Romans 1:18 NRSV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
Words
B1 Truth
C1 The Greek word is ἀλήθεια alḗtheia. It means reality, the actual state of affairs. Things and happenings that are not concealed (Strong G227).
C2 Mark 5:33 EMTV But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth.
B2 Suppress
C1 The Greek word is κατέχω katéchō. It means to hold back, hinder, and in some contexts keep tightly to oneself as in 1 Thessalonians 5:21. Here to hinder and suppress.
C2 For Romans 1:18 and Romans 7:6 TDNTa has this sense: for holding illegally.
Compare the word revealed with the word suppress. The former is not cover-up but the latter is. See Matthew 10:26-27 EMTV Therefore do not fear them. For nothing is concealed that shall not be unveiled, and secret that shall not be made known. 27 "What I say to you in the dark, say in the light; and what you hear in the ear, proclaim on the housetops.
How to people suppress truth?
B1 Lie
B2 Pretend something never happened
B3 Refuse to print or discuss an incident
B4 Ignore
B5 Threaten harm if something is revealed
B6 Falsely accuse someone who has the truth
C1 Projection is often used.
C2 Projection is the process of displacing one’s feelings onto a different person, animal, or object. The term is most commonly used to describe defensive projection—attributing one’s own unacceptable urges to another. The concept emerged from Sigmund Freud’s work in the 1890s. (Source)
B7 Have their supporters help by shaming the truth teller
B8 Gaslight them (Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and misinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Instances can range from the denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. Copied from Wikipedia. Be cautious with Wikipedia data).
B9 When referencing God (Yahweh), blaspheming, denying His existence, blaming Him for all the evils that are a consequence of bad choices of ourselves or others.
B10 Often to cover-up and suppress a “problem,” murder is used.
B11 What other ways can you think of?
Above image by J Dahl, MD
Dangers of suppressing truth
B1 When truth is suppressed, healing of a problem cannot begin.
B2 Acknowledging, admitting, confessing, asking forgiveness, and restitution are needed.
C1 A person still might be punished.
C2 Choices still have consequences which leave emotional, spiritual, relationship, etc. scars.
C3 James 5:16 ESV Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
C4 1 John 1:8-10 EMTV If we claim that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
B3 Admitting a emotional problem, abuse, molestation, addiction, etc. also starts with acknowledging the truth.
B4 Not admitting a problem with sin will lead to worse problems. Proverbs 29:1 NLT Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery.
B5 In the history of Israel, many of the people complained about the way God treated them. God punished them by sending poisonous snakes. The way to be healed was to acknowledge the truth. Those who did not, died. The people needed to believe God. Numbers 21:8-9 ESV And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live." 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
B6 Exchanging truth for a lie. People do not believe the truth but instead believe a lie to be truth. Romans 1:25 CSB They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
Articles
B1 Non-Christian
C1 Why Confessing Is Good for You
C2 The Healing Practice of Confession
C3 The Mindset That Makes It Hard to Admit You're Wrong
B2 Christian
C1 The Importance of Confession in a Christian’s Life
C2 Here is the great evangelical disaster—the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this—namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches—truth not only in religious matters but in the areas of science and history and morality. Francis Schaeffer.
The ultimate source of truth is Jesus Christ: John 14:6 AFV Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Romans 1:18 NRSV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth.
B1 God is angry about sin
B2 God is angry because of ungodliness and wickedness (breaking the 10 Commandments). God’s anger is not an out of control rant and tantrum. It is a just judge/king’s emotions over rebellion to His laws.
B3 God is angry that people use wickedness to suppress the truth
B4 This is the start of a downhill cascade of trouble for humanity
B5 There is no healing without acknowledging truth about God and ourselves. We need to give God credit for His amazing person and deeds, and to be thankful for His goodness. Romans 1:21 WEL So, when they knew God, they didn’t glorify him as God, nor were they thankful, they became foolish in their reasonings, and so their foolish heart was darkened.
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