And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
Isaiah 59:14
People allow so many things to divide them, race, religion, politics. gender, the list goes on. The media along with everything we watch and hear presents their perceived version of truth. I sometimes read comments on Facebook from some of my friends having different reactions to the same post, we all have a unique perspective based on our life experience and perceived truth. “What is truth”? In the 18th chapter of John this question was ask by Pontius Pilate, before he reluctantly gave Jesus over to the crowd to be crucified. There at one of the greatest times in history, Truth stood in Pilate’s chambers and looked him in the eye. Yet, like so many, Pilate did not recognize Him. I suppose he was blinded by power, maybe greed or just apathy. The religious leaders, the supposed guardians of truth were wanting to crucify Jesus for blasphemy, while others claimed he was the very Son of God. It was up to Pilate to decide which claim about Jesus was true. We are presented now with the same question that Pilate ask, what is Truth and what do we do with it?
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
2 Timothy 3-5
One of the fallacies most people fail to understand about our daily media sources – radio, print or TV is that they are not interested in truth. They are interested in selling papers, selling ads or gaining viewership. The investors that own these medias are in it for profit. If truth will sell, then they will sell it, but if it does not sell or if untrue fact sells better, then they simply sell something else. They, like Pilate are only interested in what best serves them, when we are presented with truth, will we decide to accept it or reject it. Each person comes to truth with a bias; experience, life lessons, education all come into play. If we accept truth, we must sometimes let go of our formerly held beliefs. If we reject it, we stick with our own beliefs, no matter the facts.
Some people become angry when presented the truth, which usually means, they have a vested interest in non-truth. They have built their lives and ideals upon some accepted false premise, so if they accept the truth they would feel like a fool or be made into a fool by there “enlightened” peers. They would rather change the truth to fit their worldview than admit they are wrong. Any anger toward truth is usually a reflection of the unwillingness to face it. So, the ideas of what truth is, changes with each passing generation, mostly changing based on who it benefits.
Kaffee: Colonel Jessup, did you order the Code Red?
Judge Randolph: You don’t have to answer that question!
Col. Jessup: I’ll answer the question!
Col. Jessup: You want answers?
Kaffee: I think I’m entitled to.
Col. Jessep: You want answers?
Kaffee: I WANT THE TRUTH!
Col. Jessup: YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!
A Few Good Men
In the convoluted world we live in , it is hard to totally know the truth, in each situation. Societal truths and ideas change as well as religious truths. Which really means they were never true to begin with. I grew up in a strict religious environment in my childhood days, in a religious donominatain where the man made rules centered on womens clothes and hair length. As time progressed and fashions in society changed the men in charge finally met and must have concluded that God had changed His mind. Now all those outdated rules no longer apply. This example as silly as it seems, is easy to see, but there are other examples we all have lived through and is the same type of examples, Societies views and words used to describe race, religion, mental issues etc has morphed into softer more accepting words and more open views. The Truth never changed just the ideas of society.
…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12
If you have not understood by now religion and Truth are not necessarily the same, after all it was the religious leaders that had Jesus crucified. The church, although sometimes well meaning has historically veered away from Biblical text. All churches have flaws, mainly due to differing views or biases of the Bible. Sometimes it is just the leaders attempting to control their followers. Jesus understood these issues when He called the religious leaders of the day a den of snakes, yet when he was confronted with a prostitute, He showed only respect. Most religions believe they stand on the truth while they ignore anything that does not fit into their narrative. Jesus was not religious He was Truth, he was not Catholic, Baptist, Methodist or Pentecostal, He was Love. Any time Christianity is mentioned most people think of the Catholic church or the crusades or that fanatic preacher on TV, all which have nothing to do with Christ but has everything to do with man’s religion.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
The opposite of truth is lies and deception there is no greater deception than man thinking he is equal to God or that man can become as God. There have been and I am sure are now “religious leaders” or “spiritual leaders” that have led whole groups of their followers to commit suicide based on believing this premise. The pope is considered infallible and holy by some in the Catholic church. People tend to follow preachers instead of Christ, churches instead of the Holy Spirit. We should try to live in such a way that we follow Truth. We should not follow man or his religions. We need to make sure any church we attend, or education we are paying for is pursuing the Truth.
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8
My mother in law use to say, “the Truth will stand when the world’s on fire”. There is only one Truth, not Fox News or CNN’s version, just the Truth. The Truth became flesh and dwelt among us, The Truth shined in the darkness, but the darkness could not comprehend. I think at this point in our journey in Wisdom, we should understand Truth is a pursuit, a goal to be attained, not so we can hold others accountable through manipulation to a list of religious or political rules. It is so we can live out Truth through and in our own lives.
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
So where should we go from here? How do we accept and follow Truth yet live in a world so filled with divisions and untruth? Should we confront every untruth we see? Should we be confrontational in our political or religious beliefs in defense of Truth? Should we automatically shame life choices of others that go against the Truths in the Bible?
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:31–40
Our lives contributions will not be measured by the Facebook posts or comments we share, it will be measured by the Truth we lived, not by the standard or rules in which we presumptuously measured others. It will be based on the actions of what we did or did not do.
When it’s all been said and done There is just one thing that matters Did, I do my best to live for truth Did I live my life for You
When it’s all been said and done All my treasures will mean nothing Only what I’ve done for love’s Reward Will stand the test of time
Lord Your mercy is so great That You look beyond our Weakness And find purest gold in miry clay making sinners into saints Robin Mark