From the time I was a child, I loved to slather tons of butter and home-made strawberry jam on a slice of freshly-baked, still-warm home-made bread. The smell! The taste! The cozy, comfortable deliciousness of it all! But then came the dire warnings about butter, cholesterol and heart disease. Margarine was touted as the hands-down heart-healthy alternative. Since my Dad had died of a massive heart-attack at the age of 49, I listened to the alarming research, pushed aside my beloved butter, and ate margarine—religiously, albeit reluctantly.
At about the same time when I tossed my butter to the curb, I also bid a sad farewell to eggs. Scrambled. Sunny-side up. Poached. Hard- boiled. Deviled. Benedicted. Woven into a delightful egg casserole for an Easter Breakfast. No more. All gone. Eggs had been declared to be death-traps fowled (pun-intended) by dangerously high levels of cholesterol. I made a brave effort to try egg substitutes, but ended up abandoning that effort. My refined, farm-raised taste buds simply couldn’t endure it.
Decades past. Then new research dropped some bombshells. Regular margarine was no healthier than butter!!! Only certain low-fat margarines offered significantly lower heart-risks. What? You must be kidding me! And eggs? In moderation, they weren’t a cholesterol land-mine waiting to explode in my chest. Instead, studies indicated they were good for me!
I was devastated. Betrayed. Robbed of years filled with egg-centric breakfasts and warm, buttered bread! And I was angry--so angry that I wanted to dump a truckload of oozing, melting margarine in the front yard of the nearest anti-butter research lab I could find! And top the margarine off with a few vats of past-due egg substitute.
How could the brilliant researchers be so wrong? Because they’re only human. And experts in the field of medicine have been dead wrong before. Anybody remember the vital weekly (or daily) dose of castor oil we were forced to stomach? Or what about “autointoxication,” the belief that the large bowel produced poisons (toxins) harmful to the body? So prevalent was this theory that a number of early 20th century surgeons became rich removing the large bowels of the rich!
And what about this? For some 2,000 years, it was an accepted fact that the removal of the spleen would enable people to run faster. Not that it was ever tried. The surgery would have been fatal to anyone who dared to undergo it. But it made no difference. Despite a complete lack of evidence, this was taught as truth.
I sense a pattern here, and so should you. Man’s truth changes. Whether in the field of medicine, biology, nutrition, economics, sports, mathematics, engineering, the recording of history, or politics. Or even religion.
It was after the break of dawn, Good Friday morning. The religious leaders had dragged Jesus before Pilate, because they needed the Roman governor to give the green light for Jesus’ crucifixion. And the charge? “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2) Notice the change? During the illegal hearings of the night before, the charges against Jesus centered on blasphemy! But such charges would be meaningless before the pagan Pilate. But this charge? A political one? Pilate couldn’t ignore it—not if he valued his cushy government position, or his life.
So “Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.” “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:33-37)
Pilate’s response? His infamous question, “What is truth?” (John 18:37) Tragically, however, Pilate expressed his skepticism at the worst possible moment. For Pilate was standing before Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life! (John 14:6)
God forbid we make Pilate’s mistake! For God’s truth never changes but instead remains age-to-age the same. God’s truth is forever embodied in Christ and recorded in his immutable, inspired Book—the Holy Bible. (John 17:17)
Only in Scripture do we learn the undeniable truth about ourselves, our sinfulness, our helplessness, our hopelessness, and the inevitable dead end that our life is because of sin! (Proverbs 14:12, Psalm 14:3)
And only in Scripture do we learn the unbelievable truth that is God’s grace! “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
From the pages of Scripture, our Savior still reaches out to us! “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Listen, my friends. Never stop listening! For this is a truth that will never change. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Pass me some butter. I want to fry an egg.
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
At about the same time when I tossed my butter to the curb, I also bid a sad farewell to eggs. Scrambled. Sunny-side up. Poached. Hard- boiled. Deviled. Benedicted. Woven into a delightful egg casserole for an Easter Breakfast. No more. All gone. Eggs had been declared to be death-traps fowled (pun-intended) by dangerously high levels of cholesterol. I made a brave effort to try egg substitutes, but ended up abandoning that effort. My refined, farm-raised taste buds simply couldn’t endure it.
Decades past. Then new research dropped some bombshells. Regular margarine was no healthier than butter!!! Only certain low-fat margarines offered significantly lower heart-risks. What? You must be kidding me! And eggs? In moderation, they weren’t a cholesterol land-mine waiting to explode in my chest. Instead, studies indicated they were good for me!
I was devastated. Betrayed. Robbed of years filled with egg-centric breakfasts and warm, buttered bread! And I was angry--so angry that I wanted to dump a truckload of oozing, melting margarine in the front yard of the nearest anti-butter research lab I could find! And top the margarine off with a few vats of past-due egg substitute.
How could the brilliant researchers be so wrong? Because they’re only human. And experts in the field of medicine have been dead wrong before. Anybody remember the vital weekly (or daily) dose of castor oil we were forced to stomach? Or what about “autointoxication,” the belief that the large bowel produced poisons (toxins) harmful to the body? So prevalent was this theory that a number of early 20th century surgeons became rich removing the large bowels of the rich!
And what about this? For some 2,000 years, it was an accepted fact that the removal of the spleen would enable people to run faster. Not that it was ever tried. The surgery would have been fatal to anyone who dared to undergo it. But it made no difference. Despite a complete lack of evidence, this was taught as truth.
I sense a pattern here, and so should you. Man’s truth changes. Whether in the field of medicine, biology, nutrition, economics, sports, mathematics, engineering, the recording of history, or politics. Or even religion.
It was after the break of dawn, Good Friday morning. The religious leaders had dragged Jesus before Pilate, because they needed the Roman governor to give the green light for Jesus’ crucifixion. And the charge? “We found this fellow misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” (Luke 23:2) Notice the change? During the illegal hearings of the night before, the charges against Jesus centered on blasphemy! But such charges would be meaningless before the pagan Pilate. But this charge? A political one? Pilate couldn’t ignore it—not if he valued his cushy government position, or his life.
So “Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.” “You are a king then?” Pilate asked. Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:33-37)
Pilate’s response? His infamous question, “What is truth?” (John 18:37) Tragically, however, Pilate expressed his skepticism at the worst possible moment. For Pilate was standing before Jesus Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life! (John 14:6)
God forbid we make Pilate’s mistake! For God’s truth never changes but instead remains age-to-age the same. God’s truth is forever embodied in Christ and recorded in his immutable, inspired Book—the Holy Bible. (John 17:17)
Only in Scripture do we learn the undeniable truth about ourselves, our sinfulness, our helplessness, our hopelessness, and the inevitable dead end that our life is because of sin! (Proverbs 14:12, Psalm 14:3)
And only in Scripture do we learn the unbelievable truth that is God’s grace! “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)
From the pages of Scripture, our Savior still reaches out to us! “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Listen, my friends. Never stop listening! For this is a truth that will never change. “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Pass me some butter. I want to fry an egg.
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
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