Loose With The Facts

According to the Correspondence Theory of Truth delineated by John Locke, truth is what corresponds with reality or reports the facts concerning it.  
"A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still."  (Proverb)
"Truth forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne."  (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis)
"All Truth is God's truth." (Augustine of Hippo).  "All truth meets at the top." (Thomas Aquinas)

We must not twist the truth to fit our theories, nor have preconceived notions of the truth but be honest, open-minded seekers for the unknown.  Evidence is the objective reality but isn't the whole picture and is only one argument for or against--it is neither conclusive nor always definite.  Evidence is vital because faith not based on evidence is blind faith!  Perfect certainty is not necessary for knowledge, for all knowledge is contingent and based on faith.  We go astray from the way of truth when we make up our own facts or evidence; we don't have a right to our own facts, but we have a right to our own opinions!  Facts must be undisputed and not subjective.  The truth is absolute and cannot be denied; it's not relative to a situation or person.

Christianity deals in facts and in the truth as well as history, which other religions don't.  The problem with some investigators into truth is that they have their minds made up and don't want to be confused with the facts, though we all tend to believe just the facts that fit our opinions.  No one ever gets convinced of something against their will.  For instance, scientists who espouse to evolution have ruled God out of the equation from the get-go, so how can they hope to be objective when they assume there is no God without there being any evidence for that conclusion.  They won't even admit to the possibility of God.  They don't know you cannot prove there is no God because you cannot prove a universal negative according to logic and philosophy.  Socrates was humble because he said that you will never find the truth if you won't admit you could be wrong!

The facts speak for themselves and you must be willing to go where they lead even if it's an uncomfortable conclusion.  We make theories based on fact, we don't force the facts nor twist them to fit our theories.  The problem today is that people are generally ignorant and gullible and believe everything they hear from their personal sources without questioning authority.  When someone listens to one primary source for information or news, they lose discernment.  When someone has that much of your confidence he's all the more able to get away with lying because you don't fact-check or even Google something.  We must all be suspicious and somewhat skeptical to what we hear from politicians for instance.

The two biggest problems in America are apathy and ignorance:  they don't know and they don't care!  America was only designed for an enlightened and informed electorate!  We need to keep God relevant!  When a society becomes wholly secularized and removes God from the public square and discourse the foundations of democracy are shattered and we lose our footings in a morality which will become lax.  When there is not transcendent, objective standard of right and wrong society gets corrupted and it's the job of the church to be salt and light and get society back on track to be a city on a hill.

There are basically five reasons people believe things:  authority figures say it's so; they want to believe it; their group believes it; they have a vested interest in believing it; they have always believed it--culture or tradition.  When you don't accept reality, which is what denying truth is, you will grasp at anything but the truth.  That is why Plato said that if we want to live in reality we must know what God is really like.

Right now we seem to be ruled by those who make the most noise and raise the most money, not according to debate on the issues and understanding where people are coming from; instead, there's polarization and lack of understanding. Politicians make allegations and charges without any evidence to support them, yet they persist because some will believe them (probably supporters).  We must adhere to a strict policy to a facts-based mindset because it's a known fact that where you start determines where you'll end up!  People must consider the consequences of being wrong as well as the validity of the source and track record of whom they believe.   In conclusion, we must stop just accepting news we agree with: a complete agreement is not always necessary; sometime we must agree to disagree without being disagreeable and find commonalities--we seek unity not uniformity.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Truth In The Midst Of Uncertainty...

It was the skeptics of antiquity in Greece that doubted you could know anything for certain (cf. the Sophists).  Romans thought that "might makes right" and didn't believe in universal truth that applied to the whole world. David Hume was known as the great skeptic in philosophy and Rene Descartes with his Cartesian principle that cogito, ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). He came about to a proof of his own existence!  Actually, Augustine thought that if you err you exist because you have to exist to err!

Modern-day skepticism says that all truth is relative to the person, time, circumstance, and event and isn't absolute:  "You can know nothing for certain," according to Alan Bloom in The Closing Of The American Mind showing that modern man believes all truth is relative (which is a meaningless statement because the assertion would also be relative). Actually, the truths they want to hold as relative are those pertaining to Christianity.

John Dewey poisoned our classrooms with his pragmatism, saying that the test of an idea was whether it worked or not, not whether it was true.  If it works it must be true.  People are convinced many things work that aren't true:  hypnotism, yoga, TM, hypnotism, astrology, Buddhist philosophy, et al.  Christianity is not true because it works, but works because it is true (there is a subtle but valid difference here).  Real truth is timeless and is relative to everyone, everywhere, all the time--it is universal and appropriate in its application.

The hot topic dated back to Pontius Pilate asking Jesus, "What is truth?"  Jesus said that He came to bear witness of the truth--actually, He is the personification of truth itself. John said, "For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." The Bible is not just true, it is truth (no other book can claim to be "truth"), but you must take it all in context in and observe the whole analogy of Scripture and remember that "the sum [entirety] of [God's] Word is truth" (Psalm 119:160a). What is ambiguous in one place will be explained or is unambiguous in another--Scripture interprets Scripture.

Satan liked to misquote Scripture and take it out of context (a text taken out of context is a pretext!); he knows enough to be dangerous. His main strategy is saying:  "Hath God said?"  He gets us to doubt the Word and putting our faith in God's promises.  Even when he tempted Jesus he used Scripture to try and trap Jesus and use it against Him. Still, the best way to combat the enemy is to know Scripture and say, "It is written" in response.  In a world of uncertainty, we can count on God's Word to be reliable and certain and it will never let us down or fail us.

To sum up, Harvard University has the Bible quote, The Truth Shall Set You Free, as its slogan. They are mistaken to think that academic subjects can liberate the soul from guilt, despair, sin, and death--we just become educated neurotics.  It has been said, "The womb forms you, sin deforms you, schools, inform you, prison can reform you, but only Christ's truth can transform you!"  Truth has an impact on the soul; we don't get changed lives by being inspired by Shakespeare.   We can know the truth and it is absolute because Jesus bore witness of it and knowing Him is equated with knowing the truth.  Soli Deo Gloria!