Truth remains

The Roman governor Pontius Pilate once famously asked Jesus of Nazareth, “What is truth?” He then, perhaps more famously, did not wait for an answer but turned to the crowds and granted their demand to crucify him.

Most of us know that “truth” is that which corresponds to reality. But lately it seems that many, like Pilate, don’t really care about truth. Their concern is primarily with preferences, feelings, and whatever they think will signal virtue and win them acceptance from others.

Those of us who love the truth are often confounded by such blatant disregard for it. How are we to have fellowship with those who effectively deny reality?

Any of us can be mistaken about a particular truth claim. But some things are so obviously true with just a little introspection or research that to deny them reveals a willful indifference to truth.

Such as, sex is immutable. A fetus is a human being with a right to life. A child has a right to his mother and father. Israel has not and is not committing genocide. The Palestinians have repeatedly rejected a two-state solution. If God does not exist, nothing is objectively good or evil. Hamas is evil. People have a right to own property. Communism has failed wherever it’s been tried. Stating a fact is not hate speech.

Rejecting truth does not change it. Truth just is, was, and will be, whether or not you acknowledge it. You can ignore it, deny it, oppose it, but it remains. 

But you know what happens when instead of stubbornly rejecting the truth you believe and submit to it? The truth sets you free.