What is Truth?

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Recently in The Truth Project (*1) I was confronted with the question; “What is truth?”
At the time, I was not as interested in the answer as I was curious about the question itself.
Absolutely everyone knows what truth is…. Until asked to define it.
Ask yourself, “What is truth?” and you find your mind stumbling for the right words to explain what you are sure you know for fact, then you think, and you discover you really are not sure what truth is.
Go ahead ask yourself right now, write it down, I’ll wait.

* * *

In all confidence you probably gave lots of explanations, which turned out to be attributes, or events, but not actually defining truth.
Why is a word that is so familiar to us, so hard to explain, even to ourselves?
The more I thought about this, the more the answer itself seemed important.
After wrestling with the question and the answer for a few days, I showed up at my local community coffee shop in the morning, which is a regular daily winter routine with several locals.
It went like this;

“I have been thinking about a question that has got me stumped, so I want to run it by you and get your input, OK?”
“I need to know, WHAT IS TRUTH?”
One local liberal man we’ll call him Chip, blurted out;
“Truth is what it is.”
I said, I needed a better definition.
Another, in law enforcement, we will call Andy said;
“Truth is a person’s perception of reality.”
I asked; “you like that definition?"
He affirmed in confidence, so I wrote that on my paper place-mat.
I then asked;
“How can you and I both have different truth?”
As we discussed it more he included;
“Truth varies from person to person.”
And later in our conversation, he added;
“There is no definition of truth beyond perception.”
And; “Truth is not an absolute.”
So with his agreement I summed up his answers by writing;
“Truth is human perception.”
The owner and cook came out of the kitchen and agreed with this definition confidently. And the waitress hesitantly agreed as well.
My constant question returned often;
“How can there be more than one truth? Isn’t truth more foundational than opinion?”
The answer was;
“Truth has too many variables to define it clearly.”
At this point Chip got up shaking his head as if to say; The question is ridiculous and not worth my time. And he left.
After expressing my belief that Truth must be more than imagination, Andy explained it to me like this;
“We know now that the world has always been round, but men of the past thought it was flat and so the truth for them was that it was flat.”
So changing tactics, I asked,
“What is Fact?”
and without a hesitation Andy answered;
“The ultimate truth.”
“So!” I said; “If there is ultimate truth, anything less that that must not be truth.”
The word Ultimate indicates that truth is more concrete than opinion. If we look deep enough we can find what (ultimate) truth actually is. Therefore when something does not agree with ultimate truth, it cannot be truth.”
“What is the truth, if I drop my coffee cup to the floor; will it break?”
As long as we only TALK about a truth, it remains in the theory stage and we can both feel we are right. you say it wont, I say it will, yet neither of these are more than opinion until tested.
But when I drop my coffee cup on the floor, the truth will be revealed.
You call it ultimate truth, my truth, observed truth. You add all kinds of verbs to the word to try to define the intensity of the truth. These verbs tend to indicate at some point the truth can be known as fact. My truth may be less true than your truth, which is less true than ultimate truth?

At this point, both the cook and waitress said their heads hurt and wanted the conversation to end.
And I went home to think some more.
Is truth simply variable and therefore meaningless?
I think by nature when pressed we find that truth must be more than that.
How do I find out; “What is truth?”

I got out my dictionary, a Webster’s Collegiate 5th edition dated 1948. It said;
Truth
1. Quality or state of being true; hence:
a. Archaic. fidelity; constancy.
b. Veracity; sincerity; genuineness.
c. Agreement with that which is represented; correspondence to reality; verisimilitude.
d. Conformity to rule; exactness; correctness.
2. That which is true; that which conforms to fact or reality; that which is or is characterized by being in accord with what is, which has been, or must be; as, to seek the truth; the truths of science.

Here is my 2001 Merryman-Webster electronic dictionary:
Truth
1. Truthfulness, honesty
2. The real state of things: fact
3. The body of real events or facts: actuality
4. A true or accepted statement or proposition
5. Agreement with fact or reality: correctness.

There seems very little here to include; imagination, opinion, assumption, faith, or hope.
Truth appears to be very definitive. There are no verbs to add validity or type of truth.
‘My truth’, ‘your truth’, ‘perceived truth’ are even less than limitations on truth; the attached verb shows that the perception of the perceived truth must be less than true.
If it does not represent fact of reality, it is not truth, so to say “my truth” suggests some variation of what is actually reality, which then cannot be true.

