"To begin learning, you must admit your IGNORANCE."--Socrates
"...as the TRUTH is in Jesus" (Eph. 4:21, NKJV).
"... Everyone who is of the TRUTH hears My voice" (John 18:37, NKJV).
"... [B]ecause they refused to love the TRUTH and so be saved" (2 Thess. 2:10, ESV).
"Politics without PRINCIPLE ."--one of the seven deadly sins that will destroy society per Mahatma Gandhi
"These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A LYING tongue..." (Proverbs 6:17-17, NKJV).
"Only simpletons believe EVERYTHING they're told" (Proverbs 14:15, NLT).
"If the FOUNDATIONS are destroyed, What can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3, NKJV).
"No nation has ever survived the loss of its gods."--George Bernard Shaw
"The simple believe ANYTHING..." (Proverbs 14:15, NIV). (ALL EMPHASIS MINE.)
Who would ever think that someday the very notion of truth would come into the debate, not just not knowing what it is like Pilate, but denying it exists--this is Postmodernism! There is no universal belief, but there is universal truth.
NB: WE LIVE IN THE POST-TRUTH ERA NOW POLITICALLY.
Pres. Trump has told at least 118 outright lies in less than a year in office, according to an investigative report team of The New York Times, while Obama told a mere total of 18 combined in his two terms--not exaggerations, nor differences of judgment or opinion, mistakes, or misspeaking, but proven lies with evidence! For example, he claimed to have signed more bills than any president except one in his first year (which is a big fat lie); however, he delegitimizes the "mainstream press," because they didn't cover this so-called fact, or, in reality, a lie of his. He claimed that 3-5 million illegal aliens voted for Clinton to give her the popular vote with no basis in fact or evidence to substantiate it.
Yet despite these prevarications, his base hasn't yet realized that our president is a congenital, habitual, boldfaced, shameless, pathological liar and the truth is not in him--he will even prevaricate about easily verified data that can be Googled! What's more, he repeats his lies and refuses to correct them or own up to them. The joke around the Beltway being circulated is that George Washington said, "I cannot tell a lie," Richard Nixon couldn't tell the truth, Jimmy Carter promised not to lie, but Donald J. Trump cannot tell the difference! It is even said of Trump that he lies even when the truth will do and won't do him any harm.
Basically, his base relies on FOX News and his Twitter feed for their information and news flashes and to be informed of the latest news cycle, twisted in favor of the president's viewpoint. If you only rely on one source of input or worldview you'll lose your discernment! FOX News is unapologetic about the president and refuses to criticize him, even if he is patently wrong. Breitbart News is the president's propaganda machine armed by his self-proclaimed "wingman," Steven Bannon, a right-wing party hardliner, called a "white nationalist" and a spokesman in his media for the "alt-right," which is set against the establishment GOP. Trump resents a free press and strives to discredit it, realizing it inhibits his power and authority and is a wannabe despot who is only limited by our governmental system of checks and balances, which he wants to destroy and discredit because he doesn't want restraint on his agenda, power, and authority.
How is it that the public tolerate such lies coming from the top? Some even know it and are unconcerned or apathetic, even thinking it doesn't matter. Pragmatism is not concerned with truth, but what works, or results, as the effectiveness of an idea or policy. People just believe in what "works" for them! We live in the age of Postmodernism, whereby truth is individualized and relative to a situation, person, or time: "You've got to change with the times!" \
Basically, his base relies on FOX News and his Twitter feed for their information and news flashes and to be informed of the latest news cycle, twisted in favor of the president's viewpoint. If you only rely on one source of input or worldview you'll lose your discernment! FOX News is unapologetic about the president and refuses to criticize him, even if he is patently wrong. Breitbart News is the president's propaganda machine armed by his self-proclaimed "wingman," Steven Bannon, a right-wing party hardliner, called a "white nationalist" and a spokesman in his media for the "alt-right," which is set against the establishment GOP. Trump resents a free press and strives to discredit it, realizing it inhibits his power and authority and is a wannabe despot who is only limited by our governmental system of checks and balances, which he wants to destroy and discredit because he doesn't want restraint on his agenda, power, and authority.
How is it that the public tolerate such lies coming from the top? Some even know it and are unconcerned or apathetic, even thinking it doesn't matter. Pragmatism is not concerned with truth, but what works, or results, as the effectiveness of an idea or policy. People just believe in what "works" for them! We live in the age of Postmodernism, whereby truth is individualized and relative to a situation, person, or time: "You've got to change with the times!" \
Everything is in a state of flux. The citizenry doesn't know what truth is any better than Pilate, who asked Christ at his trial: "What is truth?" People are simply clueless and think truth is unknowable, and you cannot claim to speak for it. Our president has the so-called bully pulpit to propagate his dangerous ideas and notions, and more than that, we have a bully in the pulpit! He spends a large portion of his time insulting various constituencies politicians and opponents he deems his enemies in a paranoid mindset.
