I’ve been spending a lot of time lately ruminating about truth.
Truth used to be everything. “Honesty is the best policy.” “A man is only as good as his word.”
I have always considered my integrity to hinge on my dedication to the truth. I’m not perfect; no man is. I’ve lied to people I care about in my adult life a very, very few times, and I remember each of those occasions with regret. They were the biggest mistakes of my life.
Truth has taken a beating over the past few decades. Honesty, while the best policy for most, has become optional at best. Truth is now a tool. When its use is advantageous, it’s employed with pride. When another tool, such as subterfuge, deceit, mendacity, or lying outright seems more appropriate to the job, truth is readily put aside. It’s sad, to me.
A local pastor gave a sermon once on the subject of keeping church business within the church. If word got out that Christians and Christian churches had personal conflicts, internal squabbles, and struggles just like everyone else, who’d want to be a Christian or join a church, he asked. It was this pastor’s assertion that by making the church look imperfect to the unchurched masses, we might turn them away. We might … get this … embarrass God.
The God I know is a God who knows, embraces, and — yes! — requires truth of us. We are not encouraged anywhere in the scripture to appear to be something we’re not. He cannot be embarrassed for he hides nothing.
I have hurt and I have cried over the sad state of truth. When commenting on one of my wife’s facebook posts, I used a turn of phrase that reminded me of an old song that I have always loved. Being in possession of some new video editing software that I needed to rapidly learn to use, I dedcided to put together a video essay on the subject of truth, using that song as a framework. It consumed all of my free time and most of my emotional energy for a couple of days, but it’s now done.
I am sharing it here from YouTube. I hope it speaks to you. If it does, please feel free to share it with others in any way you see fit, including on Facebook and Twitter.
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Nice work, Scott.
In a sea of troubles, there shall ever be islands of calm, dignity and truth.
Oh my, Hamlet’s soliloquy is still relevant a few hundred years after it was written, read it as one may.
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The art of the truth is not in hiding it, denying it or twisting it, it is in knowing which truths can be accepted and digested by the recipient, which truths should be thrust upon them out of necessity and which truths need time before being presented.
This is not to champion any manipulation at all. This is to say that for instance, you don’t suddenly decide to tell a man every negative thing his wife ever said while standing at her funeral. You may be telling the truth but for what purpose?
As Scott has said. The truth should not be just a tool, especially not a tool for inflicting pain unnecessarily. It has value in and of itself but requires wisdom.
I pray for both truthfulness and wisdom. I just hope they are present at the same time.
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Valid observations, Allie – I suppose truth is like gold: rare and precious but by golly it can cause a lot of conflict.