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Hidden truth

Truth Test

Oct 8, 2018

Every day we are called upon to judge the accuracy of the messages we hear and see. One TV news network tests political ads and mailers and then gives a grade (A-F) for their truthfulness. One recent mailer was graded “F” for its false claims. Living in a democratic nation, we enjoy freedom of speech, but that means people have the freedom to stretch the truth. That makes it extremely difficult for citizens to sift through the muddle and get at the truth.

In high school, our class learned about “Fallacies in Reasoning.” We then perused newspaper articles to find examples of these fallacies. It made a huge impression upon me. One of the fallacies in reasoning was called, “Everybody’s doing it” or the bandwagon fallacy, which suggests that we should accept a certain idea as truth because the majority think that way. But we know that theory is suspect because our mothers taught us, “Would you jump off a bridge just because everybody else is doing it?” You probably said that to your children! Another fallacy is attacking the person instead of answering the argument.

We have heard in recent years that senior adults are particularly vulnerable to phone and email scams because of their kindness, trust and generosity. So, how do we find the truth?

This is not a comprehensive list but hopefully offers some principles:

  1. Is the message clear or is it veiled? One religious flyer I received was so mushy sweet, it sounded like Scripture but not quite. It sounded spiritual, somewhat, but the teaching was not clear. Jesus’ words are clear. He is truth.
  2. Is the message lasting, or has the story changed with each telling? Detectives know when a defendant keeps changing their story, truth is missing.
  3. Is there a sigh of relief? Does the message make sense? Jesus said, “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
  4. Compare the message to what you already know is true.  My friend is a banker. We asked him how he recognizes counterfeit bills. He said that all day long he handles the authentic bills—100s, 50s, 20s, 10s, 5s, etc. He knows the feel of the authentic, so then he can discern the counterfeit. Likewise, when we keep looking at the One who is Truth, then we learn to discern the genuine from the deceptive.

Truth will ultimately overcome; but for now we have to weigh what we hear, say a prayer for wisdom, and ask God to bring the truth to light.

-Written by Chaplain Sherree Lane