Joseph Goebbels, the "notorious chief of Nazi propaganda," believed in telling big lies or whoppers and frequent lies to fool and brainwash or condition the common man, in his ignorance (Scripture says the simpleton believes anything in Prov. 14:15) --a large section of Trump's base is uneducated working-class folks who don't know how to fact-check, or do any research. They are mostly highly gullible and don't think for themselves or make up their own opinions--but are just sponges of the conservative media and radio hosts (they're also called ditto-heads). These naive people buy into the lies of the alternative universe of Trump politics. Trump couldn't be truer to the ideas of Joseph Goebbels, "notorious chief of Nazi Propaganda, because he is engaged in propaganda himself, telling lies over and over again until they get accepted, even big lies a la Goebbels, and never admitting error or that it was a lie, and to this day he has never admitted being wrong or apologized for it. The president sees it as a sign of weakness to say, "I'm sorry!" or "I was wrong!" Never before has any president been able to lie with such impunity and unchallenged by his partisans.
In the final analysis, education is going from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of your ignorance, and Trump doesn't seem to gain anything by O.J.T. and his learning curve is extremely low. As Socrates said, you will never arrive at the truth, unless you admit you could be wrong! No one has a monopoly on wisdom or truth and doesn't need feedback, rebuke, or correction by others at times when he makes mistakes--if you've never made a mistake, you've never made anything, goes the proverb. In modern terminology, truth has become "a short-term contract," and, even if knowable, not communicable--denying universal and objective truth (true whether believed or not), there's no Truth with a capital T! In sum, it's the truth that's under siege and Christians must not stand in the sidelines, (1 Tim. 6:12, NKJV, says, "Fight the good fight of faith..."), but make their stand clear and declare their Christian colors, even if it means going solo: The true statesman will stand for the truth, declare his colors, and let the chips fall where they may in a posture of moral courage. (By definition: Believing something doesn't make it true, and not believing it doesn't make it false or wrong.
CAVEAT: Just like the emperor who wore no clothes, many of the leaders of the GOP know in their hearts that Trump is a liar, but for the sake of self-preservation and survival instinct, and because they want to look out for Number One; Job One is protection of party reputation and their job security. They refuse to acknowledge this because it would be political suicide, as they are also afraid of Trump's base, and in effect, they are his ENABLERS and are equally guilty of dismantling our democracy and its foundations under the rule of law, the US Constitution being the supreme law of the land.
Two germane verses from the Word come to mind: "Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!" (Deut. 32:29, NKJV). "The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3, NLT).
I deplore the reality that the day has finally arrived for politicians to be more concerned with public opinion than the truth and/or principle; how can a man call something crooked, if he has no idea what straight is? The truth does matter, whether we realize it or not, Jesus said in John 18:37, NKJV, "... Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." As a word to the wise is sufficient: Paul depicts unbelievers as those "who suppress the truth" (cf. Rom. 1:18) and who "reject the truth" (cf. Rom. 2:8; Titus 1:14). He also says they "exchange the truth of God for a lie" (cf. Rom. 1:25). Their judgment draws nigh: "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved ... that they should believe the lie" (2 Thess. 2:10-11, NKJV). We can only hope if perchance God may do a work of grace in their conversion: "... Perhaps God will change their mind and give them a knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 2:25, CEB).
Knowing this, one realizes that the truth is the antiseptic of error and wrongdoing and we must never give up fighting the "good fight" (cf. 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7) for Him who came to bear witness of the truth (cf. John 18:37). Paul tells Titus that the "acknowledgment of the truth ... accords with godliness" (Titus 1:2, NKJV). One should never feel he has a monopoly on the truth, has cornered the market, or closed his mind to new ideas whose time has come--no one has all the truth! Note and apply Paul's admonition: "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8, ESV). Those of us who know what to do should declare our colors and take our stand, as the immortal words in Esther 4:14, NKJV, say, "... Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
There is a condition to finding truth: "Science says to sit down before the facts as a little child, be prepared to go up every preconceived notion, be willing to be led to whatever end Nature will lead you, or you will know nothing." Finally, bear in mind, in the search for ultimate truth, the immortal axiom of St. Augustine: "All truth is God's truth," and similarly of St. Thomas Aquinas, "All truth meets at the top." Soli Deo Gloria!
