It might have seemed at first glance like an easy test in school, because the required response was nothing more than a checkmark or an ‘X’ in a box. Is a statement true or false? Pilate might have seemed like a cynic when he sneered What is truth? (John 18:38), but did he actually express an attitude that is becoming all too common some 20 centuries later? Do people in our world, particularly when it comes to an election, actually care about the truth, or does image matter more? Let’s assume that for those who are this blog’s audience, the answer is a resounding ‘Yes, truth matters’! God evidently thinks so, and none of us need look very far in what He tells us scripturally, to make such an emphatic statement. But, because of the prevalence of news coverage and its accompanying information hailstorm, some of us have thrown in the towel, probably as a matter of habit, when it comes to separating fact from fiction; there’s just so much data and competing opinions, and who can navigate through it all? And yet, what we know of truth and our God should give us some pause. If you have given up, and are shrugging your shoulders, consider these: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6); and I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11). The Lord Himself is called truth or true. I dare not dismiss the hunt for it. How do I proceed to find truth in secular matters? Like an historian or an attorney might say, you have to find proof before you can say you have truth…and the more the better.
God begins early on in His relationship with man to communicate this truth essence of His being, and perhaps it is not better expressed than in the Ten Commandments. Someone might say that He only addresses this issue just once there, in the 9th Commandment --You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16; and Deuteronomy 5:20). But, consider the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Commandments also, as Rubel Shelly indicates in his discussion of them, Written in Stone – Ethics for the Heart. As Shelly explains regarding the 1st Commandment’s directive – You shall have no other gods before me – ‘If God is truly God, all that He speaks is true and every commandment from Him must be obeyed. If God is truly God, there is no person or power that can defeat His purposes. If God is truly God, all who belong to Him are safe beyond anyone’s power to crush them’. So, it only makes sense that God’s exclusivity clause inherent in the 1st Commandment includes something immutable: that He is true – in fact, He’s all about truth, as the one and only One. In that light, and in case we God-followers still don’t get it, God tells us something more in the 2nd and 3rd Commandments: Don’t bow down to idols in worship, because they are false (2nd); and, don’t misuse His name (3rd), because that ‘is literally to empty and reduce it (His name) to nothingness (Shelly’s words)’, the basest of lies about the I AM. More discussion of these commandments will appear in future entries of this blog, so stay tuned. We’re only scratching the surface today.
So, how do we find truth in our world, in everyday living? And, especially how can we wade through our political information maze? Will God and Moses make an appearance to hand us something written in stone? Don’t discount what God can or cannot do today, but here’s some links that this blogger would like to suggest are already at our disposal to help us with this. Here’s some prominent questions that typically are being highlighted that you and I can investigate with a little help:
1. Election fraud – did it occur in 2020, and how much of a problem is fraud in elections, generally?
How Widespread Is Voter Fraud in the US? (voanews.com)
Widespread election fraud claims by Republicans don't match the evidence | Brookings
2. I’m watching a debate between candidates, or an interview of a candidate, and trying to assess who’s telling the truth, and who’s not. Is there somebody that can help me determine this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FactCheck.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snopes
No comments:
Post a Comment