, if someone's perceiving something a certain way, you know, we we gotta listen to it, address it, and and tear that down to bring it down to where it's correct. But perception and truth are not the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

I think um the thing that gets me about that statement is kind of exactly what you said. Everyone has a perspective. Like there's the way that I'm looking at it based upon my past experiences, my emotions, you know, whatever might have happened between you and I that led to this thing. And then there is just the reality of what happened. And so whenever I hear someone say that, I ask I have to ask them a follow-up question. Well, okay, that's your truth, but what happens when your truth and my truth are in conflict? How do we come to a decision on what is actually accurate if my truth says that we should obey the law and your truth says I should be able to run up in your house and take whatever I want. If both of our truths are valid, they can't ever coexist because we're at odds. There has to be a constant. It's like in, it's like, and I'm no scientist, okay, so let me start there. But it's like whenever you're doing an experiment, there has to be a control. There's got to be a constant, something that you know is true and is going to continue to do the thing that it always does in order for you to test this theory against it. If you don't have something that is constant, you can't measure your perception against it. So if everyone is running around with a different truth, then how can anyone be right? How can we have law and order?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

You can't go to court and have two sides and say, well, this is true for me, so it should be true for you. No, there's got to be a standard at some point. We should take we can take into consideration your perspective on something or your experiences or why you might have done the thing that you did because of stuff that has happened to you, but that can't be the deciding factor.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

So instead of live your truth, it should be live your feelings.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

I mean, it's basically the same thing. It's basically the same thing. Yeah. Because one day I might feel like I want to live this certain way. And then another day I might feel like, nah, I don't want to do that anymore. I want to live this way. Our feelings are so up and down, especially women. Our emotions are so up and down. We we think a different thing depending upon the time of the month, depending upon what's going on in life, whether or not we're having a good day or not. And if that is what we're using to judge whether something is right or not, it will never be constant. I can even think back into my life. Things that I felt very strongly about 10 years ago are not necessarily things that I believe today, because I continue to live and just find out what was true and what was not. So if you don't have something as a standard, if there is not an absolute truth, all of us are doomed because we've all got these relative truths that is based upon what we think and what we feel and what we've experienced. But at some point, there's got to be something that's absolute to measure that against, and that is the word of God.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Okay. So in this series, since we're talking about things the Bible doesn't say, we have a few scriptures to talk through what it does say.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

In regards to truth. Do you want to kick that off?

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Sure. So mine, and this is all I got to say, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If he has established that he is the truth, then that means anything else is a lie. And grammar is important. Grammar is important. He didn't say, I am one truth. He didn't say, I am an option for truth. He said, I am the truth. Very specific, very done deal.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Period.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

And if we know that, okay, Jesus is the truth, and what else does the Bible say? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Okay, so if that's the case, Jesus is the word, that means the word is truth. So now you have that barometer we were talking about. If it doesn't line up with scripture, it's a lie.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

I like that. Um I think I've said this before. If you don't believe what the Bible says, your faith is in trouble. There's a book of a resource that you can use at any time to try to figure these things out. I'm just saying. That was one of them. Another one that we talked through was um Jeremiah 17, 9, that the heart is deceitful.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 8:24

So that's where those feelings come into play, right? It doesn't say, hey, follow your heart. We should have talked about the one. It doesn't say follow your heart, right? Yeah. It says the heart is deceitful. God gave us brains to use for logic. We're supposed to use the word, like you said, as a reference to make these decisions, not just my feelings were involved, and you know, this is where my heart told me to go. Yeah, no, it doesn't say that.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

No, as a matter of fact, I believe Jesus said, deny yourself. Pick up your cross and follow me. It's really hard to deny yourself if you're following your heart. Just saying. I mean, am I off? Am I am I wrong?

SPEAKER_02 9:07

You're right.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

You're right.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

I feel like you set me up with this topic because you knew I was gonna just somebody told me recently that I'm stubborn. And um, I'm not gonna name any names or who said it, but uh I'm not stubborn, I'm just full of passion. Unless you're other scriptures.

SPEAKER_02 9:33

Sorry. Okay, um uh John 8, 32, freedom comes from the truth. Not my truth or your truth.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

The truth.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

The truth. There's only one. Yeah. I think we've come to this conclusion. There is only one truth, not 17.

SPEAKER_00 9:52

Right. So let me ask you this then. So it's one thing for the world to have all of these ideas about what's true, right? Because they don't follow God, they don't believe in the Bible. And so if you don't believe in the Bible, then I understand why that's not your barometer. What are your thoughts when the body is saying my truth, your truth, everybody's got a truth? Because that's different. Because we're all supposed to be unified in the idea that the word is good for teaching and correction and all of the things that the word says that it's good for. How do you, or why do you think that there is this thought process within the body that there can be multiple truths?