Joseph Goebbels, the "notorious chief of Nazi propaganda," believed in telling big lies or whoppers and frequent lies to fool and brainwash or condition the common man, in his ignorance (Scripture says the simpleton believes anything in Prov. 14:15) --a large section of Trump's base is uneducated working-class folks who don't know how to fact-check, or do any research. They are mostly highly gullible and don't think for themselves or make up their own opinions--but are just sponges of the conservative media and radio hosts (they're also called ditto-heads). These naive people buy into the lies of the alternative universe of Trump politics. Trump couldn't be truer to the ideas of Joseph Goebbels, "notorious chief of Nazi Propaganda, because he is engaged in propaganda himself, telling lies over and over again until they get accepted, even big lies a la Goebbels, and never admitting error or that it was a lie, and to this day he has never admitted being wrong or apologized for it. The president sees it as a sign of weakness to say, "I'm sorry!" or "I was wrong!" Never before has any president been able to lie with such impunity and unchallenged by his partisans.
In the final analysis, education is going from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of your ignorance, and Trump doesn't seem to gain anything by O.J.T. and his learning curve is extremely low. As Socrates said, you will never arrive at the truth, unless you admit you could be wrong! No one has a monopoly on wisdom or truth and doesn't need feedback, rebuke, or correction by others at times when he makes mistakes--if you've never made a mistake, you've never made anything, goes the proverb. In modern terminology, truth has become "a short-term contract," and, even if knowable, not communicable--denying universal and objective truth (true whether believed or not), there's no Truth with a capital T! In sum, it's the truth that's under siege and Christians must not stand in the sidelines, (1 Tim. 6:12, NKJV, says, "Fight the good fight of faith..."), but make their stand clear and declare their Christian colors, even if it means going solo: The true statesman will stand for the truth, declare his colors, and let the chips fall where they may in a posture of moral courage. (By definition: Believing something doesn't make it true, and not believing it doesn't make it false or wrong.
CAVEAT: Just like the emperor who wore no clothes, many of the leaders of the GOP know in their hearts that Trump is a liar, but for the sake of self-preservation and survival instinct, and because they want to look out for Number One; Job One is protection of party reputation and their job security. They refuse to acknowledge this because it would be political suicide, as they are also afraid of Trump's base, and in effect, they are his ENABLERS and are equally guilty of dismantling our democracy and its foundations under the rule of law, the US Constitution being the supreme law of the land.
Two germane verses from the Word come to mind: "Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!" (Deut. 32:29, NKJV). "The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?" (Psalm 11:3, NLT).
I deplore the reality that the day has finally arrived for politicians to be more concerned with public opinion than the truth and/or principle; how can a man call something crooked, if he has no idea what straight is? The truth does matter, whether we realize it or not, Jesus said in John 18:37, NKJV, "... Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." As a word to the wise is sufficient: Paul depicts unbelievers as those "who suppress the truth" (cf. Rom. 1:18) and who "reject the truth" (cf. Rom. 2:8; Titus 1:14). He also says they "exchange the truth of God for a lie" (cf. Rom. 1:25). Their judgment draws nigh: "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved ... that they should believe the lie" (2 Thess. 2:10-11, NKJV). We can only hope if perchance God may do a work of grace in their conversion: "... Perhaps God will change their mind and give them a knowledge of the truth" (2 Tim. 2:25, CEB).
Knowing this, one realizes that the truth is the antiseptic of error and wrongdoing and we must never give up fighting the "good fight" (cf. 1 Tim. 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7) for Him who came to bear witness of the truth (cf. John 18:37). Paul tells Titus that the "acknowledgment of the truth ... accords with godliness" (Titus 1:2, NKJV). One should never feel he has a monopoly on the truth, has cornered the market, or closed his mind to new ideas whose time has come--no one has all the truth! Note and apply Paul's admonition: "And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" (1 Cor. 14:8, ESV). Those of us who know what to do should declare our colors and take our stand, as the immortal words in Esther 4:14, NKJV, say, "... Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
There is a condition to finding truth: "Science says to sit down before the facts as a little child, be prepared to go up every preconceived notion, be willing to be led to whatever end Nature will lead you, or you will know nothing." Finally, bear in mind, in the search for ultimate truth, the immortal axiom of St. Augustine: "All truth is God's truth," and similarly of St. Thomas Aquinas, "All truth meets at the top." Soli Deo Gloria!
No comments:
Post a Comment