Truth

Truth.

Where do I even start? I mean, honestly. That wasn’t said for show, I really don’t know where to begin.

First, let’s define truth. That’s always a safe place to begin. What is truth? I say truth is reality. Truth is what we know to be real, correct, and naturally following from other instances. Logical.

Let’s see what good ol’ Dictionary.com says:

Truth: the true or actual state of a matter; conformity with fact or reality;

Okay, so that’s pretty consistent with the definition I presented.

Now we get to the deep part. If you define truth simply as above, that’s not too difficult. But then we get into the famous logical fallacy:

“Well, that may be true for you, but not for me.”
“I think everyone should find his own truth.”
“Truth is all relative.”

*buzzer sound*

I’m sorry; come again?

Truth is not relative. Truth does not differ from person to person. You cannot find “your own” truth. There is only truth, and it is true for you and everyone else. Truth is one of the black and white things in life. Either something is true—and true for everyone—or it is false—and false for everyone.

Of course, then we get into the matter of finding truth. If there is only one truth for every question, what is it? How do we find it?

Well, let’s take a walk through history.

Originally, of course, truth came from God. People went to God for everything, and he gave them truth.

Of course, that got old eventually. People began to wander away from God and look for truth in other places. Why believe in some invisible superhero in the sky when you can just look around the world and find truth for yourself?

But, there was still only one truth to be believed, and that started to hurt some peoples’ feelings. The artistic world was evolving into more abstract concepts and artists like Picasso painted “as they really saw the world”. This opened the gateway for some interesting ideas.

People began to try to find “their own truth”. Truth became relative, hippies reigned ;) Drugs became an answer. LSD was the golden truth. People thought that it would help them find the truth inside themselves.

Of course, the golden years of LSD were fairly short lived, and people reverted mostly back to their old ways.

Lately, truth has become a relative term once again. Right and wrong have been blurred. Good and evil barely exist anymore in the minds of today’s citizens.

Maybe you’re nodding vigorously and going, “Yes, YES! Truth IS relative!” or maybe you were like me and your eyes are bugging and you’re going, “Good and evil relative? How is that even a possibility?”

However, now that God has been taken out of the equation, how we define truth? How do we determine right and wrong? How do we decide what is good and what is evil?

People do.

So, people can find the ultimate truth? By themselves?

Oh, no, of course not.

So it’s a good thing that’s not what America is looking for.

People aren’t looking for the ultimate truth anymore, because they’ve decided there’s no such thing.

“Well, that may be true for you, but not for me.”
“I think everyone should find his own truth.”
“Truth is all relative.”

This is great. This is awesome. How easy is this?? I can lie and cheat and steal and it’s all okay because that’s what’s true, what’s right, what’s good for me. We can all have our own truths. They might be totally different from each other, but it’s all chill dude, because there’s no such thing as truth anyway. We’re just making it up as we go along.

Abortion might be wrong for you, but it might be right for me.
Oh, you can believe in Global Warming if you want to. It can be true for you, just not for me.
Maybe you see calling down demons as evil, but I believe it’s my calling.

Right and wrong. *shrug* Whatever you feel is right for you.
Truth and falsehood. *smile* Oh, you just pick and chose! I’ll accept your decision as your own.
Good and evil. *wink* There’s not really a right and wrong answer here. It’s all relative.

…

Let’s go back to the beginning. What is truth?

The true or actual state of a matter.

That doesn’t sound negotiable to me. Truth is what is right and what is not. That’s black and white. Truth is black and white. That’s why it’s called TRUTH. If it’s not black and white, then they have this cool new word called OPINION that you can use.

So if right and wrong, true and false, good and evil are absolutes, who decides what they are?

THE GOVERNMENT!

Haha, just kidding.

Well, who? You? Me? Seriously, the government?

Well, who tells you what truth is? Who tells me what truth is? Who tells the government what truth is?

And then who tells the tellers of you? Of me? Of the government?

And who tells the tellers of the tellers?

And back…
And back…
And back…

WHAT IS TRUTH?

HOW DO WE GET TRUTH?

WHO IS THE FINAL AUTHORITY?

WHERE CAN WE LEARN WHAT’S REAL?

WHERE IS THE UNIVERSAL?

WHERE IS THE UNIVERSAL TRUTH OF ALL THESE PARTICULAR THINGS?

Just like the definition of truth, let’s go back to the beginning.

Yep, you probably called it.

God. God tells us what the universal, the ultimate truth is.

I saw that eye roll and lip curl. I saw that disgusted look away from the computer. I saw that click to another window because you refuse to deal with closed-minded, religious idiots like me.

Well, since I’m not closed minded, let me ask you:

If truth doesn’t come from God, where does it come from?

Fishing

Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

Taking a Stand: The Monster Unleashed :D

Some of you may recall a blogger named JT Norlander who commented on Alex's post during Followers Say. He did not seem to think I was firm enough about my position against homosexuality. He suggested on his blog that I should "take a stand".

Those of you who know me in person: try not to laugh out loud XD

One thing I've had to be very careful about in my life is how I come across to people. When I research something and form an educated opinion, my opinions are, if you'll pardon the reference to Mulan, written in stone. I have absolutely no problem whatsoever standing up for myself and my beliefs. I frequently have to run my comments by someone else to make sure I am not completely blowing holes in what other people are saying.

Some people might call it having a temper, but I prefer to think of it as being "strong-willed". *smirks* All good training for law school, right? XD

So, just to be make it clear that I am very much a True Christian, let me run through the 11 basic beliefs we've covered on Carpe Noctem.

