We’ve all heard that so many times that we can automatically fill in the blanks. It’s such a common expression that we rarely think deeply about it. Not doing so keeps us from seeing how useful it is in separating sheep from those who say, “What I believe may walk like a duck, quack like a duck, and look like a duck, but it is actually something quite different.”
The lost have learned to excel at naming and describing things and then reaching a conclusion that’s entirely unlike the readily apparent truth. We hear such tortured thinking every time someone wants to take life or money from their neighbors:
“This looks like a baby. It sucks its thumb. It moves around in the womb. It tries to make itself comfortable. But, it is not a baby, it is a blob of cells.”
“This looks like a tax increase. It will take money from you. It will leave you poorer. It will reduce your disposable income. But it is not a tax increase, it is ‘a wise investment in your future’.”
“The ice caps are growing. The temperatures are falling. Snowfall is increasing. It may look as if the world is growing colder, but the greatest possible danger to all of us is global warming.”
One of the essential divisions between the saved and the lost is the latter’s ability to willingly say that:
“Truth + truth + truth = a lie. Just as bird-watchers identify birds by looking at plumage and listening to songs, we may identify those on the other side by their adoption of that formula in what they think, say, and do.
If they were birds, they would not be ducks, but raptors and eaters of carrion. Unfortunately for their long-term prospects, they are not birds, but immortal souls whose purposeful avoidance of truth has destined them to an eternity of agony. We may pray for them to change their ways, but that requires belief in a God powerful enough to provide miracles as great as raising Lazarus from the dead.
