What is Truth?

Pilate's question to Jesus in John 18:38 is certainly relevant to this political season.
     John 18:38a  Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

Everyone running for office loudly proclaims that they are telling the truth, but sad experience teaches us that this is most often not the case. In one case this weekend, California Democratic Party chair John Burton may have told more of the truth than he intended when he accused the Republicans of using Joseph Goebbels "Big Lie" tactic.  For those of you that don't recall your German history, Goebbels was the Nazi's propaganda minister, and was famous for his tactic for telling the Big Lie. If you tell it loud enough and long enough, people will believe anything. And indeed, Goebbels was able to convince the Jews to voluntarily move into the ghettos and get on the trains. They gave up without a fight because they believed the big lie.  

In the case of our Democrat party official, I think this is a case of him accusing the opposition of exactly what he is planning to do. It was a Freudian slip, as it were, revealing more about what he is planning to do than what the Republicans are actually a doing.

But the real question is "what is truth" and how do we know it when we hear it? I think another of Jesus' admonitions is helpful here.  In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us to examine a person's fruit, not his words alone.

Matthew 7:16-17
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

That is, what is it that they are doing, or have done, not just what are they promising to do.  This matches well with the scientific method as well.  A common saying among scientists is, that if a theory doesn't match up to experimental observation, then it is wrong.  It doesn't matter how good and reasonable it sounds, if it doesn't match real world results, then it is false.

In the matter of politics, truth is a little harder to discern, but there still is plenty of real world evidence if you just examine things closely:
- How many Americans are employed now? (and don't just look at the official government unemployment figures which are adjusted for all sorts of factors)
- How much is your house and 401k worth now?
- How many babies are bing born into intact families with both father and mother?
- How many babies are being aborted?
- What is the graduation rate at your local high school?
- What is the total American debt? How about the deficit in the current budget (if there actually were one passed by the Senate!)

There are plenty of other questions that you can ask, but you get the idea. Look at the facts and ask yourself how the various candidates have affected them, for better or worse. You've got to look past the political rhetoric and look at the actual track record of the various candidates.  Don't be taken in by the big lie. And especially don't judge a candidate just by his race or his party. Be wise, Americans!

Matthew 10:16
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
               Jesus