What is Truth

I was speaking to a friend of mine, the other day. We were talking about truth and she was pretty straightforward, when she said, "The truth is, we're born and we die and that's it." She went on to say that we had no being, or conscience, before we were born and we will have none, after we die. Now, let me kind of qualify this statement she made, so you will understand better as to why she said it. She is struggling in her life. Just like millions of other people, she can hardly make it in this world, financially. She doesn't even have reliable transportation. Probably doesn't get enough to eat and it may not be nutritious food. I'm sure she has medical problems, possibly her family as well. In other words, she is destitute. Not only financially, but physically, emotionally and spiritually as well. She could not understand why she has to go through what she is going through.

My immediate reaction, to her comment was shock. I didn't know what to say, at that moment. Soon after, we ended our discussion and I felt kind of bad, because I could not, at that time, say anything, to make her feel better. As time passed, I could not get my friend, and her dilemma out of my head. Eventually, she had my complete attention. I was not going to be able to move on, until I could come up with a better definition of truth, than she had.

So, I thought and pondered and prayed and thought and pondered some more, until I finally came up with my definition of truth. And that's just what it is, "my definition." I have no idea what anyone else thinks of it, but this is what I will live by.

In the world, especially in legal matters, truth is facts; and just the facts. It is no surprise that a lot of innocent people are imprisoned, today, because of "just the facts." I said to myself, "There has got to be something more to truth than fact." Then, I thought that the truth must be a good thing, because God cannot lie. "Why can't God lie?" I asked myself. Then it came to me that God knows everything. He doesn't depend just on the facts. Or should I say, "The facts of the matter at hand." He takes everything into consideration. Not just the present, but the past also. Not just this mortal life, but our premortal life with Him, before we lived on this earth. He gets His understanding, not just from the facts, but from all influences that may have caused the facts, to be what they are.

What I learned is that God's truth, which, in my opinion, is the only truth, includes more than mere fact. I think I can safely say that God is perfect. Everything He does, He does perfectly...especially in His judgment, or how He perceives things. (Remember that, He has set the perfect example, for us to live by.) He sees things differently, because He has a "Perfect knowledge of all things." So, my definition of truth is, "To have a perfect knowledge of EVERYTHING.

You may have seen the movie, or read the book, "The Butterfly Effect". This suggests that actions taken here, can and do have an effect in other parts of the world. For instance, you may be walking in town or through the mall and you meet someone. You say, hi, have a nice conversation, say good bye and he leaves feeling better than he did, before you met. Because you caused him to feel better, he does something nice for someone else and this just snowballs until maybe hundreds or thousands of people feel better, just because you stopped and had a nice conversation, with this strange man. Kind of like the movie, "Pay It Forward". Likewise, if you said something to make the man worse, that could snowball, as well.

This is where the truth lies. Because God has a perfect knowledge of all things, He has the real and only truth. Because the judicial system does not have a perfect knowledge of all things, innocent people go to prison. Because we do not and cannot have a perfect knowledge of all things, in this life, especially other people, we are more prone to make poor judgments, concerning them. If someone says or does something to us that hurts our feelings or makes us feel bad, we may make the judgment to be angry, not consider him a friend or worse, tell a lot of people what he did to us. When, in fact, this man may be feeling bad, because he had a flat tire on the way to work or he may be going through some sever financial difficulties or a bitter divorce or maybe his wife or close friend just died. Because we don't know this person, we can't and don't know anything about him or what all of his circumstances are.

It is true, however, that he shouldn't have done or said what he did and, ultimately, he is responsible for it. But, if we knew everything about this man, what he's going through, what influences he's had throughout his life, we could understand him better and maybe show a bit, or a lot, more compassion toward him. This is how God judges us.

I think this is the problem my friend is having. She's going through all of life's problems, not knowing why and she makes a snap or irrational judgment on something she knows very little about. I think it would benefit us more, if we seek out more of the truth, before we make any judgments too soon.