Episode 1
Perhaps at no other time in history has the very idea of truth been so hotly debated. Some people claim there is no truth, some people say truth is only in the eye of the beholder, or perhaps say there is “my truth and your truth.” Others say that truth is exactly what it always was; otherwise it ceases to be truth and becomes a falsehood.
Welcome to Lions Among Humanity! This is part 1 of discussion about truth. In this episode we will discuss what truth really is, why it’s necessary, and why we sometimes (or often) reject or don’t recognize things that are true.
In part 2 (episode 2) we will discuss more in-depth about how to recognize truth, delve into the consequences of believing or living lies, and we’ll discuss how coming to know the God of Truth can make you healthy, confident, strong, and at peace.
What is Truth?[1]
One year into the U.S. Civil War in 1862, Abraham Lincoln was approached by a committee of religious leaders who encouraged him to immediately sign an Emancipation Proclamation that declared all of the slaves in the United States as free. Although he wanted to sign the proclamation, he argued that it would do no good. One person who wished for the President’s signature later wrote:
On pressing the policy of emancipation upon the President we received this reply “You remember the slave who asked his master, ‘If I should call a sheep’s tail a leg, how many legs would it have?’
‘Five.’
‘No, only four; for my calling the tail a leg would not make it so.’ Now, gentlemen, if I say to the slaves, ‘you are free,’ they will be no more free than at present.”[2]
This simple analogy demonstrates a critical fact: Words can explain truth, but they cannot change it. Truth can only be truth; or to say it another way, truth can only be reality. And what is real remains real, regardless of how many people think or say otherwise. In other words, truth cannot be something unique to each individual, because truth doesn’t change based on opinion, perspective, ethnicity, upbringing, culture or social status. Truth is reality. One definition I like describes truth as “things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (Teachings & Commandments (T&C) 93:8).
The reason why there cannot be “my truth” or “your truth,” is because the moment truth becomes something else, it becomes a falsehood – it ceases to be true. For this same reason, truth by its very nature must exist independent of you or me. Otherwise, it would become conditional, change from situation to situation – and stop being true.
This is abundantly apparent when reviewing some historical events, such as the Civil War or the holocaust. Although there are deniers that the holocaust happened, the overwhelming evidence of reliable witnesses inside and outside the death camps – and the physical existence of the camps and mass graves – demonstrate that the event happened. It will still be true even if history is rewritten as propaganda and everyone refuses to believe it, because belief does not change what is real.
You should be happy that truth exists apart from you or me, and that it can’t be changed; because this allows you to have structure, balance and meaning in life. The more truth you understand – and the more you live that truth – the less confused you will be, the less you will make stupid mistakes, and the more confidence, happiness and peace you will have; because truth is a north star in a world of shifting ideas and ideals.
Intersection of Truths
I met a young man once who liked to debate. We got on the topic of truth and he insisted that truth was subjective to each individual. To prove his point, he used an analogy: “Bricks are hard. A hammer smashes bricks, so bricks are not hard.” What he didn’t realize was that he wasn’t describing the subjective nature of truth; he was simply describing the interaction of multiple truths. Bricks are hard, but hard things are often brittle; and when one dense, solid object at high speed – like a swinging sledgehammer – impacts a hard but brittle brick, the result is that the brick shatters. No laws of physics are broken, and the nature of the materials hasn’t changed. We simply witness truths interacting in a natural way.
As another example, imagine you live in more primitive times, and you know by experience that when you put wood in a fire, it gets hot and burns. Then you have dinner with a friend who brings along a new concept: A wooden spoon, used to stir hot food. “That will never work!” you protest. “Wood burns when it’s heated, and the burned wood might ruin the food.”
In this scenario you understand a simple truth: Wood catches fire and is consumed when it gets hot. What you do not know is another interrelated truth, which is that wood only catches fire at an elevated temperature (around 570 degrees Fahrenheit, or 300 Celsius), and it usually needs to be in contact with direct heat; but the food tends to absorb and distribute the heat as it’s stirred. Plus, if food manages to get hot enough to burn wood, it will probably be ruined anyway. So a spoon made of wood is actually ideal for cooking.
