From My Perspective - - -

A major question often posed in the areas of philosophy and theology is, “What is truth?” It is the question posed by Pilate at the trial and ultimate crucifixion of Jesus Christ – when he asked Jesus – “What is Truth?” If only he could have known and connected the dots from the ministry of Jesus when Thomas had asked: “How can we know the way?” On that occasion, Jesus answered with an amplified and comprehensive statement in John 14:5-6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.” Pilate did not connect the dots in his day and people are not connecting the dots in our day either.

This profound question – “What is truth?” is current in our news cycle as a Republican Presidential Candidate tries to explain the complaints and charges of sexual harassment by five women. The bottom line of his defense so far has been “they are not telling the truth.” One thing is certain – before this is over – it will become obvious in terms of who lied and who is telling the truth. Wisdom Words of the ages will unfold, namely: “Be sure your sins will find you out!” There is the misconception where people believe they can insulate themselves from responsibility for all kinds of deceit and/or corruption – but such a one is deceiving himself/herself. The fact is that a day of reckoning will always come and truth will always prevail.

There are moments within ones lifetime where religion plays an important role. Usually, it occurs at a time of War and/or Great Tragedy. People have the innate cry of despair – that helplessness and sense of a need that one cannot humanly meet – an a cry goes out to “God”. It is like an S.O.S. signal sent out across the horizon in the hope that someone – somewhere – will hear the distress signal and call – and come to the rescue. Pearl Harbor and World War II was such a time; September 11, 2001 was another occasion; times of accident or illness also tend to be a time when religious thoughts occur. However, these times and moments suffer from disconnect and neglect. It is not a constant in many lives. It tends to be an emergency type religion that is embraced and practiced.  Someone observed and poignantly wrote: “Between the bookends of our moment of terror yesterday and our moment of truth today, lie the pages of our life as a people. The picture is not pretty. The headlines reveal, as renowned pollsters George Gallup and George Barna have for a decade declared, a profound moral and spiritual disconnect between the way we see ourselves and the way we truly live.” Some other observations that were shared are: “Morality, ethics and dishonesty were named by the Gallup Poll in 2001 as the top problem facing the nation...not terrorism. Virtues have given way to values as every one does that which is right in his own eyes. 33% of our children are born out of wedlock as are 80% of those in the major cities of our land. Less than half of us believe it is immoral to live together outside of marriage, confirming why cohabitation precedes 37% of all marriages in the United States…Now 91% of us lie regularly…The wave of corporate fraud did not emerge in a vacuum. It’s in part a consequence of a society that refuses to recognize absolute standards of right and wrong…TRUST is rapidly slipping away for all of our institutions…”

How does The Eternal God see this world today? What does the Word of God allow has happened to truth and righteousness? Is there a remedy – a solution? Psalm 5 along with Isaiah 59 state a summary of what God is observing and has determined: “…your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear…No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly…feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity…there is no justice in their paths… For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us…we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning back from following our God…conceiving and uttering from the heart lying words. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled (is trampled underfoot) in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking…The Lord saw it, and it displeased him…” The remedy is Isaiah 59:1, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear…” It is time to repent and to return to the Lord!  Consider these things with me.