What do you rely on to determine what is truth?

[Jamie McDaniel]

This world is filled with both misinformation and blatant falsehoods vying to be accepted as truth. One of our duties as faith-driven activists is to confront untruth wherever we find it, and especially so in our work for social justice.

In this thread you can share what you rely on to help you make a sound judgment about what is truth.

You can also post meaningful quotes from others concerning truth or the often difficult task of discernment.

Finally, you can share personal stories of when you replaced misinformation or untruth in your life with truth.

I'll get us started with a few quotes that I like.

Pontius Pilate (when trying to figure out what to do with Jesus of Nazareth):
What is truth?

Gandhi on truth:
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

Martin Luther King, Jr. on truth:
Discrimination is a hellhound that gnaws at Negroes in every waking moment of their lives to remind them that the lie of their inferiority is accepted as truth in the society dominating them.

From the Bible, book of Isaiah, chapter 1:
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow. "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.

And later I will share a personal story about when I replaced untruth with truth in my life. I don't want this first post to get too long.

[SolInvictus]

For me, the story of Joseph in the OT is inspiring as is the story of Moses. In the stories, both men were oppressed, but with God found deliverance and freedom.

Gandhi also insprires me:
"People will fight you. They will ignore you. They will laugh at you, and then you win."

Martin Luther King Jr.
"...Look forward to that day, when all of God's children will sing...Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last."

"Continue to work with faith that unearned suffering is redemptive."
-- Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Dr.
-- Excepts from the I Have a Dream speech.

"Jesus did not seek to overcome evil with evil. He overcame evil with good. Although crucified by hate, he responded with aggressive love."
-- Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Dr.

"We must be the people of the light to drive the darkness away."
-- Mel White, Stranger at the Gate.

"When we act in faith, there is enough light in the world to conquer the darkness."
-- Mel White, Stranger at the Gate.

"First, stay viligent. At all times, know who your enemy is, and what your enemy is doing. Second, never let up pressure. You must never rest in your work to gain and protect your rights as American citizens. And third, don't get impatient. It will be a long, arduos struggle, but the truth is on your side. You will prevail."
-- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

"You have to go through the wilderness to get to the Promised Land."
-- Joyce Meyer

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the Lord sustains me. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me 'round about."
-- Psalm 3:5-6

"Anger brings us not only energy, but blindness" -- The Dalai Lama.

"The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come."
-- The Prophet, Angels In America

"...but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."
-- Isaiah 40:31

[Zerbie]

What a fascinating question!!! (And I enjoyed all the quotes btw).

When looking at such a question, best thing is to really really LOOK at the question. Is the answer in the question? Is the question valid? What is truth? Whose truth? Absolute or relative truth? We could spend a year on just the question.

Boil things down as much as possible to their very essence, and take the simplest, most essential element as your philosophy. That, heheh, is my philosophy.

The easy thing to do is to get lost in surface debates, surface questions, and surface details. The simple thing to do is to go beneath all that garbage and ask yourself what is the most basic element you are really looking at. It can take a little time. You need to be comfortable with uncertainty long enough to go through the process. And you need the willingness to see what's really there, not what you want to see, not what your mother told you to see, not what Dr. Dobson or Mel White told you to see. But to see what's really there.

Once you see what's really there, you will also know who else is seeing it and who is not.

[Ellen]

you can start on figuring out "What is Love."

[SolInvictus]

"The greastest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return."
- Moulin Rouge.

In response to the question posed by Ellen, I think this quote attempts to answer it.

Love may be seen as God; Jesus teaches us "the greastest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, and believe in God with all your heart." Simplistic in wording, but powerful...

Love should be unconditional, forgiving, respectful, and accepting regardless of discrimination.

[Catt of the Garage]

Hmm.