The point is that we can be arrogant in what we know, presuming that our understanding of truth comprises all there is to know about a subject. But if we put our pride and biases aside and take time to listen, we can weigh new ideas against the truths we know; and we may even discover that what we thought was true was mixed with falsehoods – or false altogether.
Jesus said, “Those who worship [God] must worship [Him] in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). Note He didn’t say you must worship God in your truth, whatever that happens to be; but rather, God expects us to discover the truth and worship Him according to true principles. In older languages such as Hebrew, Greek and Latin, truth is closely tied to words such as stability, reliability, faith and faithfulness.[3] Truth is opposed to anything that is false and not based in reality or fact.
Willfully Deceived!
A phenomenon that’s unique to humans is our ability to ignore reality and contradicting beliefs, even as they cause destruction and stare us in the face with profound evidences. We see what we want to see, usually because our minds are made up that we are right, or we know all there is to know – or all that we want to know. This is called willful blindness, and it’s one way we reject truth. Two emotions lie at the heart of willful blindness: fear and pride. It can be one or the other; but it’s often a mix of the two.
As humans, we have what’s called a negativity bias, where we naturally focus on the negative more than the positive. This has been seen in social studies, where people would rather avoid the pain of loss than experience the enjoyment of gain.[4] News sites, politicians and marketers know this and focus on negative stories and details in order to get more readers, more constituents, more power, and more money. This natural inclination towards the negative means that when making decisions, we put more value on fear of loss. This is a big reason why we choose to be willfully blind: new truth, understanding and perspectives can be scary, because they challenge the lies and ignorance we are comfortable with.
In addition to negativity bias, we have what may be called an ego bias. This is similar to confirmation bias, but with ego bias we see only what we expect because we are convinced of our superior intellect, position, experience, education, training, culture, morals, etc. Instead of being interested in truth, a proud person wants truth to agree with him. Pride is like Miracle Grow for willful blindness, but all it grows is poisonous plants. In our conceit, we refuse to consider others’ perspectives, and we rob ourselves of further growth, knowledge, experience, empathy, compassion, wisdom, and the harmony that comes from understanding and respecting others’ views. That is the high cost of pride. That is why the Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).
Here’s a quick challenge: As I was mentioning these causes of pride, were you thinking of your own prideful tendencies, or someone else’s? Pride likes to point fingers, but never at itself.
Willful blindness is the child of fear and pride. In life, willful blindness is why some people would rather not know if a spouse is cheating on or betraying them. The story of Samson and Delilah is a good example of this. Willful blindness can cause us to reject others’ points of view, because we are absolutely sure of our superior position and don’t want to hear anything else on the matter. Willful blindness can lead us to look down on neighbors who are suffering – perhaps in poverty or illness or another difficult situation – because we assume they’ve made foolish decisions, have unwise habits, or perhaps are just weak – but we never consider that we actually know little about the burdens they bear. Willful blindness can cause us to ignore terrible abuses. It can persuade us to put all the blame on our partner when our marriage is failing. Willful blindness is why some refuse to ask God questions and seek greater understanding when their beliefs don’t align with scripture.
Willful blindness convinces some people to live their lives in a perpetual state of victimhood, loudly proclaiming to all who will listen how they were wronged, and that’s why they can’t succeed in life. The wrongs they experience may be real and tragic, but fear and pride often prevent them from seeking ways to improve themselves and their circumstances.
Ultimately, fear, pride and willful blindness are why millions of people shut up, sat down and complied as the Nazi party took over Germany, and similar dictatorships took over Italy and Spain during World War Two. Fear, pride and willful blindness are why otherwise decent people complied when the communist parties of the USSR, China and North Korea obtained power; and those otherwise decent people continued in silence as the communist promises for worldly salvation buckled under the spread of hate, murder and brutal enslavement of entire populations. Even as the death tolls and tortures rose to millions, many people maintained their fervent belief that mass murderers and plunderers like Lenin, Mao and Kim would faithfully keep their words in freeing the people from oppressive wealthy classes.
