“Yes, it is very true, that. And it is just what some people will not do. They conceive a certain theory, and everything has to fit into that theory. If one little fact will not fit it, they throw it aside. But it is always the facts that will not fit in that are significant.”
Agatha Christie, “Death on the Nile”
38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” John 18:38
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6 Jesus
“We live in a post-truth society.” Pundits and essayists use words with great gravity, hoping to sound wise, well-read, and avant-garde. Recent trends in public discourse and politics might make one think we’ve crossed a significant phase-line culturally. However, Pilate struggled with the same thing over two-thousand years ago. Socrates and Plato grappled with the same issue some five-hundred years before Pilate governed Judea. Look on backward into history and you find that humans always struggle with truth. We want to bend reality to fit our perceptions, our needs, our goals, and our feelings. Perhaps what has changed is our willingness to embrace a leader that speaks falsehoods. But, a quick scan of history and the Biblical record reveals a sorry legacy regarding holding leaders accountable for truth. Perhaps, the ease and rapidity of spreading falsehoods make this time especially perilous for those that embrace the truth. Whatever the cause or case, Christians must avoid the human penchant for distorting or disregarding truth to meet our own personal needs.
Often we employ moral equivalence to excuse our behavior. How many times have we said, “After all, they all do it,” to justify our support of a leader, secular or otherwise, that has developed a track record for prevarication. While it is true that all humans fail, all of us have lied at some time in our lives, that does not excuse moral turpitude. We know the difference between someone that has displayed the fallen human condition and someone that exhibits a reckless disregard and disdain for the truth. Jesus counseled us, “24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” John 7:24. We all know the seductive siren song. Our favored party or candidate fails grievously and still, we cling to them, hoping that they will continue to work on issues we feel important, and perhaps, they will. However, with abject failure in truth-telling, all trust is gone. We know that person does not tell the truth when it inconveniences them. Faced with difficulty they invariably choose the easy wrong over the hard right. Trust destroyed resists attempts to rebuild. And to ignore such failure in positions of responsibility is foolishness. As a junior lieutenant in Germany, I watched, dismayed, as one of my favorite Battalion Commander’s career evaporated due to his failure to tell the truth. He’d lied about his whereabouts in order to conceal an illicit affair. His superiors lost their faith in his ability to tell the truth regarding difficult issues. Once compromised over an issue of personal conduct, he could not be trusted with issues broader impact and gravity. We cannot entrust leadership to those who display a casual disregard for the truth. Yes, it is true that all people fail; however, we can, and should, exclude those who regularly and recklessly lie. It is a disqualifier from positions of responsibility. This sort of person or party does not deserve our loyalty.
As Christians, we must seriously consider the role of partisanship and loyalty in our lives and witness in the public square. When I cast my lot with a specific party, I also must carry their baggage. As a Christian, I must consider the entirety of the Bible, God’s revealed word, when developing my own socio-political philosophy. When examining political parties, I must consider all their stances. To what degree do they support truth-telling? Do they rightly handle information, or do they embrace deceit as a viable political tactic or strategy? Will they accept and support a deceitful person as a leader? Where do they diverge from my understanding of the heart of God? I must sort through these and other questions before I align myself with any given party. These days of bare-knuckled, winner-take-all, divisive politics makes independence as a voter much more desirable for those of us who consider allegiance with Jesus primary. Of course, one may choose a party; however, you must clearly consider what issues to agree with and those you find objectionable and be prepared to speak truth to leadership. An organization's stance on truth-telling must rise to the top of any issues list. Rightly handling information is critical for leaders and followers.
Often we quail when faced with facts or truth that fail to line up with our preconceptions or worldview. And, this is one of the more challenging areas of truth-telling in the world today. The internet, talking-heads on radio and television, social media platforms, and the proliferation of various outlets the spout propaganda under the guise of news, make developing a reality-based view of almost any issue difficult. And this is where we must develop a passion, a devotion to, a zeal for the truth, denying support to those who display a cavalier attitude toward truth. Jesus claims that He is the truth. While we tend to look at this statement as metaphor, in this bold statement Jesus reminds us of a key component of His essential character. He is truth and those that claim to love Him must also love truth. We must love truth more than political party or philosophical ideas. Like the man in Matthew 13, we must value truth above all things and expend every effort to apprehend it. This fervor for the truth leads us to demand truth from leaders, to hold them accountable for their statements. When we accept dissembling, disingenuous speech we put distance between ourselves and the one who is truth. We also embolden the prevaricator, making it easier for them to employ dishonesty. When we embrace those who traffic in lies and deceit, we erode our witness. Through our acceptance of this iniquitous behavior, we become complicit in the lie. Just as they have proved themselves untrustworthy, in a like manner, we prove ourselves unreliable, feckless, and faithless. Failure to embrace truth undermines the foundations of a successful civilization.
We must speak up in this time. We cannot embrace silence as a tactic. We cannot wait this out. Truth is more important than party, political ideology, and personal comfort. Jesus claimed that He was the truth. Early in His earthly walk, Jesus told us that we could know the truth and in that knowing, we would find freedom. Embracing truth is embracing Jesus. Defending truth is defending the one who is truth.
No comments:
Post a Comment