Well, it can be a difficult journey, finding out the truth. My approach is based on the belief that God is the ultimate source of truth, so the best way to find out the truth of an issue is to try and find out what he thinks about it. It's not always easy. Generally what I do is:

- Pray repeatedly
- Ask people. As many people as possible, from as many different viewpoints as possible. I don't necessarily believe what they say but their different perspectives inform my own thoughts about the issue and can help me sort things out in my own mind. I have some particularly wise friends, particularly my husband, who produce some very thought-provoking answers to difficult questions.
- Look up the Bible (in several different translations), and if the Biblical answer isn't clear or definite, seek out the thoughts of people who know a lot about the Bible
- Seek out both or all sides of any debate and carefully weigh the arguments, praying all the while. The Web is particularly good for this!

All the time what I'm trying to do is use all the faculties I have - common sense, conscience, my knowledge of God and human nature - to try and determine God's heart on the issue, and when I'm pretty sure I know what that is, I know the truth.

Often, of course, I don't get that far, especially with the really difficult questions! Sometimes you have to accept that you just don't know the truth; but for me it's very important to keep in mind that the truth is "out there", and as implied in Ghandi's quote above, just because you don't know what is true doesn't mean there isn't truth.

Sorry if that was a bit long!

[Rick336]

Here's a quote about homosexuality from an article titled "Attack on the church".

"We are fighting evil and we must pronounce it as such. We must not be intimidated. It attacks the very essence of Christianity and accepting homosexuality will be to lose our reason, our rational thought."

This person believes that rational thought is that homosexuality is evil. The problem with this kind of thinking is that rational thought can only be rational if it is based on reality.

For example, if you could put a video camera in every home of every gay man or lesbian woman in America to observe them in daily routeins, the camera would record many things. It would record the vast majority doing everyday things like cleaning house, making dinner, entertaining friends, watching tv, surfing the internet, talking on the phone, making love, and so on. It would record what most people would consider normal productive lives.

This is not to say that the camera wouldn't record some gay people with self destructive behavior. To deny this is also to deny reality. But to say that all or most gay people are "evil" or that homosexuality is "evil" is a biased opinion not based on facts and therefore cannot be considered rational thinking.

Nathaniel Branden, the author of "The Art of Living Consciously" says this:

"Among the many crimes committed against the younger generation, one of the worst is that young people are taught next to nothing about reason, rationality, or the importance of critical thinking".

In his book he also says, "Living consciously.....is respect for reality and respect for the distinction between the real and the unreal. Most people are unaware that their thinking and value system may be riddled with contradictions."

Rick

[singer]

My professors from grad school (in US history) would point out that you also need to look at the source of the information. What axes do they have to grind? Or to put it more positively, what's their experience? Who are they? What's their position in the community? Have they got money or power or property to defend?

My first question, when I hear a pronouncement like "accepting homosexuality will be to lose our reason" is to ask who the pronouncer is, and why they are so very emotional about the thing. I mean, that's a pretty extreme thing to say! The speaker sounds like they feel personally threatened. Maybe in statements like this, we're hearing the result of people seeing themselves in a mirror, rather than looking out into the world with anything like clear eyes. Who's lost their reason here?

Finding truth is at least in part an individual matter--on the details of experience, my truth may not be your truth. Having said that, I think we can at least agree that intolerant or hateful comments don't fit into the category of "truth."

just a thought,
singer

[kara speltz]

Originally Posted by Ellen

you can start on figuring out "What is Love."

Dear Ellen: I agree. I think ultimately, we are either like the fig tree that bears delicious fruit, or the barren one. If our truth leads us to love - a love that helps us comprehend that all are our brothers and sisters, and deserve to be loved and respected, we can pretty much figure that we're on the right track. For to follow God's truth is to reflect God's love in the world.

We'll all fail at that, I think we can, unfortunately, count on it. But we can't wallow in those failures, simply pick ourselves up and recognize the paradox and keep being that reflection, until the next time we stumble, and we again, pick ourselves up.

kara

[Pablo Rafael]

Originally Posted by Catt of the Garage

Hmm.

