What is Truth?

“What is truth?”  Those infamous words came from the mouth of Pilate (the Roman governor), captured in the Gospel of John.  Though Pilate’s ears had heard the truth, his mind and soul wouldn’t accept it.  He feared the mobs and Caesar rather than God, so he assigned Jesus over for flogging, cruel abuse and death by crucifixion (see John 18:28 through 19:16).  Though Satan thought this was a moment of victory, he was wrong.  The Truth, the Light and the Way rose from the grave and now sits by God the Father.  The Bible already records (in prophecy) the future history of our world:  Jesus is coming again and this time He comes as King and Judge.

The nearness of His second coming is evidenced by the symptoms of our times.  Politicians and their stooges in media (actually, maybe both groups are “stooges”) regularly spew lies and insist them to be truths.  When they are caught in a lie, they whisper “misspoke” and “old news, let’s move on.”

Once upon a time (in a previous century), I worked as a financial auditor.  This position required specific education, training and supervision.  Auditors were required to be independent in thought- not biased for or against the company under audit.  We would independently examine the records of companies and seek corroborative evidence that the company’s financial statements presented the truth.  Before expressing our opinion, we did a great deal of work.  Our mantra was “tick, tie and verify.”  Professional standards dictated how we performed audits and how we would share our opinion on the results of the audit.

Now we have folks in the media and big tech who are self-proclaimed “fact-checkers.”  Sadly, most of these folks don’t actually check “facts,” they merely compare public actions and communications to their personal views and to the dogma provided by their (mostly leftist) overlords.  If it does not conform to their distorted view of reality, it gets flagged as not true, or cancelled completely by some media channel.  If they were to be honest, their title would be “Dogma-checkers” and they would flag things as either “Dogma correct” or “Anti-Dogma” (and the anti-dogma would not be censored).

This corruption of “Truth” is a central theme in the novel “The Great New Deal.”  Chapter 3 bears the title “What is Truth?”  It introduces a new media company formed from the current media giants.  The company is based in “Truth Tower” and has the motto “Trust Us, It’s True.”  But some people can see that the emperor has no clothes.  Chapter 9 is titled “The Truth Detector.”  A 12-year-old boy sees through all their nonsense and recognizes real truth when he finds it.

Are you still wondering “what is truth?”  The Bible says plenty on that subject.  Try Psalm 15 for a start:

“Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your holy mountain?  The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord; who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.  Whoever does these things will never be shaken.”  (NIV)

That’s a tall order.  You can’t do it on your own.  If you’ve accepted Jesus as your savior, the Holy Spirit will help you as you exercise your faith and work toward sanctification.