Opus 2022-298: The Truth about Chicken Volleyballs

Back when Bill Cosby was still acceptable he had a routine in which he asked the great philosophical question, “Why is there air?”  I don’t remember the entire monologue but I remember that the answer was, “Any P.E. major can answer that.  There is air to blow up volleyballs.”  Much of philosophy and theology comes in at that level.  Did Cosby give an answer that met the test of reality?  Does air fill up volleyballs?  Of course it does but there are two issues.  First, that was not the heart of the question.  Second, it is a nonsense question of no consequence.  

There are questions that are asked that receive the same kind of answers even though they are not nonsense.  One of those questions was asked by Pilate when he was interrogating Jesus.

(Joh 18:38 KJV)  Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

This was in a grilling in which Jesus brought up the subject of truth.  It is a subject that is still being avoided today.  

The first question today would be, “Is there truth?”  Does it exist?  There are really two main answers to this for anyone not trying to avoid the question:  Yes and no.  Christians would say that because there is a God and that God has a certain character, truth is real.  It does not change.  It is objective.  When I say “Christians” I mean those who are serious about their faith and believe the Bible.  Christians who do not believe the Bible will find themselves in the pagan camp and deny that there is any real truth and if there was we could not know it.  The pagan gods are whimsical and capricious.  They like to play tricks and are not known for their maturity.  Thus you can never count on anything.  

I have come across another way of expressing this difference:  Is it true because God said it or did God say it because it is true?  This became and issue very early in creation.  

(Gen 1:4 KJV)  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

Only four verses in and already we are having value judgements.  Now, did light become a good thing as some mysterious point and God noticed, or did God create a good thing and is pointing it out?

The answer to the question, “Is it true because God said it or did God say it because it is true?” is simply “Yes.” Don’t you hate it when people do that?  The answer is simple and yet it isn’t.  It is a case of both/and not either/or.  When you ask the wrong question it is impossible to get the correct answer.

Some think this is the old chicken or the egg question in a different form.  That paradox is not a paradox if you believe in truth and that there is an answer.  If you are an evolutionist it is a clever question that shows how well you listened to your new age guru.  If you are a Christian who believes in creation the answer is simple.  Two chickens came before the egg or, to be precise, a hen and a rooster.  There are a couple of reason for this.  First, if the egg came first there would be no chicken to sit on it and keep it warm until it hatched.  Somewhere in the soil of the earth would be the one fossil of the one egg that existed.  If somehow the egg was in the sun just right and managed to hatch there would be no bird of the opposite sex to insure that future eggs would be fertile.  Again you are left with one fossil somewhere in the rocks.

God is the source of truth.  God speaks ex nihilo and thus truth is what He declares.  I imagine he could have made the sky green like it was in one of the science fiction series I read but in that case we would probably still call it blue and not know the difference.  Since what He declares has nothing before it and He put the whole thing together, it is true.

Once He declares it then He repeats it because it is true.  And the glorious circle goes on.

What a glorious day for philosophy, theology and logic.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-86: Easter Prep

If you are familiar with the events leading up to the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus you know about how Peter denied Jesus three times.  Jesus told him it would happen.  Peter arrogantly refused to listen and pledged his eternal loyalty.

(John 13:37-8 KJV)  Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.  Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

We see this unfolding as Peter the Rock becomes Pete the Powder.  One of the three denials is the focus of this post. 

(John 18:17 KJV)  Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not.

This is presented to show how jittery Peter was.  I have often wondered why this moment would scare him.  This was only a girl talking to him.  Who cared what a woman said?  She was only the door keeper which meant she was a slave.  It was probably so noisy that no one could hear her anyway.  My guess is that she pantomimed him cutting off the ear of the soldier in a very graphic way.  It was enough to make him stand out in the crowd and freak him out.  People who could not hear could certainly see.

Our actions when we are caught off guard are often different than when we have a chance to plan.  The results are often also different.  People know when it is a silly mistake.  If they are honest, and that is a big “if”, they will laugh at and with you and get on with life.  If they think your faux pas was deliberate, the response is different.

God responds the same way.  Peter denied Jesus three times.  He went on to become the Rock and possibly the most influential apostle.  Judas betrayed Jesus also.  He planned it ahead of time.  It was done with cold calculation.  He never repented.  He is spending eternity in a different environment than Peter.

Two things here.  If you make a silly mistake, repent and get on with life.  God is ready and willing to forgive.

(1 John 1:9 KJV)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Secondly, make sure you repent.  God does not play games.  As we move toward celebrating the resurrection of Jesus it might be a good time to look at your life and consider.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-263: We Need More Truthers

“What is truth?”  Pontius Pilate, John 18:38

If you would capitalize “Truth” then as a Christian I have an answer.  As a Christian I believe there are absolutes and they are found in Jesus who said,

(John 14:6 KJV)  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

If you are dealing with the wider philosophical question of truth, it gets murky.

This comes to mind because as I age and the people around me age I am seeing frequent examples of incongruity or what psychology calls cognitive dissonance.  People relate events that we have in common and what I am hearing does not correspond with what my memory tells me.  An example would be conversations with my wife which lead me to tell my children that either one or both of us is losing it.  But she is not alone.  I would imagine that others feel the same way around me.

So, what is the nature of truth? 

We are all familiar with the chant of the those with Bushpobia, “Bush lied; people died.”  That statement in itself is a lie that led to deaths.  Bush may have been wrong.  He might have been misinformed.  I guess he might have even been living in delusion.  The one option not open was calling him a liar.  He spoke what he believed to be true.  He repeated what he had been told and what even his political opponents endorsed at the time.  That is not lying.

Is it a lie if your best information and memory lead you to say something that does not correspond to the facts?  I would say, “No.”  It might not be true, but it is not lying.  It might even be a lie but the act was not lying.  Lying requires volition.  It requires intent.  Any other definition means that most of us lie frequently every day.

Perhaps that is why the Bible states it the way it does.

(Exodus 20:16 KJV)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

It does not say be “wrong”.  It says to be “false”.

Our tendency is to label our opponents liars and stand up for our allies when they act the same way.  That in itself can be a form of lying. 

People of good will should accept that we are all human.  We should condemn the politicians and news reporters who deliberately spin, exaggerate, doctor and edit what they say with a deliberate goal of deception.  We should expose and forgive honest mistakes and ignorance.

What we need are more people of good will who want to know the truth.

homo unius libri