WHAT IS TRUTH?
Serious personal accusations and vehement denials are commonplace in our Malaysian political scene. In each case at least one party is either genuinely mistaken or deliberately lying. Where then does the truth come in?
Charges and trials are much on our minds at this present time. I will take you back to a famous trial, when Jesus Christ was brought before Pilate the Roman governor. When queried by Pilate about his kingship Jesus said:
‘”My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place”.
”You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
”What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him”.’ (John 18:36-38)
On a previous occasion Jesus claimed to be ‘the truth’ (John 14:6). Many times, especially when he was addressing the religious leaders who refused to believe in him, Jesus would say, ‘I tell you the truth ...’.
Unlike Jesus Christ, we cannot claim to be ‘the truth’. Whatever answer we give to his important question ‘Who do you say I am?’ (Matthew 16:15), we are all ‘created in the image of God’ (Genesis 1:27) and so we are brothers and sisters in the human family. Therefore we have a moral responsibility to treat each other with love, respect and honesty.
If we are tempted to make a false accusation or denial we would do well to remember that ‘God detests (or hates) a lying tongue’ (Proverbs 6:16-17) and that ‘a lying tongue hates those it hurts’. (Proverbs 26:28)
We must ensure that our country is never in the same situation as that of the nation during the time of the prophet Isaiah (c. 730 B.C.) when he confessed to God:
‘For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities:
rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, fomenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived.
So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter.
Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey’. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.’ (Isaiah 59:12-15)
This article was first published in Malaysia Today
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