One of my favorite movies was the 1992 mystery drama, A Few Good Men, starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, and Demi Moore. In the movie, Lt. Daniel Kaffee (Cruise), an inexperienced and unenthusiastic JAG lawyer defends two Marines who are being court martialed for the murder of a fellow Marine.
During a crucial courtroom scene, Lt. Kaffee calls to the witness stand, Colonel Nathan R. Jessep (Nicholson), a hard-nosed and belligerent Marine commander of Guantanamo Bay who is suspected of ordering a “code red,” a euphemism for extrajudicial punishment, as a means of enforcing military discipline. Under heavy cross examination from Lt. Kaffee and unnerved by being caught in a lie, Colonel Jessep angrily yells out, “You can’t handle the truth!” He then dismisses Lt. Kaffee of being weak and confesses proudly that he did indeed order the “code red.” After a moment of stunned silence in the courtroom, Colonel Jessep is arrested for ordering the “code red,” thereby convicted by the “real” truth.
We live in a world lost in confusion and distorted by lies. Many people live their entire lives believing what they understand to be “truth,” but it is not the “real” truth. The late Francis Schaeffer, one of the leading pastor/theologians of our time, said that we, as Christians, must battle for “true” truth or “real” truth, because in our relativistic society, truth claims from Christians are met with suspicion, ridicule, and hostility.
Many perceive the Bible to be a fable or fairy tale and Christianity to be a religion of the weak. We hear mockers and the secular media proudly and belligerently yelling out, “You can’t handle the truth!” In their opinion, Christians are deficient in worldly wisdom, and they continue to hold on instead to their distortion of the truth.
Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you continue in My Word, then you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Jesus Christ, who is truth (John 14:6) and whose Word is truth (John 17:17), frees us from the sin that entangles and sets us free to an abundant and eternal life. As Christians, followers of “the way, the truth, and the life,” we are to continue in Jesus Christ and God’s Word and pray that those around us who don’t know the grace and love of Christ are convicted by “real” truth.
May God bless you with His grace, love and truth!