So why do so many Americans today have such a strange view of truth?
Where do such views originate?
Recently I listened to a podcast from the apologist Ravi Zacharias (*2)
Although the podcast did not even seem to touch this topic, I was amazed to see it answer this question.

The Christian religion holds firmly to the perspective that truth by its very nature, is exclusive of all else. If ‘this’ is true, then ‘that’ is not true. “Either/Or” is the nature of truth. This is why the world sees Christianity as narrow minded, bigoted, and restricting, when in fact it is represented by all reality.
In America, all of our culture, all of our laws, all of our perspectives, have been built and successfully administered with this Either/OR approach to life.

Looking at the Hindu religion of India, they hold the view; god is everything and everything is God. From this pantheistic perspective any view is as equally correct, even if conflicting; good, bad, this or that, it is all god. In this way everything is true. It is the "This and That" approach.

I try to grant every view an opportunity to prove itself, so this perspective deserves to be honestly evaluated; after all, Hinduism has grown to become the world's third largest religion, after Christianity and Islam.Hinduism
But this perspective seems to hold water only as long as it isn’t tested in reality.
As Ravi expressed so well; “Even in India we look both ways when we cross the street, it is either me or the bus, not both.”
The incredible poverty in the streets of India side by side with the wealthy, is a clear example of this perspective in action. "I am rich, you are starving, that is Karma, therefore we should not try to change it."

But this religious perspective comes very close to the new American idea that truth is whatever you think it is.
I believe this thinking is now possible in America, and promoted by our infatuation with fantasy through TV, movies and video games. Most Americans spend a huge percentage of their lives in fantasy, where this kind of thinking cannot be proven wrong.
Nature abhors a vacuum, so this adaptation of unfamiliar views is assured, once the original faith is rejected as ours was by removing our God from our schools and our government in 1963.
Vice President Joe Biden can honestly believe that “America must spend money to keep from going bankrupt ", but tested against reality in history and practice, this idea proves to be folly. In the movies you can out run a title wave, hold your breath underwater for as long as you need, get shot at point blank by a machine gun but not get hurt, then take out your opponent with a single round from a pistol while you are tumbling for cover! In the world of the Matrix, reality as we know it means nothing, Therefore truth has no meaning either.

Once a person decides truth has nothing to do with reality, then anything is potentially possible, and any opposition is just negative! Lets try it and hope it will work, be positive!

But Americans used to know what foolishness was. And how did they know that?
Because Americans believed in the concept that there is only one truth, and we must find that truth.
This is a basic of nature, of science, of reality. Originally this was the platform and purpose for scientific discovery, to find what is true. Today the History and Science channels have been taken over by the SciFi channel.
Strangely enough, Jesus gave us our original logic when he said; “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me.” John 14:6 This is the Either/OR approach. Not unfair, just the way it is.
Reject this truth, and you reject logic. Because IF Jesus is the creator of the known universe as the bible says, (John 1:3) then rejecting him, rejects truth.
Are we seeing the evidence of this truth by this new bizarre concept of ‘pantheistic truth’ in America?

* * * * * * *

*1 The Truth Project
http://www.thetruthproject.org/ is an amazing walk through why America works. Very worth your time!
*2 I highly recommend Ravi’s podcasts for the thinking mind: Let my People Think Podcasts
http://www.rzim.org/rss/rss-lmpt.aspx

So What Happens If America Falls?

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What Makes Us Different From Other Nations?

This morning is a beautiful spring day.
After a breakfast of my choosing, I made a nice hot cup of coffee, grabbed my current book and stepped out into the sun of my small, modest “breakfast garden” to settle into my chair.
With my coffee on the little round table beside me, and the book in my lap, I closed my eyes to soak in the warmth of the morning sun and listen to the songbirds singing happily.
This is the life!
Then I found myself praying.
It wasn’t long until I was praying for the persecuted church across the sea.
As I was praying I began to wonder; What legitimate thing can I ask the almighty God to do for them?
Can I expect God to answer my prayer to provide them with food, cloths, and shelter as I have? Would I even be content with such basics?
Do I expect him to answer such a general prayer for “the persecuted church”?
Can I ask him to successfully aid them in hiding from those who would kill or mutilate them? Is there a possibility that he would miraculously end the rape of young Christian virgins? Can I ask that he keep the children from seeing their parents murdered before them, or that the parents would be preserved from knowing the agony of seeing the limbs of their children hacked off by inhuman means as told often by NPR?
Is it probable that “the persecuted church” would suddenly be freed from the prisons of the oppressors?
How do I pray for the persecuted church, and the poor, helpless, less fortunate?
Why is the Church so violently treated in the East, and Middle East, while here in the West the church lives virtually undisturbed, at peace?