On an individual and societal level, fear, pride and willful blindness lead to ruinous decisions, battered consciences and unhappiness. They cause people to abuse, control and reject others by insisting that they share in our delusions, and intimidating and oppressing anyone who prefers the truth – or at least those who profess differing beliefs. Wherever you live, I guarantee you can see this happening – even in your own life.
Truth, Courage and Humility are a Tandem Team
How often have you heard, “Be true to yourself;” or, “Be true to your convictions?” These sentiments used to be repeated so often they became cliches. In the 90’s, Disney even produced a song about it, called “True to Your Heart” (for those old enough to remember it, I bet you’re humming it right now. You’re welcome). Today, however, the phrase has morphed into an outright lie: “Live your own truth.”
While I have heard these phrases countless times, it’s only been a handful of times I’ve heard something like, “Be true to the truth;” and I don’t ever recall someone saying, “Be sure your convictions are based on truth.”
How important is truth to you?
I think most people are quick to say how important truth is until they consider context. For instance, say you’re driving through an intersection, when another driver runs their red light and crashes into your car. You both get out of your vehicles, assess the damage, and call the police.
But when the police arrive, they look at the evidence including crash angles, tire skid marks, etc., and have trouble deciding who was at fault. This is when you realize there are no other witnesses and no cameras. You had the right of way and legally the other person was at fault for the accident. But it’s your word against his.
If the other person lies, you and your insurance may be required to pay for all medical bills, damage to cars, and you will probably receive a traffic ticket. Your insurance premiums will certainly go up as well. In this instance, how important is it for the guilty driver to tell the truth?
Now let’s switch things around a bit. It’s the same scenario, but you are the one who ran the red light. You failed to notice it because you were reeling from the news that your spouse just died of cancer, you are now a single parent, and you have no idea how you’ll pay the remaining $400,000 in medical bills. Now you’ve caused this wreck, but can probably avoid the consequences with a little lie. Now how important is for you as the guilty party to tell the truth? How important is it to you personally that you speak the truth, even when it means more emotional anguish and additional financial burdens?
Whether you’re a wife, husband, parent, child, student, doctor, politician, road worker, software developer or cashier, this question – how much does the truth mean to me? – is one that everyone must face, and we must do it in situations that make lying seem easy and appealing, while the truth can bring fast and harsh consequences.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (NEE-cha) wrote, “How much truth does a spirit endure, how much truth does it dare? More and more that became for me the real measure of value” (Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is, Preface p. 3).[5] Truth and courage go hand in hand, because truth painfully highlights the weaknesses and realities we want to avoid.
Jordan Peterson, a famous psychologist and professor, once said,
The truth is something that burns. It burns off deadwood and people don’t like having their deadwood burnt off, often because they’re like 95% deadwood; and believe me, I’m not being snide about that. It’s no joke when you start to realize how much of yourself is based on deception and lies, that is a horrifying realization… the things you say, the things you act out… you see that in Pinocchio… when he gets corrupt as he matures, he first learns to lie, and then he becomes a braying jackass on Pleasure Island, and he’s threatened by the underground authoritarians, they’re gonna sell them to the salt mines… So then you figure out you’re a braying jackass and you’re lying all the time, and that’s a terrible realization. And then all that [falsehood] needs to be burnt away, and people don’t like that.[6]
A story in the scriptures describes a man named Jacob preaching to his people, and some of them didn’t want to hear what Jacob had to say. Sound familiar? All of us feel that way sometimes. Jacob realized this and said, “Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you, for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness, but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken” (2 Nephi 6:11).
So truth and humility also go hand in hand – because you must be willing to admit when you’re wrong. Even when truth stings, if you’re humble, your spoken or unspoken response is, “That’s true. I need to change.” But when you’re not humble, the person speaking truth to you often becomes a target of your resentment.
Truth is more precious than gold. It takes real courage to speak the truth, especially to an audience that is not receptive to it, and it takes real humility to accept truth so it can burn off your “deadwood” – the parts of you that are unworthy and built on lies. Truth has power to change the hearts of honest and courageous people. Who is an honest person? It’s someone who is more interested in aligning himself or herself with truth, rather than insisting truth agree with their point of view.
