Truth and Lies
Jeremiah was a man of his word. He would speak the truth even if people did not believe him and wanted him to speak a different message. He spoke the what God gave him to speak no matter if it was dangerous, embarrassing or shameful. Several times people accused him of lying. And other times very powerful people threatened to kill him if he kept speaking the truth.
This book is full of stories about “lies” and truth. Why so much talk about truth and lies?
Well, this is a prophetic book and in the historical context of the writing there were many false prophets (prophets who prophesied something that did not come true, thus not from God). The people were very confused and skeptical of prophets. Many probably thought that they were like politicians: saying whatever they wanted to to win favor. The author wants to show that Jeremiah was a man of his word. Jeremiah was a stud at keeping his word and telling the truth with integrity.
I think that I can learn from this. There were many powerful people around him threatening him to shut up or prophesy something good instead of destruction. Jeremiah stuck to his message. I think that people working in the science and technology fields need to learn from Jeremiah to speak the truth about their findings – be honest about what the data is implying and how certain they are about the results. Distorting data is easier than it many of us think.