1. The New America: America is falling. Our founding priciples are crumbling, personal freedoms are slowly being taken away.

I thought the "New America" would be decades from now. I thought the big changes and awful things would come later.

I was wrong.

The New America is here. It is now.

America is going to fall, and when she does, who is going to pick her back up? People who are educated and persuasive. People who are good thinkers and people who can use logic.

When America falls, we will need LEADERS. Leaders with good ideas, principles and morals who can build America back up to the nation she was meant to be.

Plenty of people have good ideas, principles and morals, though. Most of them will not be able to help. Do you know why?

Because they don't know how to think, how to write, how to persuade.

It's a very basic concept, one that can be good or bad.

Winners, leaders, are not chosen because of their outstanding character. Not really. They are chosen because they know how to persuade people.

End of mini rant.

Controversial, extremist, and offensive point: When America falls, classically educated homeschoolers will rise to power because they know how to think, use logic, persuade, speak publically, and articulate their ideas well.

2. Feminism: It's not a dirty word. Feminism is not a sin. It can be pretty stupid, but it's not a sin.

Girls are just as smart as guys, but, face it, WE'RE NOT SUITED FOR THE NFL.

The whole attitude of Girls-Can-Do-ANYTHING-Guys-Can-Do-So-HAH attitude is getting really old and is frankly not true.

Girls and guys were made differently, so instead of pretending to be guys, let's celebrate the difference, shall we?

3. Discrimination: Racial discrimination is a terrible thing, a definite no-no. Discrimination, however, is not a bad thing.

Discrimination: to note or observe a difference; distinguish accurately

Is that wrong? Nope. When chosing a babysitting for your three year old, are you going to chose the tidy girl who make straight As and is always smiling, or the girl wearing black lipstick cussing her brains out at a stranger on the street?

Discrimination. Not bad in itself, just where we point it.

4. Global Warming: Bite me. You can tell me global warming is true, BLAH BLAH BLAH, but the HARD, COLD, FREAKIN' FACT is that it's

NOT.

Sorry. Do you research. All the big-name weather guys are telling you the same thing: LOOK AT THE EVIDENCE, PEOPLE. GLOBAL WARMING IS FAKE, FAKE, FAKE.

There is NOTHING WRONG WITH OUR ATMOSPHERE in the long run. This is a PHASE.

I've said this a bunch, and I'll say it again. It's a hoax. Do your reasearch.

5. Weird vs. Normal: It's all so relative that there's really no such thing.

6. Being Great: C'mon, you scaredy cat. DO SOMETHING. BE MISUNDERSTOOD. DARE TO BE GREAT.

7. Terrorists/War: Can't we just live and let live?

To put it simply, NO.

Now, some people say that we should stop fighting the terrorists. Leave them alone, they say. Live and let live.

I'm fine with that. You're probably fine with that. Most people (serial killers not included) are good with that.

Except the terrorists.

THEY WANT TO KILL US. It's part of their religion. Their Bible explicitely says "KILL ALL THE NON-MUSLIMS!"

Yay, peace. Peace is good. But I think for peace to work, both sides have to agree to NOT KILL EACH OTHER.

I am all for peace. Really. As much as I enjoy stirring up trouble and debating, world peace is a wonderful that I want us to have! I think it would be WONDERFUL if we could live in harmoney with the Muslims. Some of them are probably really great people.

But as long as they are bombing America, it is America's job to fight back.

America is not "attacking" the terrorists. It is purely self-defense.

8. Articulacy: Ah, articulacy. The lost art. Let's think. If people were all articulate and persuasive, what could we achieve...?

We could paint picture in the air with our words!

We could solve disputes in half the time.

We could skip all the tedious daily arguments.

We could persuade people to do all kinds of things.

We could make people understand us.

We could talk our way up the corporate ladder.

We could charm the most uncharmable character.

We could rise to infinite power!

So, what are you waiting for? Get out a dictionary and learn to talk.

9. Going Green: Don’t get me wrong, I am all for keeping Earth alive for as long as possible, especially considering I live here. But the whole concept of “going green” has gotten SO ANNOYING. I am getting a little fed up with the whole GAHHH!!!-DID-YOU-JUST-THROW-THAT-CAN AWAY-THAT-IS-RECYCLABLE-MATERIAL!!!!!! thing. It’s really starting to get on my nerves.

The whole world is “going green”, which is a fine thing, just not when every time I open a magazine they’re screaming “secrets” about how to go even GREENER than we already are. It’s in children’s programs, even! Entire episodes of Curious George have been dedicated to making sure kids know they’re killing trees with every drawing they create.

Everyone already knows about being green. Do we have to keep dedicating entire episodes and magazine issues to the movement? Just let it sit for a while. Bring it up again for the next generation.

If we really wanted more “green” tips, we could Google it.

10. Evolution: *HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA*

*wipes tears from eyes* *gasp*

Okay, sorry. I'm not even going to go into this. If you look at your facts, you'll come to the same conclusion. If you look at the facts and don't, there is something wrong with you.

11. Homosexuality: It's bad. It's against God. It's a choice.

Line of Logical Reasoning (this will only go for those who proclaim themselves Christians):

All sin is a choice.
Homosexuality is a sin.
Therefore, homosexuality is a choice.

And it's that simple.

Hopefully this reitteration of my beliefs has helped you guys. JT, congratulations on unleashing the monster ;)