God Only Knows

Let us not be totally deluded about the hype we read in the news, what a friend of a friend says, or even what we think we hear or see.  Our ability to perceive the “truth” is contingent on the following:

Scientifically: 

Four factors determine the truthfulness of a theory or explanation: congruence, consistency, coherence, and usefulness. A true theory is congruent with our experience – meaning, it fits the facts. It is in principle falsifiable, but nothing falsifying it has been found.

Generally:

“All truth is God's truth” is probably the most familiar and famous quote from St. Augustine (A.D. 354-430). Those five words express confidence in God, truth, the Bible, science and the ultimate alignment of all inquiry and discovery.

Religiously:

The Witness of truth from the Holy Ghost is available to all, everywhere, all around the globe. All who seek to know the truth, who study it out in their minds, 27 and who “ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, [will know] the truth … by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

But, the above depends on which religious philosophy you pursue.  Some say that the truth is only found in the Bible, some say the Koran and others find other ways to express God's will in helping us determine the truth.

I think we can all agree, at least to some extent, that “truth” is difficult to ascertain and harder to hold on too.  But one thing about truth should be understood, and that is that truth is the same, always.  There is no individual truth, no opinion based truth or situational process that changes the definition of what is true based on the perceived needs of an individual or group.

“Truth is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  I am not sure who originated that particular statement but it was derived from  Hebrews 13:8  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Our God is immutable; that is, He is unchanging”.

Logically then, If Jesus Christ is unchanging throughout history and He is the originator of TRUTH, then we can extrapolate that truth is also unchanging.

Here is the problem:  

God and his Son, Jesus Christ are as one and they are immutable, but we are not.  We look and see, watch and perceive, think and theorize our way to the truth, with only marginal success in that pursuit.  We are getting better, or so it seems.

From a religious perspective those truths from God and his Son are misinterpreted, maligned and often ignored, altogether, leaving us scratching our heads and arguing and fighting about what is right, what is wrong, and who said what and in what context it was said.  

Politics in general is the process of trying to convince the most that your message, your ideology should be preferred over what the other side is saying.  And then you have those who purposely manipulate the facts and evidence in order to alter the truth, for their own designs, very rarely helpful.

Then you have the problem of trying to determine the truth by those who reject the idea that God exists and that all truth comes from God, leaving them with the task of searching for truths on their own.  Keep in mind that they are not bothered by this dilemma, they see no problem, they have no belief and therefore do not utilize that connection.

Here is a question:

Are their truths that have been discovered that fit the religious definition of unchanging, that also fit within the Scientific or General definitions of truth?   

2+2=4 may be considered an unchanging truth, but it is only a miniscule portion of a greater mathematical truth, still being uncovered and refined.  Mathematicians, please chime in?

In Conclusion:

I started this blog over a simple question I read from a post regarding the environmental impact of Electric cars over those powered by oil.  I have read positives about both and negatives about both, leading me to once again write about “truth” and how to find it, how to replicate.  I am no closer now to the truth of oil vs electric but I think I understand if there is truth, immutable truth, it has to come from beyond our abilities to ascertain and understand.  

For me, God is essential to that search. But, that’s me, if you have other ideas, or methods to help in discovering the truths of this world, and hopefully beyond, I’m listening…