Truth

Part of the sermon on Sunday got me off on a tangent....the preacher used the word Truth...with the capital T. Here is where I went with it...

Truth is not determined by belief or faith. Truth is self-evident...you need no special understanding or insight to determine Truth. Let me give you a counter example.

Killing is bad. There is Truth to this....or is there? If I kill someone in self-defense, is it bad? The answer is YES! The point is that it is not WRONG. Of course some will suggest it is wrong, but I am going to ignore such idiots.

The Constitution states the following are Truths that are self-evident:
1. all men are created equal
2. all are endowed with certain unalienable rights, among these rights are
i. life; ii. liberty; iii. pursuit of happiness

Are all men created equal? No. My brother Billy had muscular dystrophy...he would never run.

Are rights unalienable? If you agree with me that rights are earned with the active engagement of responsibilities, then to fail those responsibilities is to abrogate those rights.

Can you tell me a Truth? Are facts Truths? I would argue that only facts can be Truths....but even then, a limited set of facts would qualify.

People complain that we live in a time of moral relativism (as it applies to the application of Truth) as if it were a new and bad thing. I would suggest that the only one that does NOT, nor ever has, lived in a period of moral relativism is God.

However, if Scripture is to be believed, God certainly takes advantage of moral relativism. "Thou shall not kill" ...unless I tell you to enter a land and kill all you find there..

Truth is one of those concepts that seems to have been given much more force than is justified. Since Sunday I have tried to determine a single unassailable Truth. I am still trying...