A God of Truth
Going back to what Jacob said in the scriptures: “Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you, for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness” (2 Nephi 6:11). Sometimes we think of God as a harsh parent, watching and waiting to swat us with a cosmic spanking whenever we step out of line. That, by the way, is a drastically skewed view – and Jesus Christ is proof of that.
In scriptures, God has characteristics other than a dealer of justice and mercy.
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32).
The prophet Ether said, “I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth and canst not lie” (Ether 1:12).
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he (Deut. 32:4).
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).[7]
Jesus called the Holy Ghost the “Spirit of truth:” “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:16-17 KJV).
In the scriptures, Jesus had a unique way of speaking. He often began by saying, “Verily, verily…” – which in modern English is the same as saying, “Truly, truly…”
All this is why we should not say “Be true to yourself,” but, “Be true to your beliefs, and make sure your beliefs are true.” How can you do that? By prayerfully reading God’s word in scripture. By going to the God of Truth in prayer and asking questions. You may need to ask multiple times, but He has promised that He’ll answer, if you ask sincerely and with faith.[8] If God really wants you to worship Him in spirit and truth, would He make the truth impossible to find? And if you align yourself with truth, you automatically align yourself with the God of Truth.
On the other hand, the scriptures warn of the devil, a fallen angel who is “the enemy of [your] soul” (2 Nephi 3:8), “is a liar and the father of lies… for there is no truth in him” (John 8:44 NIV).
Truth and Conscience are also a Tandem Pair
Humans are dichotomous creatures. We are the only beings who have a constant battle within ourselves between good and evil, light and darkness. And this battle is closely tied to truth and falsehoods. When we follow or pursue falsehoods, confusion, anger, fear, a scarred conscience is the result.
There is an old story of a young Native American man who went to his elder and said, “I feel like there are two wolves inside me, one that is light and good, and the other is dark and evil. And they are constantly warring with each other. How do I know which wolf will win?”
The elder thought for a moment, then said, “The one that you choose to feed” (Two Wolves).
Truth, courage and humility go hand in hand. It takes courage to stand by truth in a corrupt world, and it takes courage and humility to face truth in your personal life when it reveals your faults, failures and the pain you’ve caused others and yourself – in blinding clarity.
Where does the guilt come from that instructs us over and over that we need to be better – to fix our mistakes and live more upright lives? The scriptures teach that our conscience is inherently built into us, because not only are we God’s children, we are children of the God of Truth. Therefore, we have inherited a yearning for truth, and an internal compass that that tells us we need to align our lives with that truth.[9]
Thankfully that internal compass – our conscience – can’t be squashed as easily as Jiminy Cricket. But it can be easily ignored, because we also have a darkness inside us that urges us to speak and act dishonestly, selfishly and cruelly. These shadowy wolves inside us seldom die quickly. But the one that you choose to feed – that is the one that will come to define your character.
Selfish? Ruled by fear? Ruled by anger or envy? The dark, lightless wolf is winning.
Selfless? Choosing truth, courage, forgiveness, love, and compassion? The wolf of light is winning – and so are you.
Notice that both wolves are powerful creatures! We have a tendency to see goodness as mild and benign, but there is exponentially more power in light than in darkness. Darkness uses fear, force and deception to do its will. But light illuminates, frees and empowers those it influences, and then they help to illuminate, free and lift others. Light and truth improve everything they touch (see T&C 139:6). Light is more powerful than darkness. Where light exists, anyone that wants to remain in darkness either shrinks away or lashes out because light is painful to darkness and dark things. Light and goodness are anathema to darkness and evil.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul described the effects of the Holy Spirit: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). If we keep the Holy Ghost with us, it has the effect of changing us from the inside out. It leads us into all goodness, which includes truth (John 14:26), and changes our very natures so we become better, filled with light – more patient, kind, loving, gentle and self-controlled. In short, when the Holy Ghost is with us, it makes us more like Jesus Christ, the Son of the God of Light and Truth.[10]
Long ago, a group of Christians in the Americas heard a powerful sermon from their aging king. This is what happened:
And now it came to pass that when king Benjamin had thus spoken to his people, he sent among them, desiring to know of his people if they believed the words which he had spoken unto them. And they all cried with one voice, saying, Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us! And also, we know of their surety and truth because of the spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 3:1).
