Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, or Promise to Repeat | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Truth, Dare, Double-Dare, or Promise to Repeat | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jessica Dickson
08/31/08
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I played "Truth or Dare" with most of my friends growing up. We did it at sleepovers, on the bus, anytime my girlfriends and I were together. I never chose truth because you never could have been sure what the girls would request that you do. Some things were super silly and the rest had to do with boys - kissing, telling them that you like them, and other things that were positively mortifying at the time. It was always easier just telling the truth - even when it was awkward. But, then again, I'm not really a risk-taker in the first place. I never climbed over fences or up trees; I never popped a wheelie while riding my bicycle.

I have grown up to become a young adult who doesn't take a lot of risks. I think about it, but jumping out of a plane or off the edge of a cliff - that's dangerous. As I grow older, I realize how much this game changes; "Truth or Dare" becomes a matter of life and death. We grow to move apart from our parents and make our own decisions as adults. We decide what to do with our time when we get a license and our own car as a teenager. We choose what colleges will give us the best experience and apply there. We go away and have to learn how to manage our own money, graduate and decide what career to choose (or where to go for graduate school if our degree does not afford us those opportunities).

And we have another choice - to live our lives as Christians, in the truth, or live riskily, daringly believing that we have the best ideas on how to live. This choice is the riskiest that I know of. The latter masquerades itself as many things that seem kind of harmless. This dare is, "Live however you want because Jesus just wants you to be happy." I know that none is without sin, but that statement gets people into serious trouble. When Jesus talks in the Beatitudes, he says that those that are blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who mourn, who are meek, who are pure in heart, who are merciful, who hunger and thirst for righteousness, who are peacemakers, who are poor in spirit, and those who are persecuted because of righteousness. God's desire for our happiness should never be used as an excuse for sin; when it is, it's just dangerous. Spending the night with a random guy because "God created sex and just wants us to be happy," is not a good thing.

Another popular dare is, "What you do now won't affect you. Just compartmentalize your life. It won't make a difference." Galatians 6:7 clearly tells us that our actions affect our destiny because we reap what we sow (NIV). Drinking too much when we're young will affect our liver as we age. Cutting someone off in traffic because you're in a crush could cause a car accident somewhere down the line. Not respecting our parents as a child has consequences.

Choosing the "Truth" option every time is the only safe way to go. I don't even mean "safe" like the way I was growing up (though I do my best to take more risks now). God called Jesus to death on a cross and many of the apostles to places where they were persecuted even to death because of their faith. Safe means that living in the Truth, you will have God's protection and blessing because He will look over your actions and delight. In life's version of "Truth or Dare," Truth can lead to an exciting journey, but Dare leads ultimately to pain.

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