Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Truth vs. Fact


Dr. Henry Jones, Jr. stood in front of his pupils at Barnett College and insisted, "Archeology is the search for fact...not truth. If it's truth you're interested in, Dr. Tyree's philosophy class is right down the hall. So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and 'X' never, ever marks the spot."




Of course, as the remainder of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade unfolds, the intrepid adventurer does indeed find a lost city, travel halfway around the world, and start digging at a huge, this-is-the-place "X".


Okay, so Indiana Jones isn't always correct in his classroom assertions. He did, however, make an interesting distinction between "fact" and "truth".


Something can be factual without necessarily embodying truth. In fact (to play with the words a bit), something can be true without being truth (at least in the sense meant most of the time in this space). 2 + 2 = 4 is factual, but it won't really satisfy the soul in search of Truth.


But this doesn't mean that facts and truth have no fellowship with each other. To paraphrase James, show me your facts without faith, and I will show you my faith because of the facts.


Indeed, if the Truth I embrace ignores the facts of the world I inhabit, can it truly be called truth?


No amount of reasoning can prove spiritual things to be factual, and yet, one need not...one must not...check their brains at the door of the church.


Truth is...Jesus said to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37)

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Truth is...


It's been said that no one has cornered the market on truth. That's probably accurate, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of this being a little corner of truth, tucked away in the huge City of Life, where, according to Paul Simon, the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls.


Well, I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but just as a person can recognize beauty when a person sees it, it's possible to recognize truth...and this person wants to pass it along as he finds it.


My other blog, Almost the Truth, which can be found here, is all about tweaking the facts and having a little fun. While I hope that Truth is... can have an element of fun from time to time, there will be no fact-tweaking involved.


Thanks go to Pastor Dave Burkum for suggesting this outlet for the more-important stuff that flows through my mind and wouldn't be at home in Almost the Truth...unless of course this ends up being Really Lame and not worth the pixels it's presented in...in which case, all the blame goes to Pastor Dave Burkum for suggesting this outlet.


Truth is...I've been wanting a forum in which to "think about such things."