And as I enjoyed my coffee, in utter security, I am forced to wonder deeply; What makes me different from them? Why do they suffer such daily horrors, while I suffer virtually nothing? Why do they live in Hell on earth, while I live in an earthly paradise?
Do we not worship the same God? (There is much suffering in the world, in this narrative I limit my questions to those believers similar to me, different only in geography.)

The answer is not found in the church itself, (the people believing in Jesus Christ) the answer is found in the environment around them.
Contrary to the unspoken beliefs of many American Christians, if a Christian is surrounded by sick people, he will most likely get sick.
If he is around healthy people, there is less sickness to catch, and he will most likely remain healthy.
Simple science.
For the most part, Christians can expect to exist in the same reality that non-Christians do.
Cause and Effect is the same across the board… for the most part.
Strangely many western Christians are foolishly ignorant of such science, believing themselves to be miraculously above it. This is an ignorant misuse of scripture.
This works in all areas of life; health, finances, knowledge, relationships, etc.
Christians begin to fail in these areas, just as non-Christians do, when they forget to implement the laws of nature relating to each area. Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,…”
This is not some spiritual hocus-pocus, this is science, this is math, it is calculable.

So what about the environment of the East and Middle East, is so different than the environment of the West, that would result in such opposite circumstances?

Just what is it that makes the West, and especially the USA privileged to somehow slip by such atrocities of life in virtually all the middle east nations, most eastern nations, and large parts of the African continent?

Answer yourself this question and you will find the right God to worship.
With few exceptions, the religious ideology of a nation’s government is the cause of its happiness, or lack thereof. All its laws are based on these ideologies. One limited exception to the above statement is the religious ideologies of more powerful neighboring nations.

World history shows a strong trend of great national effort to dominate and oppress other nations, or the idea; “What I feel is good for me, at the expense of what you feel is good for you”.
The time of historical darkness prior to America, is interestingly called the Dark Ages. In 1065 Jerusalem was taken by the Turks. Today re-written history will tell you that the King of England went to war in the Holy Land for his own glory and national endeavors. But an earnest research will show that England went to war against the Turks in an effort to defend the Holy Land from the invaders.
England was struggling with its own perversion of Christianity known as the Church of England, and so resulted their own miss-application of justice. But this began the turn, and the Dark Ages became the Middle Ages as the oppressive Catholic Church was challenged by bold Christians at a very high price. “ Foxe’s Book of martyrs” Author: John Foxe (1516-1587)

Islam, now the dominant faith in the Middle East is called the religion of peace.
What are the signs that it is rightly named?
In the Islamic faith, is the foundational principle to kill all who disagree with them.
Qur’an 9:191 “Kill the disbelievers wherever you find them” (Qur’an 5:34, 9:124, 9:29, 9:73, 9:123, 9:121, 47:4 etc. etc.) This is not some unusual one time circumstantial event, this is a fundamental obligation to all Muslims. Qur’an 8:39 “And He orders us to fight them on until there is no more tumult and faith in Allah is practiced everywhere” (Qur’an 9:39, 9:110, 4:104, 66:9 etc.)
“Jihad is an act of worship, it is one of the supreme forms of devotion to Allah. They say that Jihad is only for defense. This lie must be exposed.” Muslim author and teacher Muhammad Saeed al-Qahtani Jihad Quote
http://iisca.org/knowledge/jihad/jihad_for_allah.htm(since removed)
Islam school in Australia
http://iisca.org

In contrast, the Christian faith finds the foundational command to love your enemy;
Holy Bible Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you:…” 5:7, 5:19, 5:46,
Matthew 5:21-22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I (Jesus) say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…”
Do not kill (one of 10 foundational rules) Exodus 20:13, Proverbs 1:11
Do not lie (another of the 10) Exodus 20:16
Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty are the words:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Clearly the theme of America's religion is love the helpless and unlovable,
while the theme of Islam in the Middle East is; “Allah akbar” at the end of a sword.
"Allahu Akbar is recited on many occasions:
1 In the beginning of prayer of Hazrat Bibi Fatimah (upon whom be peace);
2 When animals are slaughtered; and
3 By the mujahids of Islam."
Meaning of Allahu Akbar
http://salmanspiritual.com/akbar.html
What is a Mujahid?
Mujahid. someone who is active and fights for Islam. A Muslim fighter. The opposite of qaideen. Definition of Mujahid
www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/glossary/term.MUJAHID.html


The God of the west is a God of love, acceptance, forgiveness, benevolence, hope, and love.
The god of the east is a god of hate, murder, suicide, oppression, and hate.

