“JUST THE FACTS”: A Christian Call to Stay Grounded
Joe Friday (Jack Webb, Dragnet) never actually said the exact words, “Just the facts, ma’am.” But his whole manner reflected that spirit—direct, steady, uncluttered, committed to truth over noise. And as believers, we would do well to learn something from that posture. In a world filled with speculation, opinions, and confident guesses, the Christian must continually return to what is solid—what is factual—what is true. We must become people who can say with quiet confidence, “Let’s stay with what we know.”
Science, for example, is a wonderful gift from God. It allows us to study the order, beauty, and consistency of His creation. But science can only work with what can be observed, measured, repeated, and tested. Once we take it beyond those boundaries, we’ve left science and wandered into speculation.
Questions about ultimate origins—how everything began—simply lie outside the reach of laboratory tools. No one can repeat the creation of the universe under controlled conditions. Scientists can study what exists now and make reasonable models, but they cannot scientifically prove the ultimate beginning of all things. That is not a failure of science; it is simply the nature of the discipline.
So Christians do not need to panic when theories shift or when researchers propose ideas that stretch beyond the text of Scripture. Science can tell us many things, but it cannot answer eternal questions. In that realm, we must calmly say, “Just the facts.”
If science has its limits, Scripture has its clarity. The New Testament does not hide what God wants from His people. The commands of Christ are simple, beautiful, reachable. Love God. Love your neighbor. Walk in humility. Show mercy. Encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ. Do good to all. Bear the fruit of the Spirit. Live a life that reflects the character of Jesus.
This is the heart of Christianity, and it is astonishingly clear. When we begin to add layers of legalism, philosophical speculation, or human rules, we take what God meant to comfort and turn it into something confusing and oppressive. The more we complicate the faith, the more we drift from the facts that matter most.
The facts are these: God desires a people shaped by love. Christ calls us to follow Him in sincerity, not in fear. The Christian life is not a maze of rituals but a walk of devotion—a heart transformed by grace, expressing itself in kindness toward others.
When we remain with what God has plainly revealed, we find freedom. When we stray into the weeds of human invention, we lose the joy that Christ came to give.
So whether it is the natural world or the spiritual life, the call remains the same: stay with the truth, stay with the solid things, stay with what God has actually said. Love God. Love your neighbor. Encourage and strengthen those around you in any way you can. It really is that simple.
A child could read the New Testament and know exactly what kind of person God is calling us to be and what kind of life we are supposed to live. Don’t complicate it. Stay with just the facts.
BDD
