And He said, a certain man had two sons. Luke 15:11
Many years ago, we were looking at some information about books that were for sale, and Hiel Patterson noticed the term ‘Christian fiction’. He laughed, and suggested that the term was somewhat of a contradiction, because by its definition, fiction is a story that never really happened, something that is not really true. And Christians should always tell the truth. For those of us who appreciate how the Lord Jesus was a wonderful story-teller, let us be very clear regarding this account of the prodigal son: the Lord Jesus was not using His imagination to make his point; He was drawing on His omniscience to relate an actual account of a man who had two sons. Yes, this is a parable. But it is also the truth. This actually happened. We know that as God, it was impossible for Him to recite fiction.
Note that the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin do not actually say there was a sheep that was lost, or a coin that was lost. The wording is ‘What man having’ and ‘What woman having’. But when we come to the account of the lost son, the wording is very clear: there was a certain man who had two sons. The Lord’s respect for the truth was such that he related the details of a true story. If the truth was important to Him, it should surely be important to us as well.
Where can we always find truth? The only absolute truth we have is Scripture: ‘Thy Word is truth.’ John 17:17. Other books may well be true, or almost true, or partly true. But only the Bible is guaranteed true. We were recently discussing how DNA science has proven conclusively that Joseph Smith’s Book of Mormon is hogwash, nothing but fiction from Smith’s devious and dangerous mind. His accounts of ancient Jewish families migrating to North America, creating great civilizations, and eventually becoming the North American Indians cannot possibly be true. But scientific testing has never proven one verse of the Bible to be false. Even the theory of evolution, which challenges the Bible’s record of creation, has never been proven, and can never be. Scientifically, evolution is impossible. The Bible record of creation is true and can never be proven otherwise.
What is the truth? Do we believe and teach the truth? Do we read and study the truth? If the truth was so important to the Lord Jesus that His parables and illustrations were true accounts, we should also be passionate about preserving and proclaiming only the truth. -Jim MacIntosh