What is Truth? Discourse in America
I was educated in the liberal arts tradition of public discourse, and I was trained in the scientific method. Both of these depend on all parties starting with a set of facts, or observations, and an agreed upon set of rules. With this foundation, you can argue either for or against the theory being proposed, but without this foundation you don't have a discussion, you just have an argument. In America today, I think we have lost the art of polite debate. George Orwell predicted this when he described a society in his book "1984" in which the meaning of words were reversed so that the people couldn't even think rationally about the issues of the day, never mind debate them in an intelligent and friendly manner. In “1984”, the "Ministry of Truth" was the propaganda arm of the government, much like the main stream press today. So if we can not even depend on the words being used, how can we know "what is truth?"
I have been very disturbed by the political discourse in this current campaign season. Much of it I have written off as "just politics", but lately I've been disturbed by the many lies being propagated against a local man that I've know, at least by reputation, for many years, who has been nominated for a high office. The arguments used to oppose his nomination do not line up with the facts of the matter, which are known to all in this community who have observed his lengthy career in public service in this community and state. How can you stand up for truth when the opposition refused to agree on the actual facts of the matter?
One critic, I encountered online, stated that the facts that I stated could not be true because I am a “straight, white, christian male”. What do race and gender have to do with the truth or falsehood of historical facts, you might ask? But I will acknowledge that religion may have some bearing on perception of truth. I can’t speak for all religions, but the Judaeo/Christian tradition the only religious tradition that I am aware of that encourages one to ask the question “what is truth”. This was the exact question the Pilot asked Jesus during his trial, described in the gospel of John 18:38. Jesus was not disturbed by the question in the slightest, but gave him an answer! In fact, a diligent search of the Bible will enable anyone to discover the answer to the question “what is truth”.
It is those in our society, who have rejected the Judaeo/Christian foundation of our society, who have trouble defining truth. We see this in scripture also. In his letter to the Romans, Paul discussed those who “exchanged the truth of God for a lie”, and describes their fait in great detail. So we can see that the nature of people hasn’t really changed all that much in the last 2000 years, there are still those who seek the truth, and those who reject the truth, and even refuse to believe that their is a truth!
My plea then, to those who don’t understand me, or agree with me, is to at least be as open to discussion as those ancient greeks who congregated on Mars Hill to discuss the issues of the day. In the book of Acts, chapter 17, we see where Paul was able to debate with them. Not all agreed with him, but some among them were persuaded by his arguments and came to believe in God, as Paul did. But the starting place is to acknowledge that there is in fact objective truth, and we must begin by asking “what is truth?”.
John 18:38a Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?”...
Rom 1:25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen
Act 17:16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.
Act 17:20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” 21 (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
