WHAT IS TRUTH

The man was at confession and he said, “Father, I have stolen a rope.” And he told the truth. He only neglected to mention that there was a cow at the other end of that rope.

And Pontius Pilate asked, “What is truth?” But why ask the question? It is a seldom thing when we do not know what truth is…very seldom, indeed.

A woman hired an author to write her biography. The author discovered that one of her grandfathers had died in the electric chair. He knew he could not leave this fact out of his writing but he was also aware she would want this fact couched in as elusive terms as possible. His description of the event was priceless. “Her grandfather occupied the chair of electricity in one of America’s most noted institutions. He was very much attached to his position and literally died in the harness.”

In World War II, Winston Churchill spelled it out so very well when explaining whether or not a political decision he had made could be trusted as a good decision. He was at least honest when he said, “I prefer to leave the judgment on that to history… especially as I propose to write that history myself.”

We do have to be careful, now don’t we? Interpreting truth in a manner that can make us right when deep down inside we know we may well be wrong. Are you always objective when it comes to moral choices or describing yourself to yourself? Or are you subjective? Which is another way of asking, “How often do you lie to yourself, make excuses when you don’t have a leg to stand on or try to justify the unjustifiable?”

"What is truth?" and when we ask the question we need to be in pursuit of it rather than being pursued by it.

“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105