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“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.” – Thoreau Aristotle wrote, “to say that what is, ... is, and what is not, ... is not, is true.” This has never been more appropriate in politics and religion. Because, by its very nature self-deception can be hard to distinguish from the truth, and it often arises from the very bed you have been born. We know Truth can lead to meaningful action, truth has instrumental value. But truth also has intrinsic value. Given the choice between a life of unlimited pleasure and a genuine human life with all its pain and suffering, most people opt for the latter. Socrates says that “aletheia” (Greek, ‘truth’) is a compression of the phrase “a wandering that is divine.” Truth and God are often spoken in the same breath, and truth has also been linked with concepts such as justice, power, and freedom. Truth is a property of thoughts and ideas but more aptly is contrived of beliefs and assertions. But to believe or assert something is not enough to make it true, or the assertion that to believe that it is not true. To be a successful liar one must track the truth in order to conceal it, and once successful has no regard or sensitivity for the truth despite what his or her audience believes. Philosophers have theorized that thought or language is true if it corresponds to an independent reality. Meaning their theory of truth, the mind does not perceive reality as it is, but only as it can, filtering, distorting, and interpreting it. Today it is being argued that truth is constructed by social opinions and cultural processes, to say nothing of individual sexual desires and racial dispositions. Unfortunately, IMHO, any compassion in a culture that is void of the Gospel, is a commitment to the costly practice of sacrificing eternal truths in the midst of intellectual, moral, and philosophical battles that's based on arbitrary values. In the coherence of this theory of truth, arbitrary values can only be true if it is mandated into a larger social order. Acceptance just simply becomes an attitude, a way of existing in the world. “Arbitrary Values” imposed on culture can have a devastating impact. We are seeing it played out first hand. If people are left with no eternal basis for meaning or truth, or hope in life, and instead have embraced their two impoverished values; the pursuit of their own personal peace (protected space) and acquiring affluence. Personal peace means: I want to be separated and undisturbed from any invasion from differing opinons and charity towards the poor, sick and homeless is the Government’s responsibility, not mine. Affluence simply means the acquisition of things and more things, and deceived that success is measured by the abundance of things, eventually they become prisoners, creatures of comfort in our own cells, chained by greed. Christians were persecuted in Rome because they would only worship the infinite-personal God and not Caesar. They had an absolute that govern their lives, and, whereby to judge the Roman state and its actions of tyranny. If there are no absolutes by which to judge a society, then society itself is the absolute. Furthermore, authoritarianism remains as the only humanistic social option. Because society still has to be led by an elite: One man or an elitist group giving authoritative arbitrary absolutes. John 8:32, Jesus said to the Jews: "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
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Francis Schaeffer, Christian theologian (January 30, 1912 - May 15, 1984) foresaw the attack on Christianity in the postmodern breakdown of any basis for moral absolutes. One result is what Schaeffer called “arbitrary absolutes” imposed on society by a class of professional elites. Their intent would be world domination, plain and simple, executed through fear, terror, and ultimately the ballot box, masquerading as “Democracy”.
However, western-style democratic principles are built on the remnants of Christian moral order. Meaning, the Founding Fathers knew self-government under God’s government tempered the potentially harmful effects of a pure democracy that could be manipulated by evil men and women. These same elites claim that “democracy” will cure all of society’s ills. But, what they really want is an authoritarian style social and political order, whose goal is to defeat any and all voices of heresy according to their “New World Order”, and primarily, that of the Christian conservatives. These so-called infidels disparately need “deprogramming”. Using Gestapo-style tactics to silence them on social media and other platforms, and if that doesn’t work, they will resort to closing their businesses to accomplish their goals. Today, we’re beginning to see this new Democracy in the hands of these elitists is perilous. In the end, they will manipulate the democratic process to deny the democratic process to the masses, now that they have gain power. Sane people are surveying the landscape of America right now and wondering, what the hell has happened to this great country? Like a bad pre-quel to a Mad Max movie this country is divided, and not since the days that led up to the Civil War, neither side is willing to stand down both claiming moral superiority.
And thus the battle lines have been drawn. And like similar orations of 160 years ago, some claim that this is God’s winnowing of America — a time when God looks down at America and decides He doesn’t like what He sees. Therefore, He is allowing a time of great testing to separate the good from evil, the worthwhile from worthless, the usable from unusable. But, a discussion of GOD's interventin into human affairs is a subject for another time. However, using an over-used and often quoted assessment: "these are the best of times and these are the worst of times" is very appropriate for these times we are in. The coronavirus; the collapse of the U.S. economy; the rise of the thug forces on city streets; the calls for defunding of police, leading to eventual destruction of law and order; the defacement and removal of our nation’s most symbolically important monuments and statues; the widespread looting of businesses; the targeted shootings of police officers; the mandatory masking of American faces; the opening of doors for mass mail-in voting, meaning mass voter fraud that favors one political party over another — these are all instances and examples of strife, struggle, trial and testing the country has faced and continues to face. We are witnessing the systematic dismantling and elimination a two-party political government. We have had a one party majority in the past, but those were 2-year anomalies. Now, we have one party in complete control, a new agenda that is will initiating new procedures that will prevent any opposition to their agenda permanently. They not only desire to change our future, but rewriting our history and heritage. Few would argue that the Trump administration had been anything but smooth sailing. But he didn’t start the fire. He simply outed what’s been a burning ember for some time — but such a slow burning ember that its heat has gone largely unnoticed. Or, ... more to truth, largely ignored. We are moving away from the greatness of our fore-fathers. We have turned away from the source of their greatness. We’re paying the price. This country, was founded on a core principle of rights coming from God, not government, opened its figurative doors with a pledged that started with the very first elected-representative Assembly in Jamestown, to plant the first colony and govern in harmony under the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith. That same spirit of self-governance, determination to self-rule and recognition of higher heavenly authority that led to the forging of America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It was those same motivations that influence the creation of our nation’s first governing document, that etched in marble the core facet of America’s greatness: that individual rights are granted by God, and government has no authority to strip them away. But God-given isn’t just a blessing. It’s a responsibility. If Americans want a country where human rights come from above, at birth, then Americans must cherish and uphold the ideals established by our fore-fathers. |
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