The later (Our GENEALOGY) is very easy thanks to TNG. But the blog on the other hand… well that’s a different story. How do I make one blog… my blog… stand out from the over 112 million (Dec 2007) other blogs? I’ve been researching that question for a little while now….

In my research I’ve come across a truly wonderful little book… Designing for the Social Web (Voices That Matter) by Joshua Porter… great book!

Mr. Porter points out that he’s discovered that the most popular sites (e.g., Amazon, eBay, etc.) allow users to interact sociably with people, primarily in the search for…. drum roll… TRUTH… believe it or not. I was shocked at this, since that’s my #1 goal, that is to find and share TRUTH. In the book it’s emphasized that a person’s desire for the truth is evidenced by his/her use of recommendations made by real people as to the seller’s honesty and/or the product’s quality.

Personally, I think there’s a dichotomy in that while we want truth in the above respect, we do NOT want (for the most part) to hear TRUTH in regards to our personal decisions. My own thought on this is that we (a) do not want to be responsible for our decisions, and (b) do not want to admit – even to ourselves – that we are or can be wrong.

For the record… as all those who know me can attest… I can be and often am… W-R-O-N-G… but my rightness or wrongness has nothing whatsoever to do with the truthfulness about an action or thought of mine.

I’ve heard innumerable times over the last 10 years or so that “evangelical Christians are intolerant”… that’s absolutely not true… it’s actually a lie, because it is said with an intent to mislead people… How can I say it’s in error? … Easy… because by definition to be intolerant means to not allow another person to think, say, and/or do something in particular. I, on the other hand, completely (100%) support and applaud each and every person’s ability to make their own choices about anything! You, I, and every single other person on this planet have an innate right to make their/our own decisions.

It does not matter at all that we make different choices, not a bit! While in some cultures, countries, and/or societies a person’s right to choose is physically suppressed, I am personally willing  to fight to the death and to do everything I can to ensure we all maintain the right to choose, to think, believe, and behave differently. I respect YOU period! As a human being, the same “being” as I. You are valuable! You do not have to agree with me to have value as a human being; I did not create you… you come from the same source I did… for that reason I can respect you even if we make different choices… I can learn things from you, yesterday, today, and tomorrow, primarily from the differences that exist between us.

BUT… there still exists TRUTH… absolute TRUTH.. and my saying that does not impact your ability to make a choice at all. When one looks to Amazon customer recommendations or eBay seller ratings they are acknowledging that truth does indeed exist.

For one to say that I may not say something is right or wrong… is to strip me of my freedom of speech, that is to not allow me to say what I think… that is real intolerance!

It’s interesting to note that one definition of the word “know” according to Merriam-Webster, I. (1996, c1993). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary includes:

2 a : to be aware of the truth or factuality of : be convinced or certain of.
It is also the root of the word “knowledge”, which begins several of its definitions with the word “fact”

2 a (1) : the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association.

I think it would be somewhat interesting (at least to myself) to do a study of the words that demonstrate our society’s belief in the existence of truth and our ability to know it… but, I’ll leave that for another time… maybe… sounds a little dull even to me.

Have you ever told a lie or known that someone else has told a lie? A lie is the opposite of a truth. The fact that you knew it was a lie, indicates you also knew the truth.

Our (mankind’s) efforts in the sciences and technologies are all based on our ability to “know” the truth about something. History and Law are both based on our ability to know the facts (truth) about something that specifically did or did not happen. I could go on in this vein ad infinitum, or perhaps ad nauseum

There is so much evidence in our daily lives predicated upon our ability “to know truth” that to deny it in general would defy credulity.

When you really try to wrap your mind around the concepts of (1) no truth and/or (2) if there is truth we can’t know it, our thoughts become like a pretzel and somewhat nonsensical. Why? Because there are absolute truths and we can know some of them. Note: I do not claim that we (collectively or individually) can know ALL truth.

Jesus said, “… you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” John 8:32

I can just imagine the enjoyment with which two teenage sisters looked forward to the day, they probably had it all planned out. Their father was going to let them have the car for the day… after they dropped him off at work, they sped away eager to get started. Perhaps they planned to go shopping, or in our 70+ weather, maybe they were going to the beach. Their plans for today no longer matter… heart-breakingly and tragically, shortly after they dropped their dad off at work, they and another young driver where all dead.
Scripture tells us in Hebrews 9:27,

It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment…

This judgement is not about what we’ve done to save ourselves. If we could do that, Christ wouldn’t have needed to come and die. It’s not about giving to the poor, feeding the hungry or homeless, following tradition or rituals, nor even about being a “good person.” This judgment is only about what we, as individuals, have done with the Christ.