Many years later, Alma reminded the Christians of his time about their fathers’ lives before and after God changed their hearts:
I say unto you, my brethren, you that belong to this church, have you sufficiently retained in remembrance the captivity of your fathers? Yea, and have you sufficiently retained in remembrance his mercy and long-suffering towards them? And moreover, have ye sufficiently retained in remembrance that he has delivered their souls from hell? Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awaked them out of a deep sleep, and they awake unto God. Behold, they were in the midst of darkness; nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word. Yea, they were encircled about by the bands of death and the chains of hell, and an everlasting destruction did await them. And now I ask of you, my brethren, were they destroyed? Behold, I say unto you, nay, they were not. And again I ask, were the bands of death broken? And the chains of hell which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, yea, they were loosed. And their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved. And now I ask of you, on what conditions are they saved? Yea, what grounds had they to hope for salvation? What is the cause of their being loosed from the bands of death, yea, and also the chains of hell? Behold, I can tell you. Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God? And my father Alma believed them. And according to his faith, there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold, I say unto you that this is all true. And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore, they were saved (Alma 3:2).[11]
While praying for His disciples shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to the Father,
I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth (John 17:15-19).
This sanctification in truth comes because the Holy Ghost is the one who testifies of truth (see John 14:16-17, 26; John 16:12-15; 3 Nephi 13:3), and it has a cleansing effect upon those who receive it (3 Nephi 12:5; Titus 3:4-6).
Lovers of Truth
We must become lovers of truth! I am Christian, but I believe truth can be found in all religions. “We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up” (Joseph Smith, STPJS, p. 316). All religions – from Christianity to Buddhism – fundamentally teach about the essential importance of truth. Here are a few examples from the sacred texts of different religions.
Christianity
If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32 NKJV).
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (Galatians 4:16).
Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth (Ephesians 6:14).
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth (John 17:17).
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth (John 16:13).
But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).[12]
I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto them who fear me, and delight to honor them who serve me in righteousness and in truth (Teachings & Commandments (T&C) 69:2).
And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness, and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth, lest he shall fall (2 Nephi 12:5).
And now, my son, I have told you this that ye may learn wisdom, that ye may learn of me that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness (Alma 18:3).
Judaism
And now fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth (Joshua 24:14; see also 1 Samuel 12:24).
These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth each one with his neighbor; truth, and judgment of peace you shall judge in your cities (Zechariah 8:16).
The Jewish Bible (or Old Testament) affirms that truth from God will lead mankind to God’s home and ultimate exultation: “Send Your light and Your truth, that they may lead me; they shall bring me to Your Holy Mount and to Your dwellings. And I will come to the altar of God, to the God of the joy of my exultation, and I will thank You” (Psalms 43:3-4).
Keep the charge of the Lord your God to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, and His commandments, and His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses… that the Lord may continue His word which he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your children take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail you,’ said He, ‘a man on the throne of Israel’ (1 Kings 2:3-4).
Islam[13]
The Quran is very concerned with truth, and describes Allah as a God of truth. Indeed, in Islam, Truth is one of Allah’s names: “God is the manifest Truth” (Quran 24:25).[14] It also asserts that “God created the heavens and the earth in truth” (Quran 45:22), and asks, “What is there, after truth, but error?” (Quran 10:32).
Buddhism
In Buddhism, the title Buddha comes from the word budh, which means to awaken, see and become aware. So a Buddha is someone who has achieved “a state of consciousness when the individual is aware of absolute reality” (The Buddhist Society, “The Buddha”).
In Buddhist scripture dukkha refers to “the obvious physical and mental suffering associated with birth, growing old, illness and dying” (Encyclopedia of Buddhism, “Dukkha”). Dukkha also encompasses stress or anxiety that comes from worldly attachments and due to the changing nature of life. A central aspect of Buddhist tradition is understanding the Four Noble Truths that each person must comprehend in order to reach enlightenment. Each of these Noble Truths is centered on dukkha, or suffering.