SPEAKER_02 10:36

I think that's because the body is misinterpreting and skewing the word. It all comes down to that, right? Because the word is the truth.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

Right.

SPEAKER_02 10:44

And what we see often is people are twisting the word. And I see it all the time. It comes across my my Facebook, comes across my Instagram, or I'll see a preacher quoting scripture and they're misusing, they're twisting scripture just to make themselves work with today's agenda. We weren't meant to work with today's agenda. That's what's crazy, but we're trying to be so relevant. And I don't know if it's we're trying to be relevant in order to not go broke, maybe. Um be famous, maintain what what the world considers successful, because really most people were chasing after success, right? That's what most people are. I'm chasing after Jesus. But most people are chasing after success, right? So I think when we start bringing those things of the world into the church, well, then we start to accept other people's truth because everything is done in love, and we've really misinterpreted what love is at this point. So I think it's very easy, very simple. And we've had this conversation, the church is not on the same page.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Consistently.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Um, and it all comes down to a lack of understanding of the word. But I blame the believers just as much as I blame the people on the pulpit because y'all let them stay there misquoting this scripture because you are not in your Bible.

SPEAKER_01 12:12

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

You're not, you're just accepting whatever they're telling you. My Lord, the Bible does say beware of false prophets for a reason. Right. Not because there wouldn't be any. That would be interesting. But not because there wouldn't be any. So I don't know. That's just my thought.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Yeah, and it also tells us to test every spirit. In order to test it, test it against what? You have to test it against something in order to be able to reach a conclusion of whether it's right or not. Same thing with prophecy or whatever it is. The word has got to be the thing that we're testing it against. And to your point, how can you do that if you don't know your word? Um going back to my my question, I was, as you were talking, I was thinking about what my answer would be. And it's funny because my answer would be, well, see, the word continues to be true because the Bible says that in the last days, men will be lovers of self. And it says that we will have itching ears, wanting to hear things that serve us, but not wanting to hear things that transform us. And I find that to be true. The closer that we get to Jesus' return, the more we become lovers of self. Think about it. DIY, do it yourself, self-help books. I uh I did this on my own. I'm self-made. Everything is about us. We've made everything about us, and we don't know how to deny ourselves or our flesh or our desires or you know, whatever it is. And so it's very easy to take portions of scripture and try to figure out how we can turn it about us to make it about us. But that continues to prove the Bible true because the Bible said in the last days, men will be lovers of self.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

I guess I never thought of it in that way or equated that to it, but I I completely see where you're going with that because even what I was saying about people not getting in the word, um the reason that they're focusing on other people doing it for them is because they don't have to do, they don't have to lose anything to do it. It doesn't take me but three seconds to watch a TikTok of someone with a short scripture. It doesn't take but a second for me to listen to a podcast while I'm driving and consider that my Jesus for the week, Jesus for the day, Jesus for the moment. It doesn't take anything out of me to do that. So I I never guess I thought about it like that in that kind of sense. But you're right, it is all about us. Um and I think that's why we are in such a confusing time, is because every person is different based off of their desires of their flesh.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:00

And that's what it really comes down to. People call it the demons that haunt you. Really the desires of your flesh, whatever they may be. That's your truth. I didn't choose to be this way, you know. God made me this way. Whatever it may be, yeah, um, the the situation or whatever, whatever you're walking through doesn't change what the Bible says.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Right. And, you know, I think also one of the reasons why people don't get into the word themselves is exactly what you said. It's about it's about them, but it's because deep down we know that if we get into this Bible, it's gonna read us. It says that the word is like a double-edged sword, very sharp, sharper, sharp enough to divide soul from spirit. And a double-edged sword cuts you going in and coming out. That's how it's designed. So when we read the word because it's true, it cuts deep to the things that we don't want to face, to the things that we don't want to get rid of, to the things that we don't want to deal with. And I think it's intentional sometimes that people don't read their Bible. It's easier to just go somewhere every Sunday and let somebody give you a motivational speech, and then you get recharged for the moment until next Sunday.

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So until you walk out and you get to the restaurant that you're going to, and then all of a sudden you're a completely different person.

SPEAKER_00 16:22

Exactly. It's it's much simpler to do that and hear that my life's gonna be easy and um God's gonna work everything out for my good. And it's it's much easier easier to do that than to sit with the word and let God prune you.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

And yeah, that's hard.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah, because if you get in there, you will your heart will be revealed. What's in there will be revealed. It's exactly what we need to be doing because that's how we become better, that's how we grow. But just like a bush needs to be pruned to grow healthily, so do we. The word says, search me, oh God.

