"Choosing the Right Pathway"

Choices, choices, choices, what is one to do?  Which path is the right and correct path to follow?

Do you remember the riddle about coming to a fork in the road?  When one thinks of a fork in the road one might think of the great philosopher, Yogi Berra and his great insight when he commented,

"When you come to a fork in the road, take it?"

Well so much for Yogi Berra.  So here is the riddle.

You are traveling down a road with great purpose and up ahead you notice a divide, a fork in the road.  Such prompts the question, “Which is the correct path to take?”  Only one will lead to your destination.

It is then that you notice the two men of which you heard.  They are standing at the junction where you will have to make a decision as to which road to take. 

Both of them know the correct answer to your question.  However, you've been warned that one of them always, without exception, lies and that the other, without exception, tells the truth.

You are allowed one question, but it must be the same question for both.

What is the question that you would ask to find the right path?

Here are some choices you might use to find the answer to the riddle.

• Use a lifeline and call a friend.
• Draw on some personal experience or another to make a decision.

• Use your intuition--you have a 50% chance of being right.

• Make a guess--again you have a 50% chance of being right.

• Make a choice and allow fate to decide outcomes.

• Flip a coin or roll the dice.

• Wait for the next person and follow them.

• Discount that the destination even exists.

• Give up the whole idea.

Maybe there are others that can go on the list.

The solution of the riddle is easier than it might first appear. 

You would simply ask each man in turn this question. 

"Which path would this other man say is the correct path?"

Both will give the same answer which is the wrong path and so you simply would take the other pathway.

Here is the explanation.

The liar will lie and say that the truthful man would say to go down one of the paths—the wrong path.  Because it is a lie, the correct path is the other path.  However you still do not know which man you are questioning.

The truthful man will tell the truth and say that the liar would say to go down one of the paths—the same one the liar picked.  Again you would not know which man you are questioning.

You do not need to know which is which but that they both pointed to the wrong path.  So then the correct choice is to choose the alternate pathway which is of course the proper pathway to the questioner's destination.

The Choices We Make…

Choices, choices, choices, what is one to do?  Which path is the right and correct path to follow?

Each of us, as we travel the roadway of life, arrives at many places where choices have to be made.  Most often the choices are obvious and certainly not as complex as in the previous riddle.

It is then that one must ask the question.  What is the basis upon which the choice is made?  As in the riddle, both roads do not end at the desired destination.  How is one to know?

Changing Frame of Reference…

The answer is found in what one chooses as his frame of reference.  If that frame of reference is ever moving and changing (self, group, situation, culture, mores, etc.) then there is great difficulty in choosing the right and correct pathway.  One never knows whether such is the correct path as culture is always redefining “correct.”

This is the easy path which must be wide in order to accommodate the great many that choose to walk it.  Actually there are those many because it is the pathway of one’s referent group and/or the culture in which one lives.

Constant Frame of Reference…

If on the other hand one chooses based upon a constant frame of reference, one that has not change for 2,000 years (The Judeo-Christian Scriptures, ethical truth, etc.) then there is less difficulty in choosing the right and correct pathway.

This is not the easy path, in fact it can be very difficult and therefore not many choose to travel its miles and so it has no need to be wide.  These are those who often are called upon to stand alone.

Easy Pathway…Maybe Not So Much!

Choices!  Choices lead to pathways.  Jesus taught about these pathways in his story, “The Gates.”  You can read about it in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). 

Matthew 7:13-14 13 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.  NASU

The choice as to which gate to enter has a consequence.  The outcome of that choice is a path.  Walking that path has another consequence.  One path is difficult and leads to life, the other path is easy and leads to death.

The wonderful thing about being a follower of Jesus the Christ is this.  No matter how difficult the travel, dark the night, unfair the treatment, as one travels on the narrow pathway, there is One who said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you" (John 14:18) and so we who travel the difficult way though it may be difficult, dark, and lonely, we really never do travel alone.

The question I have for you today is actually quite simple, yet profound in its simplicity. 

“Do you have the courage to choose the pathway of the Christ and thus to enter through the narrow gate and then to travel on the Lord’s pathway?”

"IMO and The Truth" Part One

The court room was packed and overflowing.

The judge looked at the jury verdict form and then at the jury.  It was then that he announced that when the verdict was read there was to be no reaction from those present in the court room.  It had been a particularly heinous crime and there was no doubt that the defendant was guilty!

The form was returned to the jury foreman and in a matter of fact voice he read, "In the matter of the state versus the defendant, after careful consideration the jury returns a verdict of not guilty."  Try as they might, there was a collective gasp from those present, how could this be?

Indeed from opening statements through the presentation of testimonies and evidence to the closings statements and finally the judge’s instructions to the jury it seemed so very clear.  How could the jury return anything but a verdict of guilty?

Later when interviewed the jury foreman had a shocking response.  A response that was in no small way disturbing!

"To a person, we the jury believe that the defendant was guilty, as guilty as could be!"  Then he went on, "The parameters set forth in the jury instructions were drawn so tightly that when we look at the cases presented within those parameters we really had little choice but to return the verdict we did."

Now let us move from the example to the venue of the one's opinion. 

Parameters Do Not Change Reality

At one time or another most people think about what constitutes or makes up truth/reality in general and in particular what may be considered as one seeks to find that truth/reality.  It is here that there may be a very real danger. 

For example if a person draws the parameters of what is acceptable too restrictively, the discovery and/or defense of truth/reality is then in serious jeopardy.   The outcome at the very least is far less accurate than it otherwise would be. At the other end of the scale the truth/reality would be denied even though valid.

Take for example the existence of Jesus Christ.  To simplify the issue, either Jesus existed or He did not.  That is the very basic truth/reality of the question.  No amount of evidence or opinion can now change the reality of His existence or His non-existence.  Said another way, no amount of opinion, bias, assumption, nor anything else can change what was so, either way you view the question.

An attendant problem is that of accuracy.  As noted above restrictive parameters have an effect upon accuracy.

So then how is one to know for sure?  As with any other truth or reality, if one's rules of evidence are drawn too tightly, then genuine and valid evidence is disregarded and the truth of the matter is lost.  The question then becomes who is to be the arbitrator of what may be considered and what may be discarded from the inquiry?

Drawing the Parameters

It would appear that there are two somewhat different but related Influences that bear on the subject of how one discovers reality.  One might view the first influence in terms of a scale and the second in terms of an all or none position. 

First, is the question of just where one fits on the “believe – disbelieve” scale.  While a little cynicism protects one from certain kinds of dangers, the total doubter will have no basis for the existence of any kind of reliable truth.  Such a person rejects all truth claims and fits in a Post-Modern notion of existence.

Second, is more of an all or none position.  The position is encapsulated in the question, “Does God exist?”

For the one who tends toward disbelieving and as well reject the existence of God, there remains no authority outside of the self.  So it is that the individual has become the arbitrator of truth.  The validation of truth is nearly impossible as truth rests solely on, “In my opinion….”

Such a position can be very lonely.

Note:  More to follow in Part Two.