To start this blog off I want to give an essay that might cool a few heads and establish where I’m coming from. This one has no biblical references, It’s all logic based. I think any non-Christians who might read future posts, should be able to look back to this essay and see some basic truths that will help them in various ways while reading more biblical material.
True Story
What makes a statement true? It sounds like an easy question. Go head, try to answer it without using a variation of the word true. This is as close as I could get. That which accurately conveys an idea completely forged and governed by reality and not changeable by opinion. Example time. I have three identical granny smith apples. All three have the exact same size, shape, color, and taste. But I describe apple number one as being smaller than the other two, sweeter than the other two and red instead of green. I describe the other two apples exactly as they are. Here’s the question. Does my inaccurate description of one make my description of the other two inaccurate? Put another way, does an untrue statement negate the validity of a true statement. Obviously it does not. This is the first point I wish to make. Truth is true no matter what. Opposing viewpoints, opinions, and arguments do not alter the reality of a situation. Truth is an attribute applied to an event, object, or statement at the moment it comes into existence and it can’t be changed by popular opinion or someone really smart saying so. It is also unchanged by the source from which it comes. A lie from the most righteous and moral person on earth doesn’t suddenly become true; more importantly, truth from the most well known liar on earth doesn’t suddenly become false.
Doctor Paul Shockley came up with this definition of truth. “Truth is that which corresponds with reality, identifies things as they actually are, can never fail diminish change or be extinguished, must be able to be expressed in logical propositions, sourced in the God of the Bible, the author of all truth.” I really like this definition.
Now I have to move on to the ground of opinion. This might get confusing, but I’m going to do my best to keep it straight. Here’s the situation. I have an opinion. I believe this opinion to be true. If I did not believe it to be true, it would not be my opinion. Therefore, since I believe my opinion is true, I have to believe opposing opinions to be false. If I don’t believe other opinions are false, then I by definition don’t believe my own opinion to be true, and would therefore believe nothing.
The reason I bring this up is to give you a phrase that will end some hurt feelings after arguments. “Of course offense.” A certain level of offense is always going to occur in any argument because a certain amount of stupidity is always felt towards the opposing viewpoint. It’s unavoidable. If you believe something to be true, and true in the sense that we have just defined it, then anything else is ludicrous to you to a certain degree. Anyone who doesn’t mean a tiny bit offense to the other person in an argument doesn’t actually believe what they are arguing. This is not to say that all who enter into arguments wish the other debater were non-existent, it simply means he believes the other person is wrong about one particular idea. It doesn’t mean that your friendship must now end because he believes tomatoes to be a fruit when you know without a doubt they are a vegetable. You have only lost a small portion of the common ground on which your friendship is built. But to ignore the fact that your friendships foundation has a small crack leaves a hole for your friendship to later fall through unawares. Make sure you know where your holes are so you don’t fall through them, but don’t jump ship simply because they are there.
This blog is opinion, but opinion that I believe to be true, as I’ve defined true above, so of course if you disagree there will be friction, but friction doesn’t always mean fire. Hopefully the things you read in this blog will persuade you to my way of thinking, to my biblical worldview, but if not, keep as cool as you can. Of course offense, but please get over the offense quickly if you could. The point of this blog is to make you think, not to make you freak.