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

Why are we searching? Why is he searching? So that he can pick out things that he needs to get rid of so that you can be made more into his image. But that cutting off isn't pleasant. And people know that. They know if they read their Bible that the thing that they've been kind of pushed into the back burner is going to be addressed and they're gonna be faced with it. So I don't read my Bible so that I'm not faced with it. And then I only have to deal with the soft parts of Jesus that make me feel good.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

So, what would you say for the people that say, um we're talking live your truth, that this is the truth they grew up on. Like this is all the truth they've ever known.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

I would say that I understand that because I lived that. I had to go through getting rid of the nonsense that I was taught. And even if when I say taught, I don't even necessarily mean that my parents taught me. I just mean that the world taught me and that I thought was true. It's not an easy thing to have to learn something contrary to what you've always held to be true. But what I will say is, which has been the constant theme for me with this series, is don't you want to know?

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

Don't you want to know what is legitimate? Because whether or not you acknowledge the truth doesn't make it not true. It just makes you living in delusion. And when you live in delusion, you're in danger. But when you have knowledge of the truth, then you can make informed decisions. Again, I think I said this last time. The word says, My people perish, they die for lack of knowledge. How do you live? Wouldn't it be the opposite?

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

So I would say that go through the uncomfortable process of letting God teach you his word. That's why he said, Call no man teacher, for the Holy Spirit is your teacher. That doesn't mean that we don't have teachers, but what it does mean is that he's the authority. If there's anyone who has more of an authority in your life to speak in into your life than the Holy Spirit, you need to reevaluate. So get into your Bible. And I do this all the time. I've even been thinking to myself lately, I need to do this again. And just go back through my Bible and open it up and say, God, I want to read through this with fresh eyes and uh a fresh mind and allow you to be able to show me anything that I believe that your word doesn't say and replace it. And every time I do that, at some point he does that. Um, and it doesn't even need to be like something dramatic, but it could just be like I never processed that this way, and now I need to reevaluate how I'm doing things in my life. It's not always comfortable, you know, having someone tell you that the way that you've been doing something is wrong is is not a pleasant thing, but I've never been worse off for it.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Right. And I guess this kind of makes me think of uh sometimes, and I'm speaking directly to the Christians now, right? Sometimes we bend the truth or try the the de you'll manipulate something in order to make it acceptable, and that I'm not sinning. I'm in my mind, this is where I am. And some examples I want to use is like a girl's with a guy, and they're like, I'm gonna get married, we're gonna get married. This is gonna be my husband.

SPEAKER_01 20:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

So then you fall into sexual sin. Because we're gonna get married one day, anyways. Just not today or next week, but eventually we're gonna get there, right? So you you manipulate what the truth is to appease the flesh at that moment. And we do it all the time where we'll be like, oh well, I mean, if I do this, technically I'm not following, not following the word, right? First red flag right there, right? That you're like trying to find the exception to the rule in order to make something work in your favor.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

I mean, Jesus uh talked about the Pharisees for that all the time, about manipulating things or holding different people to a standard they weren't holding themselves to. Like it he talks about that podcast. Yeah, it is. He talked about that all the time. And again, going back to that scripture that you mentioned, um, the heart is by and large wicked. The things that it wants is wicked. We have to keep that in submission. We have to keep it subdued to the word of God. If there's something that is making you even consider going against what the word says, you might want to stop and analyze that. Why? Why? Why am I trying to make prevention? Vision for this. What is it inside of me that is like I'm trying to find excuses to get around the word? Because we've all done that in life. Whether we've done it as adults or children, especially children have tried to, well, mom said no, but let me go ask dad. Or vice versa.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

I still do that. And it is drives me freaking wild. I'm always like, go talk to your father. Stop coming and bothering me. Like, did daddy already say my my um four-year-old's the worst of it? She'll literally, he'll say no and she'll go, Mom! Like right in front of him. Like right in front of him. I'll be like, you're not. He already told you no. Like, why are you asking me? Stop bringing me into this.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Or we barter. Like, okay, can I have it if I do this? It's the same thing. Your analogy is the same thing. Uh I'm I'm just I'm gonna marry him so I can have it because I'm gonna do this.