We owe a sin debt to God (the debt of not being perfect by our choices) and a final choice…. pay the debt ourselves (we never can) or accept what Christ did on the cross as the only payment acceptable by God. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

What about you? Are you ready to meet this appointment that specifically for you someday, someplace is already scheduled? Don’t you think it’s going to be the most important appointment of your life? None of these 3 young people, nor their parents, had any clue, early this morning about what lay ahead for them. None of us do. Many, many, many of us put off making a decision concerning Christ till after we’ve done this or that; stopped this or that; or somehow became more deserving. But, it honestly doesn’t work that way.

I strongly encourage you to look at scripture for yourself. Specifically:

Romans 3:10 – There is none good, no, not one…
Romans 6:23 – The wages of sin is death… but the free gift of God is eternal life

If you will honestly ask God to reveal the TRUTH to you He promises to do exactly that.

I usually don’t make “resolutions” I find them to be a tad pithy, if you know what I mean. “Lose weight”, “be more organized”, “quit smoking”, blah, blah, blah…. well I DID quit smoking, but not on January 1… I waited a reasonable length of time, till February 13th, and then I quit… my rationale behind all this is I hate to make promises that I know (at least deep down) that I am not going to keep.

For me, achieving a goal is a mind set. Being your classic Type A, Obsessive-Compulsive person I have to make up my mind to do something and then everything, and I do mean everything, except the achieving of that goal takes second place.

One side of this is that those who know me will tell you that when I set my mind to something I get it done. Unfortunately for my family and friends this often means that I pay them less attention, do fewer considerate things (such as phone calls) during those “focused” times than they rightfully deserve or than I should, simply because I really do love them. I don’t have time for them since all my time is going to achieving something else. It also means not being patient with strangers who get in my way, such as on the freeway; after all, what I have to do (where I’m going) is very important.

Look again, if you re-read the above more closely you’ll see it’s all about “me”. Fits in perfectly with our world as it is today, doesn’t it? The love yourself folks are probably out their thinking… “yeah.. right on”… or something to that effect. The attitude that one has to “take care of oneself first, because no one else will” is a prevailing ideology today.

The TRUTH is that it is absolutely the WRONG approach! Approach to what? To everything… life… love… people. And, I AM WRONG when I do that – shoving everyone else aside for the attainment of some goal of mine. But, it also includes things like getting angry with other drivers when they get in my way, which I think of as “them not considering where I have to go and when I have to be there.” In actuallity, it’s me who’s not doing any considering of others at that point.

It’s supposed to be all about LOVE. Not the “love” of the 60’s but true unmitigated love for others, that’s what should be always paramont in our lives. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus responded that “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.” Mark 12:30. He went on to say, “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” John reports that Jesus also said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Jesus did as he taught… he laid down His life for us. His Father loved us too, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.” John 3:16.

So this year, I am making a “resolution”, actually two… even though I know I’m not going to get either right, I am going to try… My first resolution is to Love God with ALL that I am and my second is that I will love you more than myself. It doesn’t matter who “you” are… you are my neighbor (the internet’s made it a very small world). Like I said I know I won’t get this perfectly correct, no matter how hard I try… but it’s worth trying… and if I fail, I’m going to try again, and again… This includes being more patient and thoughtful of others. After all, isn’t that what it really means to love? And, I want to remember to treat other drivers as I want to be treated. And when I fail, please remind me that I promised.

There are primarily two questions I’d like to discuss concerning truth:
1. Is there such a thing as “absolute” truth or is everything relative?
2. If there is a real truth, can one “know” it?

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines truth to be: (1) the state of being the case: FACT; (2) the body of real things, events, and facts: ACTUALITY; (3) the property of being in accord with fact or reality: TRUE. When you think about it, there are quite a few words in our vocabulary that have to do with the idea of TRUTH. In addition to those just mentioned there are also: reality, certainty, veracity, lies, untruths, etc. That there are words defining this concept and its opposite (i.e., lies) indicates that there are some who do believe TRUTH to be an understandable (i.e., knowable) concept.

Today however, there are many who think it’s relative as to what an individual believes. As if, ones mind (where beliefs are held) is the controlling factor. I’ll bring up “relativism” on another day. Just let me ask you a couple of questions….

If I believe hard-enough that the grass is purple… can that belief actually change the color of the grass? Could my belief negate the effects of chlorophyll (the green photosynthetic coloring matter of plants)? Because it’s a trivial question in that there are no consequences of believing the grass to be purple, you might say that it’s purple if I want it to be.

What if the question were instead… If I believe hard-enough that I could fly… I climb to the top of the Empire State Building to live my faith… can my belief really make me able to fly? What if I took someone else (a child perhaps) with me… what would you say then? Probably (and rightly that I was crazy…. perhaps I’d be locked up before I could hurt someone else. Why?

Because the TRUTH of the matter is that my belief had nothing to do with whether or not I could fly and in TRUTH I can not fly.
Next time, I’ll discuss whether or not we can “know” truth… I’d love to hear your comments (proper English please) on this.