On this day in 620 BC Aesop was born.

You’ve probably heard of Aesop (pronounced “ee-sop”) because of Aesop’s Fables. According to one historian, Aesop was a slave who lived in Samos (a Greek island) in the 6th cent. B.C. and eventually was freed by his master. We don’t know much more. But a bunch of “fables” carry his name as author: “The Tortoise and the Hare,” “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” “The Lion and the Mouse,” and The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing”? to name a few.

A fable is a made up story that teaches a lesson. In a fable, we look for the moral to the story. Also, fables often feature talking animals (that’s one way to know that they’re totally fiction). So fables themselves are not true, but they can convey truths.

Some people say the Bible is a collection of “fables.” In other words, they think the stories are interesting and can even teach valuable lessons, but they’re not strictly true. They might say, for example, that the Israelites didn’t really cross the Red Sea on dry ground, that the walls of Jericho didn’t really fall down when the trumpets blew, that Jonah wasn’t really swallowed by a great fish, and that Jesus didn’t really heal people and rise from the dead. Some people take it a step further and choose some stories to believe and some to not believe.

That’s wrong.

The Bible is God’s Word. It claims to be truth and has proven to be factual and truthful in every thing it states. And Jesus said he was the Truth (see John 14:6). In today’s verses for example, Jesus says that he is telling the truth.

Here’s the point—you can believe the Bible, all of it. It’s not a fable—it’s true. Don’t be fooled by anyone who tells you otherwise.

“So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! [46] Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?” (John 8:45–46)

To Do

Get a concordance (sometimes one is in the back of your Bible). Look under the word “truth”; then look up a bunch of the verses listed.

Also on this day . . .

1896—Henry Ford made a successful test drive of his new car in Detroit, Michigan. He called the vehicle a “quadricycle.”

1919—The U.S. Senate passed the Women’s Suffrage bill, allowing women to vote.

1939—In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Sylvan Goldman introduced the first shopping cart—a folding chair mounted on wheels.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.