In September of 2013 Here is what my younger self wrote about truth:
“Truth is an interesting thing. There are some people who see the truth as based on their own interpretation. They believe what they choose whether or not it is truth as others see it. In fact, we all choose the truth we believe based on our understanding and experiences.
Unfortunately this can cause confusion and conflict when my truth is different than your truth. Our children do the same thing. One of a parent’s jobs is to teach children to see the world as truly as possible in order to keep confusion to a minimum and be mentally healthy.
“The world IS a confusing place. We look around and try to discern what is real and what is someone else’s opinion. We go to the experts – wikipedia, Kidshealth.org, friends that we trust, facebook – and every person has a different idea of what is true. They share their story and why it is true for them and they are totally convinced that they are ‘right’ and the others are wrong. So, how do we know? How do our children know if the things their teachers say are accurate or if they are only the best guesses of people who have gone before?
“We tend to believe people that we trust. Someone has a good family so we trust their opinions on what to do to turn out great children. Someone has a boat that runs so we go to them for information on how to fix ours. The ‘true experts’ have education in a field and have learned what others before them have concluded and it seems to work out okay. We also tend to believe more in ideas supported by more than one ‘testimony.’ If more than one person gives an opinion, that solidifies the truth of it in our eyes, or if it ‘rings true’ with what our other established beliefs are.
“But if we want the true truth, we must go beyond even the experiences of people to the source of reality itself. Only God knows what is true, unbiased by opinions, human error or misunderstanding. Only His measuring stick is the real truth. Verily! If we look beyond human understanding to our maker who formed us and Who sees all the realities of the world, we will see the truth, not as it seems to us or our friends or even our amazing parents, but as it is. Even here we run the risk of interpreting His truth based on our own conceptions, but if we endeavor to search out the truth from its source, set aside our own interpretations and twists, we can find health and strength and minimal contention.”
Navigating “My Truth” vs. The Truth
Today, more than a decade of time passing since those words were written, there has been an explosion of people asserting that the truth they choose to believe is “my truth.” They believe that it is okay for them to form their own system and let you have yours. With this increasingly popular philosophy, we also see mounting conflict where those codes of truth collide. When one person says, “Believe in and obey God,” and another hears, “You hate me because you don’t accept my differences,” how do we and our children know where to stand? As I said before, we look to God for truth. But even an appeal to the Word of God is interpreted in as many ways as there are organizations to disseminate it! So how can we know?
Each of us came to this life with an internal gauge of right and wrong, some call it our conscience. There is an additional unseen power that speaks to the heart that is tuned in. The fruit of this power is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. So when our version of truth brings about these outcomes, we can feel assured that we have found the truth measured on a higher scale than any mortal person’s opinion, expert or not.
Once we have found truth, and taught our children to listen to the inner feelings of peace relative to what they believe and do, there will still be conflict! Not everyone will have found the peace and confirmation of their understanding and will hold tight to their own interpretations. That same power that guides us to find truth can help us see the right ways to stand up for it. What we say and how we say it, when to speak and when to stay silent, can be determined through the quiet impressions received as we turn to God in prayer. He will speak to those who are listening, to those who seek His truth.
