The Truth is Under Assault

Before we can deal with anything else, we must start with the foundation: Truth.
The Truth is under assault in our nation.

These days, to be alive is to be lied to... repeatedly, persistently, and from many directions. With the Information Age has come an increase in sources of information and (predictably) an increase in false information. In the past, this could have been filtered by a mind that believed Truth still existed and that there were ways to determine the difference between Truth and falsehood. But we in America have taken this to a whole new level.

Now we have largely accepted the idea that Truth is subjective, so filtering it understandably becomes a nonsensical pursuit. For example: If you are reading this and you don’t believe objective Truth exists, you may as well stop reading because you have already admitted that words are meaningless and that the combination of them cannot possibly get you closer to any worthy goal. You have already fallen into a sort of fatalistic madness.

I warn you: that mindset will lead inevitably to hopelessness, depression, and suicidal thoughts. As the author of Ecclesiastes said, “all of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 2:17). The statement “there is no Truth” is nonsense because it purports to be true while asserting that nothing is true. Truth must exist, we cannot deny it without accepting an actual contradiction. Certainly oxymorons are OK, because they are only apparent contradictions (we must be a slave to practice piano so that we are free to perform in concert), but actual contradictions (2 + 2 = 4... and 5) cannot be accepted or we lose touch with reality. If you go that rout then you have embraced insanity and may as well stop trying to understand anything. All you are left with is to “eat drink and be merry... for tomorrow we die.” The greater pursuits of finding Truth and Meaning in life are lost to you. Hedonism ensues... in short - you have the current state of America. You also have a Truth vacuum that demands to be filled with tyranny.

I have observed that Social Media, especially Twitter, has encouraged people to pass on information that may or may not be true. It seems to encourage falsehood by rewarding a shocking (and most often fabricated) tweet with more shares and likes simply because of its provocative, controversial, or unusual nature. People will pass these tweets without checking to see if they are factual (and even if they checked, who knows if they will find reliable confirmation!). If it supports their point, the validity is irrelevant. And even people I respected, and largely agreed with, have been guilty of this. Pictures and video are often taken out of context or even altered to get more likes and shares. This is, without a doubt, a very unhealthy trend for any society. Moreover the decay of Truth has been accelerated almost exponentially by such practices.

But let us talk about Truth for a moment. Why should we believe in objective Truth? How can we know that anything is True? When we are children we enter the world a blank slate, not knowing anything about truth. We live based on experience. We accept blindly that we exist and we begin to find what works, what does not work, and certain consistencies in outcome that form the framework of our understanding of Truth. For example: a child learns that lake water is generally cold. If he forgets this, he will be reminded the next time he puts his foot in the water. It feels wet and cold. That is a consistent experience, even during various seasons of the year. He has already accepted as self-evident that he exists and that water exists and that his nerve endings can be trusted to give him accurate information about the water. If he didn’t accept these things, he would be either in an insane asylum or he would be a University Professor. Nevertheless, even if we could have some healthy doubt about the trustworthiness of our senses, and could logically accept that consistent outcomes do not necessarily prove that something will always be True, we must still accept as self-evident that Truth exists in order to derive any meaning from life.

The best example is mathematics. 2 + 2 = 4. Math has proven beyond any reasonable doubt that it represents certain unchangeable facts about the nature of reality. With math we can predict with intricate detail the exact mass and momentum needed to get a rocket to Mars. Math is close to the heart and very definition of Truth, since Truth is defined as “that which conforms to reality.” Should it surprise us then that there are those in our country (at least so I have heard from what I consider reliable sources) who actually suggest that math is nothing more than an expression of “racism?” As though European white males have a monopoly on the fabric of the Universe. If 2 + 2 = 4 cannot be trusted as truth, then we may as well embrace madness and be done with it. What’s more, we should not expect any degree of unity or agreement for mankind, because we have just blown to smithereens any semblance of order that people of diverse races and backgrounds could agree upon.

The Bible describes God as a God of order, not of Chaos (see 1 Cor 14:33). One should ask who stands to benefit if mankind is fighting itself unable to agree that anything is true... even math!? This rejection of Truth, at its heart, is a rejection of the God who created reality and ordered it such that we can (at least to some degree) understand it.

In closing, I have always considered myself fairly skeptical and not easily taken in. But the lies I have encountered in the past year were so convincing, so passionately and persistently perpetrated on my psyche, that I admit, I was taken in for a time with certain things I have since found not to be true. In the age of information, we must remember that the people we are seeing on our screen are not our friends. We know very little about them. No matter how sincere they appear to be, it could end up that their intent was merely to fleece us of money and have a nice vacation. To believe these “talking heads” on the screen is to accept their word as authority in finding Truth. Sure they may seem very kind, and wise, and trustworthy, but just because they say that they are telling you the truth and seem to share your particular values, does not mean that we should believe them. It would behoove us to remember that we know very little about these people. We have never actually met them, and should not underestimate just how devious (or misled) they may be. Complicated algorithms are at work through our electronic devices bringing us content that we are psychologically inclined to believe. These algorithms exploit our hard-wired tendency to accept people who look like us and who present themselves as part of our established value system (or religion). Beware!

The way in which we determine what is true is a whole topic of its own called “epistemology” - the study of how we know what is true. We have spoken of truth that is obtained from authority. First-hand experience is another means that we use to determine what is true. But we seldom have first-hand knowledge of any fields outside our own particular realm of experience and must therefore accept many things on authority combined with discernment. That is why it is vital that we vet the sources of authority that we trust before we forget where we heard certain “facts” and find ourselves repeating nonsense. For those of us who believe in Truth, now is the time to stand up for it. Truth is under attack, and we must be very careful in what we say and what we pass on, so that we will not contribute to deception. And for those who do not believe in Truth and have read to the end of this, I humbly submit to you that you may be lying to yourself. Deep down, you know that there must be Truth and you are looking for it.

Blessings,

Joshua