“WHAT IS the truth?” Pilate asked Jesus. (John 18:38) Truth is telling things as they are. Truth is when your words and thoughts correspond to reality. Two plus two is four, the sky is blue and the earth is round.
To say otherwise is false. Everything in the world is true and there is no such thing as error. Only our opinion can make errors. We men are not creators of reality but instead its disciple. George Braque said, “Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented.”
That’s the basic tenet in journalism; to report an
event as they happen and where they happen. If a journalist or a
reporter inserts personal opinion on the news event he covers, he ceases being
a reporter and becomes an opinion maker. Worse if he falsely reports
the event and inserts his own version of it (usually to promote an agenda) that
would be fake news. Facts are events that happen in reality
and truth means our mind is conforming to that fact.
There is no such thing as personal truth with regard to
reality. There is only objective truth. In the same way
as there’s no personal morality. Morality is likewise
objective. To have your own standards of what is right and wrong is
called moral subjectivism, one of the prevalent erroneous philosophies
nowadays. Rape will always be wrong as well as torture.
Moral subjectivism (a personal standard of morality) is a philosophy
adapted by non-believers in God who would often tell Christians, “Don’t impose your
morals on me” as if morality can only be applied to Christians. Whether
you are a Muslim, a Hindu or a non-believer in a God morality applies to all.
Otherwise, it will be a chaotic world and no one would be left alive because
killing would just be a matter of “personal option” to settle a grudge, much
like in the movie “The Purge.”
Another common belief nowadays is skepticism. Skepticism says we are not capable of attaining the truth. That truth is too complex for us to grasp. This is an absurd philosophy because if truth can’t be attained then we would not be able to express it as well.
You can
always make a skeptic see the absurdity of his belief by telling him, “If we
can’t acquire truth then how will I know if what you are telling me is true?”
And that closes the argument. Many would adapt this philosophy along
with other modern philosophies often to rationalize and justify immoral
behaviors especially in the area of sex.
Contrary to political correctness we have to be judgmental and discriminatory for we need to judge whether an action is right or wrong and to discriminate not race or gender but morals. I would often hear this common phrase “we should not be judgmental”.
Well, that depends. If the
action is out in the open and is clearly wrong, of course we have to be
judgmental. In cases such as cheating or lying for example, parents and
teachers need to be judgmental to correct the young people under
them. On the other hand, if you don’t have the full details of a
certain situation on why a student for example is not expelled from school for
a serious offense. Then you should hold your judgment until you have the
complete information on the case. That’s the time we should not be judgmental,
not to judge when we don’t have the full knowledge.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John
14:6) It’s as if Christ is saying, “I am reality, conform yourself to
reality.” Conforming ourselves to the truth is conforming ourselves
to Christ. That’s why prayer doesn’t transform God but transforms
us. God commanded us to pray not because God needs our prayers but
we do. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free (from the slavery of sin)”. (John 8:32)
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