“I want the truth!” “You can’t handle the truth!”
Even if you never saw the 1992 movie “A Few Good Men,” you’ve probably seen the classic courtroom confrontation between Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson. That scene came to mind for me this morning as I spent a few minutes pondering the current season and political climate in the US of A.
If social media is any indication, “truth” is in the eye of the beholder. “Facts” are shared without research or context. Some of the items shared from “news” sources remind me about the report I wrote about Tom Landry when I was in the fourth grade. I didn’t want to do any research, so I just made up a compelling story about his heroics as a player with the Dallas Cowboys before he became their coach.
Of course a little fact checking would have helped me understand that before Tom Landry was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, there were no Dallas Cowboys. But who was I to let a few facts get in the way of a good story.
For a fourth-grader’s one page report, that was a minor infraction that resulted in a less-than-stellar grade on a single assignment. Now it seems that fact checking as a hindrance to a good story line is a way of life.
Are we really so consumed by our personal preferences and ideologies that we really can’t handle the truth?
Are we so consumed by personal preferences and ideologies that we really can’t handle the truth? Click To Tweet
The 18th chapter of the Gospel of John gives an account of the arrest and trial of Jesus before the Jewish high priest and before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. John 18:37-38 – “Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
What is truth?
Isn’t that the question of our day? Truth is whatever I choose to believe. There is no objective, absolute truth (sounds like a rather absolute statement to me). Maybe that’s your truth, but it’s not mine. Someone I admire (or at least despise less than the alternatives) said it, so it must be true. Someone I despise said it, so it must be false.
Is it any wonder we are turning into a culture of cynics? A friend once asked me, “If what you have always believed were not true, wouldn’t you want to know it?”
Here’s the truth: all truth finds its source in God. Jesus said, “I have come … to testify to the truth.” He also said, “I am the … truth.” (John 14:6). Whether or not you and I believe those words has no bearing on whether or not they are true. Our belief does not change truth to a lie or vice versa.
Our belief does not change truth to a lie or vice versa. Click To Tweet
Our lives matter to God. I can handle that.