Well, it can be a difficult journey, finding out the truth. My approach is based on the belief that God is the ultimate source of truth, so the best way to find out the truth of an issue is to try and find out what he thinks about it.

Catt,

I have to agree with your viewpoint. I believe strongly that God is truth and we learn about Him in the Bible. While no one can claim to fully understand the mind of God, we can come closer to Him in prayer and study of His Word.

That being said, I fully understand that so many people misuse the Word of God to bolster their own opinions and reinforce their own prejudices. That is why the Bible must be interpreted in the context of the entire Bible with a view of the historical setting and viewed through Christ and the concept of Grace. It is those who misue the Word of God to support their own opinions that give Christianity a bad name.

I know many who read this will not agree with me. I hope no one takes offense; certainly none is intended. I have great respect for those who disagree with me. I have been a little reluctant to express too strongly my conservative views. This is a setting that is not very favorable to conservatism.

Pablo

[ladyinred]

Remember in the bible it says that God's greatest commandment is to love one another..and love does no harm to a neighbor. Also that he who hates his brother is in darkness and is a murderer and no murderer has eternal life in him...and we know we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. Let's look at the contrast of love and hate... Love seeks not to harm it's neighbor, hate wants to destroy them...Let's look at the world at large and all the things that are done in the name of violence and hate that were said to be ordained by God,Allah or whatever name they call him. Look at the injustices , the bigotry and the intolerance of others often done in the name of "religion" Now I'm not catergorizing and overgeneralizing that all religious people do this or think this way. But face it we have fanatics in all religions who will insist their interpretation of God and religion is correct while everyone else is wrong.... I've written earlier that hate is not passive, it literally seeks out to destroy those it hates. Think of all the violence done in the name of hatred ...Genocides, the holocaust of the jewish people, the serbians killing the moslems, genocide in African countries. Now you tell me what is evil here? Now do you honestly think a loving God who commanded that we do the same would condone or even approve of such actions? I think the truth is pretty evident.... And simple. What do we see as a result of evil intentions. Destruction, malice and murder..... Jesus said That a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree good, and out of the abundance of the heart a man will speak ..either bringing forth good or evil....(Not the exact words in the bible...but I'm trying to be a little concise here.) When Dash said there is no law against love , he is right, because love is inviolate. It does not seek to injure , harm or violate others.

[ladyinred]

Let me see if I can recall correctly the fruits of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace,kindness,gentleness,patience.......against these there is no such law. I think it was Paul who wrote this, but correct me if I am wrong,but the words are in the scripture. These are principles of love that do not violate anyone.... That's why then there are no laws against these. These are benign and beneficial to those who practice them.... as well as those who are the recipients of those who put into practice these fruits. I'd also like to add that I asked my son who was nine at the time and my niece who was eight then a simple question.."What would happen if everyone on the planet earth practiced being kind to others...? Their reply was unanimous.."Then there would be PEACE!!!!" Duhhhh they aren't even adults and they already figured that one out.

[ladyinred]

http://www.godwithoutreligion.com/foreword.shtml This was taken from a website called God without religion... it is written by Arun Ghandi, it might be particularly helpful to those of you who have nonreligious affiliation and enlightening to those of you who do. Here is another one if you are interested...http://www.godwithoutreligion.com/introduction.shtml

[cahubble05]

One of my favorite quotes from the Mahatma:

"Truth is within ourselves. There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness. Every wrongdoer knows within himself that he is doing wrong, for untruth cannot be mistaken for truth."—Mohandes K. Gandhi

[Joe Brummer]

In this thread you can share what you rely on to help you make a sound judgment about what is truth.

My heart. Nothing else is neccessary or as accurate.

[scott snedeker]

I'm with Joe. If something makes you feel good then it is spirtually beneficial. If something makes you feel worthless or dirty or trapped, it is spiritual poison

Love and affirmation,

Scotty

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