The Middle East, specifically Islam, has long given the world war, conquest, slaughter and oppression.
The West, specifically Christianity, has given the world wealth, security, peace and human dignity.

I am often confronted with many European examples that they are different forms of governments and religions, but similar to America in wealth, peace, freedom and security. This seems to show that the USA is really no different than many nations in spite of its claim to its religious reasons… doesn’t it?
Good question;
To answer that, it must be remembered; my entire Blog is dedicated to returning America to its foundations…. The same foundations that Mr. Obama has dedicated his Presidency to fundamentally change!
America is on its deathbed, and we cannot rightly evaluate its years of unquestionable greatness by its present pitiful condition.

We must also consider just where did these nations obtain their ideas of wealth, peace, freedom and security?
From America!
When America was the world dominant superpower, she did not use her power to oppress nations, or to collect tribute. She blessed the world with unsurpassed financial and political aid, she held at bay evil nations like the USSR when she could, and subdued other evil nations like Japan when other options were unavailable. Yet even then she paid for their rebuilding into nations of peaceful cohabitation with their neighbors, under their own governments!
She showed the world how to hope for more than they had, and raised the world standard of living to previously unimaginable heights!
By freeing humanity from oppression she freed their minds to create, and thus the industrial age was a result.
America’s great armament was not for her own enrichment through conquest, but the defense of the defenseless.
Si vis pacem, para bellum, Latin for: “If you want peace, prepare for war.” was the underlying mentality of her military.
The goal of Hitler was to create a master race, eliminating all others. He was “just helping evolution along” Mein Kampf, English: My Struggle, is a book by Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology.
It was America who stepped in to aid Europe in its defense.
In a very simplistic statement; It was America who found and developed the significant oil fields of the middle east, then after getting it established, offered to buy the oil from them. Petroleum Refining by William L Lefler
http://www.bookrags.com/research/oil-is-discovered-in-the-middle-eas-scit-061/

All this is but a fraction of examples showing that America, through its government, based on its faith in the Creator, had the intention of existing in conformity to the principles found in the Holy Bible. Did she always get it right? No. But the results are for the world to remember.

World peace, and lifestyle, and expectation, as we know it today, are a direct result of the influence of America.
What has the Islamic nations given the world?
We have a sea dividing the two religious influences.
This is why I sit quietly in the sun, enjoying the day in utter peace.
This is why many in nations across the sea live in sorrow, fear and destitution.
The Church also finds its quality of existence where it is, because of the spiritual authority under which it lives.

If America is to die, Europe will be like the children of the rich man who has just died.
Europe has learned to expect a fearless lifestyle, but it will dry up because the authoritative source has been removed. Even now, in her much weakened state, America is still the power that holds back the great evil of Islam in the world. Yet we see Islam, in great anticipation, now supported by the evil that sits in the seat of authority of America, beginning to embolden itself again, and the world has begun to see the results.

I sit here even now, at a time when our foundations are being “fundamentally changed” and still the principles that have made this nation so safe for so long, are able to allow me to expect my morning coffee and a good book will not be interrupted by someone I have never met, trying to kill me for reasons I do not understand.
The values that gave us this great peace are at the very foundation of this nation, that is, the faith that we are the servants of the creator, and that we will be accountable to him for what we do.
To fundamentally change this can only lead to fundamentally less than we are now.
Let the faith of the east prove itself there before we so eagerly accept their values.
By violating our foundational values, established in this land by our founders, the man masquerading as our President, the body of Congress, and the Supreme Court, have collectively and individually committed treason against the United States of America in an effort to change our foundations to those of our enemies, against the declared will of the people.

I read in scripture the opportunity for America to repent of our waywardness.
The end of America is not written in stone.
If America dies, it will not be to usher in the end times.
The ‘end times’ events are written in stone, but America can enter them on either side of right.
America has had many years of playing the wayward teen, but she has now been given the confrontation: The voted emblematic leader of this nation has declared to the world; “America is no longer a Christian nation.” And he has told us of his intent, only days before taking office; “We are only 5 days away from fundamentally changing America!”
How we enter the last days is up to us.
The time to choose is now!