It is through not realizing, through not penetrating the Four Noble Truths that this long course of birth and death has been passed through and undergone by me as well as by you. What are these four? They are the noble truth of dukkha; the noble truth of the origin of dukkha; the noble truth of the cessation of dukkha; and the noble truth of the way to the cessation of dukkha (Maha-parinibbana Sutta, DN 16).
Hinduism
In Hinduism, the god Krishna is the source of everything, including truth:
“The Blessed Lord said: O mighty-armed one, listen over again to My supreme utterance, which I, wishing your welfare, shall speak to you who take delight (in it). Neither the gods nor the great sages know My majesty. For, in all respects, I am the source of the gods and the great sages. Intelligence, wisdom, non-delusion, forgiveness, truth, control of the external organs, control of the internal organs, happiness, sorrow, birth, death and fear as also fearlessness, non-injury, equanimity, satisfaction, austerity, charity, fame, infamy-(these) different dispositions of beings spring from Me alone” (Bhagavad Gita, 10:1-2, 4-5).
Lost and Directionless?
One of the most notable conditions of people today is that they feel lost and directionless in their lives. If you feel like this, I present you with an invitation. There is one person who said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus said this. You may have heard this before and didn’t think much of it – but it is a bold claim, and one that should cause any truth seeker to sit up and take notice. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” In saying this, Christ was saying, “I am the way that God your Creator has provided to get you back to heaven,[15] to lift your burdens, to heal you, and I am the source of all of God’s truth.”
This claim – and others like it – are of such enormity that C. S. Lewis wrote:
A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to” (Mere Christianity, New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1952, pp. 40–41).
God is a God of Truth (Deut. 32:4; Ether 1:12), and we are His children (Matthew 23:9; 1 John 3:1; Ephesians 4:6; Matthew 6:9). That means we are born to be creatures of truth. When you align yourself with truth, the God of Truth – your Eternal Father – will support you. What does that mean? It means He will intervene in your behalf. It means He will send angels to assist when needed. It means He will comfort you when life is hard, increase your joy, and teach you if you go to Him and ask questions. When God supports you, He will stretch you in order to make you stronger than you ever thought possible.
After all, what is the ultimate purpose of a parent? It is to raise the child that you love to be a healthy, functioning adult capable of facing a challenging and unfriendly world. God is the supreme parent, and He knows just what you need to face and experience in order to become complete.
Conclusion
If you believe you heard God’s voice while listening to this discussion on truth, or found it enlightening or enjoyable, feel free to pass it along to someone who needs it. Be sure to listen to part 2 of this discussion on truth, where we discuss how to know when something is true, and the consequences of not aligning with truth in our lives.
Footnotes
[1] Note: All Bible verses are from the NRSV translation, unless otherwise specified.
[2] Source: https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/11/15/legs. See also https://thingfinder.blogspot.com/2019/09.
[3] See Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, https://biblehub.com/hebrew/571.htm
[4] Kendra Cherry, What Is the Negativity Bias?, VeryWell Mind.
[5] Nietzsche, Friedrich. (1908). (Ecce Homo: How One Becomes What One Is (Written 1888; Published 1908). Translation by Walter Kaufmann. Random House 1968.
[6] https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zhY3rCSM-Bg.
[7] See also Book of Mormon, Ether 1:18: “… and whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do good is of me, for good cometh of none save it be of me. I am the same that leadeth men to all good.”
[8] See 3 Nephi 8:8; James 1:5-8; T&C, JSH 13:27).
[9] See Moroni 7:3, John 1:9.
[10] Indeed, the resurrected Savior referred to Himself as “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16).
[11] Compare Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.”
[12] See also Alma 16:38.
[13] For a more in-depth study of truth in Islam, see “The concept of truth in the Holy Quran” at https://ahmadiyya.org/islam/concept-of-truth.pdf.
[14] All Quran quotes are from the Arberry translation.
[15] See Romans 8:15-17; Matt. 25:34 (verses 31-46).