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Subscribe!Tue - Sep 18, 2007 : 01:53 pm
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Truth Exists....Right?
Sadly, lots of problems exist with the world today. I guess it's human nature to create problems, and ya know...? I'm alright with that. Problems need to exist in order for life to be life, right? Yup... The eternal struggle for self-improvement, or whatever.
Anyway... One thing that irks me quite a bit, and also causes *WAY* more problems than is needful in order to maintain a healthy living environment, is that people generally don't believe in eternal truth anymore. Beyond that, people who lie are so good at lying now, they actually create a reality of distored truth based on their lies. It's slightly disturbing to me due to my being overly blessed with an acute sense of right and wrong, (read: overactive conscience).
There exists too many examples to list, but if you live in any sort of a normal environment, you probably can count a handful of people you know who fit into the category of "living in distorted reality".
This phenomenon extends to the highest levels of government, when in the recent past, a president of the USA claimed, "It depends on what 'is' - is", as he was caught in a scandal which cost him his presidency. I don't want to pick on anyone, but I imagine that if this sort of thing were to have happened 100 years ago, that man would have been completely shunned by society, and would be living in a gutter somewhere, but in today's society, sadly, that isn't the case.
Life just seems to go on as normal after people get caught in a lie. Seems this is the case due to the "all-but-nonexistence" of any consequences anymore. And if that isn't bad enough, raise the bar from "white lies" to the total disregard of any eternal truth at all.
According to a gallup poll taken in 2007, 81% of the American public believe that the Bible is inspired. Now, this might be a stretch, but do you honestly believe that 81% of the American population believes that bearing false witness is actually wrong?
Or, wait a minute... I might be living in a distorted reality here... Maybe it's that people actually believe that "wrong" is really "right" and so they can't be bearing false witness, because what they are saying is only a matter of perception! RIGHT?!
Holy cow... Just doing a bit of study up on those scriptures gives me a reality check on just how far down we've come.
Anyway....
I used to use the following analogy when talking to people interested in eternal law while learning the Gospel on my mission:
The Gospel of Christ has laws just like this earth has laws. For example, a law exists that dictates "When you go out into the rain without protection, you will get wet." Does that sound accurate to you? (Yes, of course.) Well.. The laws of the Gospel are the same. When we sin, there is a consequence coming as sure as the wetness from the rain.
I believe one consequence of constantly lying and trying to change reality to fit your life, rather than changing your life to fit reality, is the reducing of the ability to discern between truth and error.
Wow... Imagine living a life not able to tell what is really true. People who consistently lie and believe their lies, get to the point where the memory of the past in their mind changes to fit their lies. You know the type...
"No I did not scream at you! That never happened!", and then you show them a video taken of the incident and they stare blankly in disbelief. That's a pretty stark example, but you get the picture.
How do people get to the point where they can't even be truthful enough to recognize events which actually happened and discern them from stuff they make up? The only thing I can come up with is they're living through their lies.
Anyway... I just wanted to rant a bit about something that I believe makes this world many times worse than it needs to be. Heck...
Could you imagine life lived on this earth where the truth reigned supreme and lies nor deception didn't exist?
All I can say is - a lot of people would be out of work.
Anyway... One thing that irks me quite a bit, and also causes *WAY* more problems than is needful in order to maintain a healthy living environment, is that people generally don't believe in eternal truth anymore. Beyond that, people who lie are so good at lying now, they actually create a reality of distored truth based on their lies. It's slightly disturbing to me due to my being overly blessed with an acute sense of right and wrong, (read: overactive conscience).
There exists too many examples to list, but if you live in any sort of a normal environment, you probably can count a handful of people you know who fit into the category of "living in distorted reality".
This phenomenon extends to the highest levels of government, when in the recent past, a president of the USA claimed, "It depends on what 'is' - is", as he was caught in a scandal which cost him his presidency. I don't want to pick on anyone, but I imagine that if this sort of thing were to have happened 100 years ago, that man would have been completely shunned by society, and would be living in a gutter somewhere, but in today's society, sadly, that isn't the case.
Life just seems to go on as normal after people get caught in a lie. Seems this is the case due to the "all-but-nonexistence" of any consequences anymore. And if that isn't bad enough, raise the bar from "white lies" to the total disregard of any eternal truth at all.
According to a gallup poll taken in 2007, 81% of the American public believe that the Bible is inspired. Now, this might be a stretch, but do you honestly believe that 81% of the American population believes that bearing false witness is actually wrong?
Or, wait a minute... I might be living in a distorted reality here... Maybe it's that people actually believe that "wrong" is really "right" and so they can't be bearing false witness, because what they are saying is only a matter of perception! RIGHT?!
Holy cow... Just doing a bit of study up on those scriptures gives me a reality check on just how far down we've come.
Anyway....
I used to use the following analogy when talking to people interested in eternal law while learning the Gospel on my mission:
The Gospel of Christ has laws just like this earth has laws. For example, a law exists that dictates "When you go out into the rain without protection, you will get wet." Does that sound accurate to you? (Yes, of course.) Well.. The laws of the Gospel are the same. When we sin, there is a consequence coming as sure as the wetness from the rain.
I believe one consequence of constantly lying and trying to change reality to fit your life, rather than changing your life to fit reality, is the reducing of the ability to discern between truth and error.
Wow... Imagine living a life not able to tell what is really true. People who consistently lie and believe their lies, get to the point where the memory of the past in their mind changes to fit their lies. You know the type...
"No I did not scream at you! That never happened!", and then you show them a video taken of the incident and they stare blankly in disbelief. That's a pretty stark example, but you get the picture.
How do people get to the point where they can't even be truthful enough to recognize events which actually happened and discern them from stuff they make up? The only thing I can come up with is they're living through their lies.
Anyway... I just wanted to rant a bit about something that I believe makes this world many times worse than it needs to be. Heck...
Could you imagine life lived on this earth where the truth reigned supreme and lies nor deception didn't exist?
All I can say is - a lot of people would be out of work.