Joshua 24:15 “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Memorial Day 2010

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If you are having a problem reconciling my last two posts; America the Titanic and America's Prophet, then this memorial day you must go back a few more years beyond Iwo Jima.
Lets go way back and remember those who are known for giving "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor".

Early American history shows that America has indeed had some very dark and troubling times. Any realistic hopes of victory were all but non-existent when Washington wintered his troops at Valley Forge. Not long ago, that history was presented to inspire faith, and hope, and determination in the face of impossible odds. But today, if it is presented at all, it is with the idea that Washington was an incompetent idiot, and the ultimate victory was with nothing more than a freak stroke of luck.
Yet American history is full of impossible odds, with freak strokes of luck. At some point one must realize the odds for such a string of lucky events are improbable at best. The problem with history is that it demands a conclusion.
So if we don't like the conclusion, of course the answer is… to re-write history!

Remember my post discussing Out Of Place artifacts? What? I didn’t post that one?
Hmmmm, well you go Google “OOP artifacts”.
OOPs are artifacts that do not fit our present understanding of history, but because we are so brilliant, we are certain we have the proper perspective in spite of the existence of these artifacts. Therefore we come up with all sorts of strange theories to explain them; Aliens, hoaxes, multiple realities, etc.
So how can we be most certain of knowing the truth of an event with explanations like these?
By the history that was written at the time of the event.
This is why Josephus is such a critical historian, not because he was so honest, but because he wrote his history as it happened. We have evidence of his own agenda and arrogance in his writing, but he could not have been too far off, or the Roman Government would have confronted him. Lies can least be tolerated at the point of the existing reality. So the best way to determine the truth of an historical event, is to read the writings written at that time. This is precisely why Congress writes the Congressional Record of each and every day. This is why the stenographer writes the words of the court, as it happens.
Accurate records have much power; power to evaluate truth, power to review history, power to instruct, power to learn.
Lies on the other hand also have power, but are limited to the powers that cause destruction, confusion, mistrust and ignorance.
“Reject Truth: it makes your opinions seem more plausible… right up to the wall of reality.”

Memorial Day is a day to remember, to memorialize the actions of those who have benefited us who follow after. But how can we remember something we never knew? In that case we can’t just take a moment to “flash” through the knowledge as a recap, we have to diligently search, and sift through truth from deception, to learn what these men did for us, so that on a day like today, we can remember them in truth.
In today’s world of lies and deception from the highest offices, we must be skeptical, we must find history books and documents written as close to the actual event as possible.
Next find history books with lots of original direct quotes and references.

A few books I can recommend:
"The Federalist Papers" - “an authoritative analysis of the young nation’s Constitution and an enduring classic of political philosophy.” Written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison. The Signet Classic Federalist Papers, Edited by Clinton Rossiter, is based on the original McLean edition of 1788. This edition includes the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation.
Biographies such as “Benjamin Rush” by David Barton
Reprints of original writings such as are found in;
“Lives of the signers of the Declaration of Independence” a reprint of an 1848 original
“Ethics and Early American Handbook”
Noah Webster’s “Advice to the young”
“Celebrate Liberty! Famous Patriotic Speeches & Sermons”
“The New-England Primer” America’s first and longest school book.
These are reprints of originals and distributed by wallbuilders .com
“America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations” by William J. Federer
“Original Intent the Courts, the Constitution, & Religion” by David Barton
“Samuel Adams a life” by Ira Stoll with a huge volume of original resources referenced.

It is impossible to do a lengthy review of true history in a Memorial Day blog,
My blog for the past year has been rebuilding the concepts of reason used by our founding fathers, and yet has not scratched the surface of the available, verifiable history, showing the roots of the American Experiment!

The previous Blog suggests the hope and expectation of the founders, in the face of sure destruction. They did not just imagine the God they believed in, they put their lives and fortunes and sacred honor on the line, to prove what the biblical truths revealed to us in the history of Moses. The founders gave us an experimental form of government, it is your job to remember what they gave us, so you can properly evaluate the results.
But in remembering the events, don’t forget to remember their motivation for their actions.

Is it impossible to save America?
Yes, Just as hopeless as it was for the pitifully destitute American armies to defeat the mighty British troops!
"...With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" Matthew 19:26 American History has proven that true many times.

This memorial day I urge you to seriously remember the cause and sacrifice of the men who secured to us this miraculous nation of freedom for all!
"Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Illustrated" by Jack E. Levin