SPEAKER_02 22:59

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

No, the answer was no. The answer was no for a lot of reasons. None of which was to stop your fun. It was to protect you at every step of the way. Because let's say you do get married, but y'all didn't deal with your self-control or your lack thereof.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

Now you're in a marriage where neither one of y'all has self-control. How does that work? So it's not just, it's not just the thing, it's what the thing means about what's in your heart or what you lack or where you need to grow. So again, if you are trying to make deals with God about doing something or not doing something, I would ask myself, why am I trying to make this deal? Because, and I do this, I ask myself all the time, why am I doing this? Why do I want this? And I'd like to think that I'm honest with myself. Um, but the the point is that I know that I can be easily led astray. I know that I can. Shiny squirrel. I'm I'm like that. I know I can be. Um, but there's gotta be something that grounds me. And if it's not the word, it's gonna be something. Something's gonna ground you.

SPEAKER_02 24:12

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

But the word has never failed me. Everything else has.

SPEAKER_02 24:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:16

So that that's just my thought. It's not fun to have to learn something new or let go of something that you held close. But if that thing that you are holding close is leading to death, you need to let it go. So that's me. What do you think? What do you what would you say?

SPEAKER_02 24:36

For which question at this point.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

For the person who um for the Christian who is struggling with accepting God's way as the truth. Over letting go what they want to be their truth.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

When I say this, I mean this in the very nicest way I can. Man, you're really struggling being a Christian then, huh? Like you you're really struggling just doing the basic thing that you gotta do. Like you said, the whole point is we're being pruned. Um, we're being forged in the flame and diamonds and all the beautiful things and pressure, and you know what I'm saying. So if you're struggling letting go of personal desires to follow it and do it God's way, I mean, you're struggling with Christianity as its whole. It is the whole thing. Um, and you probably need to get around some accountability partners that can help you through it. I mean, it's easier to do it in a group than do it by yourself. You don't have to do everything alone. Some things you're gonna have to do alone, but that's not one of them. So you might as well get some people who can get your mind right. Um, because I promise you, if you're my friend and it's not biblical and you're going against it, I'm gonna be like, nah, I don't think that's how that's supposed to work.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Like when she told me I was stubborn. She was right, by the way, guys. She was right. Get you a medicine who's gonna tell you when you're off. So I agree. And um, and just be okay with knowing that we all have to grow. Like, I think sometimes we're like, I want to come across as the perfect Christian. I don't need to change, I don't need to grow. And that makes it very hard to admit whenever you're struggling with something like that. The first step is to admit you have a problem.

SPEAKER_02 26:25

Right. And all of us at some point we're all of a sudden in a AA meeting. That's what I was about to say. First step is admit you have an addiction.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah. But I mean, it's true. You can't you can't learn a new way until you have admitted that the way that you have is wrong. And we all have to do it. Like it's not, it's not special to one person. We all have to do it because we're all hopefully being transformed by the renewing of our mind.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

And just so you guys know, I didn't just randomly tell Julia she's stubborn. She asked me.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

I did.

SPEAKER_02 26:59

She asked me what are what is something, what did you say, that I thought you struggle with.

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Or could grow in, or something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

And that was my answer.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

And she was she was not wrong. Um, I'm gonna joke her about it, but she wasn't wrong.

SPEAKER_02 27:14

I didn't just say, girl, you're stubborn.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

She might as well have. She might as well have.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

I gave it to her very gracefully.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

She did. That same big grin on her face because she knew she was about to tell me something I didn't want to hear. But I mean, yeah, the the word is the only truth. Everything else is relative, and um, it doesn't necessarily discredit how you feel about something, but you can't let that be the thing that dictates your life.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

Your experiences and stuff like that are valid to a point, to a point, but if that's all you ever go with, you'll just spin in circles going nowhere because you have no true north.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

And I will say this: if you're trying to figure out if something is or is not biblical or biblically accurate, please don't use what would be, I'm gonna call it web bible, like WebMD, but Web Bible. Because you can look up anything on the web and they it can tell you it's correct.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

It can tell you that's biblically accurate, that's the correct scripture. Anything you look up can be like that. So don't go looking up things online and not going back to your source and reading what it's saying and making sure it's not being misinterpreted or represented in order to twist and manipulate it. Okay? Don't be those web Bible people.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Yeah. And I guarantee you, God is faithful. If you ask him to reveal his word to you, he wants you to know it.

SPEAKER_02 28:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 28:50

His he'll talk to you. He will talk to you through his word. He wants you to know it. That's why he gave it to us. So don't be afraid to ask.

SPEAKER_02 28:57

All right.

SPEAKER_00 28:57

All right, we done?

SPEAKER_02 29:00

I don't have anything else.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

I don't need to have anything else until next time, guys.

SPEAKER_01 29:05

All right.