“The Lord is near to all who call upon him in truth.”
(Psalm 145:18)
The Biblical origin of Truth: The Hebrew Scriptures attest that God is the source of all truth. Psalm 119:90 reads, “Through all generations, God’s truth endures. In Jesus Christ, the whole of God’s truth has been made manifest as Pilate found out. In the interchange between Jesus and Pilate, Jesus says, ““The reason I was born, the reason why I came into the world, is to testify to the truth” (John 18:37).
The Nature of Truth: the property of being in accord with fact or reality; a true statement is one that aligns with or accurately reflects the facts of the real world (Dictionary). According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (2468), truth is uprightness in human action and speech vs. duplicity, dissimulation, distortion, dishonesty, and disinformation.
It is well to consider truth vs falsehoods in terms of some of the main issues of our time. Here is a comparison of two: immigration and climate change.
Immigration:
Myth: Most immigrants are coming to the United States illegally.
Truth: “Regardless of someone’s manner of entry into the U.S., seeking asylum is a legal right; it is a cornerstone of international law. Each year, tens of thousands of people migrate to the U.S. via the refugee resettlement program through work visas, to reunite with family, and more. Of those who come through the Southern border, approximately 92% were apprehended or turned
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themselves In to Border Control to begin their asylum cases.” (globalrefuge.org)
Change in the climate:
Myth: It’s so hard to tell who or what is responsible for climate change and extreme weather that it’s basically impossible to do anything about it.
Truth: Analysis from the Union of Concerned Scientists has directly linked worsening forest fires to emissions from fossil fuel companies – including ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, and Shell. We can now attribute roughly half the increase in dangerous drought and fire conditions across North America since 1901 to these companies.
TRUTH AND EASTER
“If Easter means anything to modern people, it means that eternal truth is eternal. You may nail it to the tree, wrap it up in grave clothes, and seal it in a tomb; but ‘truth crushed to earth, shall rise again.’ Truth does not perish; it cannot be destroyed. It may be distorted; it has been silenced temporarily; it has been compelled to carry its cross to Calvary’s brow, but with an inevitable certainty after every
(Good) Friday
dawns truth’s Easter Morn.”
(Rev. Donald Harvey Tippet)
