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Sunday 9 December 2012

What Is Truth?

What is Truth? Those familiar with the christian scriptures might have no difficulty remembering these words as spoken cynically by Pilate in response to Jesus Christ's assertion that he came to bear witness to the truth. This can be found at John 18:38.

What is Truth, indeed? There are a considerable number of questions that it seems the human race may never find accurate and satisfying answers to unless God breaks his deafening silence. One of such is paradoxically finding the Truth. In the world as it is now, no one is allowed to claim ownership of Truth, especially in the sphere of Religion.

People are gradually beginning to accept that there are many versions of Truth - your version, my version and the Truth. So which one is the Truth, my version, or your version? However, in the midst of the thick darkness of uncertainty that humanity finds itself, it is pretty encouraging and inspiring that there is a flickering flame of hope of eventually discovering the truth buried under a mounting heap of ignorance, superstition, speculation and half-truths.

There is an iota of Truth in every religion that is unevenly hammered and drummed into the conscience of adherents to the point of defending their belief, if necessary, with their lives. That partially explains why there are so many religious beliefs each claiming to have the possession of nothing but the whole truth. However, an impartial and impassioned inquiry by a neutral observer into any Religion would generate acres of revealing material about the sheer inconsistencies, ridiculous manipulations and twisted interpretations of enormous proportions enough to blindfold any adherent into total submission to that faith. With such a barrage of one-sided information that is constantly poured on adherents as the truth, it becomes extremely difficult for people to see through any inconsistency and manipulation. The obvious conclusion they can form, pride themselves in, and even champion amidst all sorts of opposition and persecution is that, they have found the truth.

All religions claim to have the Truth. However, all religions have different beliefs. Even different sects of the same Religion have different versions of what they claim as the Truth. Yet, there is supposed to be only one Truth. Can the Truth really be found?
It could be.  If men had successfully shelved their own prejudices, arrogance, pride, selfishness, and self-seeking glory, then the path to the Truth would have been smooth, short and easy. A case in point is Christianity; after the dark ages of oppressive Catholic domination,protestant truth-seekers could have solved the mystery of truth if they had buried their own egos. Instead of working in concert and making important concessions when necessary, truth-seekers chose to part ways with one another to seek their own path to the truth when minor doctrinal disagreements arose. Hence, many different sects appeared, all in search of one Truth. Pride and Independence has done more harm than good to even the noblest and well-intentioned minds!

However, it could also be fairly argued that the time for the revelation of the Truth was not and is not yet up. Understandably, no human can possibly unlock what God has concealed. Consequently, it would be an exercise in futility by men to decipher the code to divine knowledge without taking into account the time decreed for the unraveling of that mystery. And this is where men ought to meekly discern the times along with diligently searching carefully into the divinely inspired scriptures for clues to the divine plan of the ages. For men will know only as much truth as God himself will choose to reveal. Their mortal strength and wisdom can add woefully nothing to it.

However, as mentioned earlier, almost all religions claim the title “The True Religion” and boldly apply it to themselves. From there, they make the next insidious claim that the Almighty is on their side – only their side.Various religions are quick to invoke the backing of God to put the fear of God into their adherents and cow them into morbid submission..Once the name of the almighty God is purposely invoked, the fear of displeasing God and the unhealthy thought of incurring His eternal wrath compels not only the faint-hearted but also the sincere dissident to yield to the ridiculous dictates of the so-called representatives of God.It is either you remain loyally submitted to them or risk eternal damnation in a mystical, subterranean inferno. Thus most religious leaders rudely dethrone the magnanimous God from His merciful Judgment seat and arrogantly take the payment of retribution into their own errant hands. With such orchestrated fear rammed into the mentality of people, coupled with people's desire for unending life and the persistent portrayal of all other religions as false by their trusted leaders, it is no wonder that maddening loyalty to even the most weird religious institutions is the unfortunate order of the day.

So long as we continue to hold on to our prideful folly and obstinacy, humanity in general will never find the whole truth. Logically, few humble ones will be lucky to chance upon it. Since the Truth is mostly rare and sometimes seemingly strange and preposterous, the logical excitement of the finder could best be harshly diagnosed by people bereft of the truth as total insanity.

The good news is that, the truth has always been with us albeit unrecognizable and difficult to find. During the time of Jesus, He was amazingly the truth amidst the multiplicity of religions and sects the world over at the time that interestingly claimed bona fide ownership of the truth. Many people of his day including the Jewish religious leaders could not identify it. No wonder Pontius Pilate could ridiculously retort “What is Truth” just in the plain face of “The Truth”. Indeed, the Truth is the greatest treasure to be found on earth. However majority of the world’s population and ironically many elites of the world who have gone to unimaginable extents to seek a special set of knowledge will find nothing until they are hit hard in the face by the fact that what they presumptuously ignored, despised and derided was the Truth.

What is more, what can be called the truth can also be described as generational. This means what can be called truth in a previous generation might still not hold under the same label in a different generation in the face of illuminating light of knowledge. This does not mean a pre-existed truth was false. It simply means that it has served its purpose as a precursor of the increasing light of true knowledge at that particular phase. During the epoch of the Law, Judaism proved to be the true way to the true God. However, it has ceased to be in the Gospel age where Christ has taken up that mediator role. Clearly, both periods of truth overlapped seamlessly.

The truth stands. Let your quest for the truth be guided by that mantra. When all other institutions, organizations, doctrines, creeds, dogmas, philosophies and ideologies have unsurprisingly collapsed, the truth will stand. The truth is in the heart of the affairs of men. It is what men have long been yearning for. It is what many men have died and continue to die for. It is what men have sacrificed so much for. Yet, it is what the minds of many men have been blinded to. Those who realize it owe it all to God who has seen it fit to open their minds to it.



The truth is all what the chequered and tumultuous history of mankind has revolved. The truth is the path to freedom, liberty, equality and prosperity. The Truth is Pure Theocracy, a kingdom established by God that would eventually eliminate all the evils of the world and elevate mankind to glorious perfection The need for a divine government in this generation cannot be any greater in the shameful face of consistent failure of human governments to address the needs of man and solve the ever-evasive problems of the world.




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