On April 23, 2020 on MSNBC I listened to conflicting information about the coronavirus. Each speaker gave advice that contradicted the other. Today I read the words of Dr. Bright who was fired as director of the U S department of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Dr. Bright said : ‘’Sidelining me in the middle of this pandemic and placing politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk and stunts national efforts to safely and urgently address this public health crisis . Rushing blindly toward unproven drugs can be disastrous and result in countless more deaths. Science in service to the health and safety to the American people must always Trump politics.’’
Who are the truth tellers who can be trusted to have our best interests at heart ? How do we identify the institutions in our society who know the truth and who tell us the truth ? Are we a people who seek the truth or are we people in a culture who enjoy the lies that are being given us? Does business and commerce lie to us in their
commercials? Do our politicians co-opt our pain with lying finger pointing and false promises? Do our preachers dress up their sermons with fairy tales, and pie in the sky in the name of speaking for God? Has truth been reduced to interpreting our circumstances in which objective facts are secondary to responding with cherry picking feel good choices and long living suicidal biases? Do we know when persons with power and authority are lying to us? When we encounter truth do we embrace it, live by it and defend it?
During the trial of Jesus, Governor Pilate interrogated Jesus about the nature of his kingdom. Jesus gave a good answer which would save us today if we listened .Jesus said: ‘’Every one who is of the truth listens to my voice.’’ With a cynical and skeptical tone, Pilate asked , what is truth? John 17:37-38. The are philosophers teaching that
there is no truth. They are pessimistic like Governor Pilate. Such a definition of truth justifies living in a world that is morally neutral. I belong to a minority who believe that
Jesus is the way the truth, and the way. I invite others to study his way/or lifestyle, his truth/ or teachings, and the life/the opposite of present day societal death. John 14:6.
Pastor Emeritus J. Alfred Smith, Sr.,Allen Temple Baptist Church
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