Posted by
noeo on Sunday, July 29, 2007 6:37:56 PM
One of my philosophy teachers used to
make the distinction between little "t" truth and big "T"
Truth. The little "t" truth is your own personal
little world truth that you hold onto. It is benign and doesn't
bother anyone and it doesn't effect the world at large for good or
ill. A few quick examples of this might be: I believe
going to an Italian restaurant that doesn't serve braciole or gnocci
is a personal insult to the memory of my grandmother and that Ann
Coulter is more of a man than most democratic presidential candidates
and only second in beauty to the lone female candidate, John
Edwards. Just my opinion.
However, big "T"
Truth is a different story. This truth demands people respond
to it. If there is a God who created the world and everything
in it, does He have the authority to make expectations of me and my
loyalties? Is the testimony of the Bible true? If so, how
does the truth found there affect my relationship to the God of this
Bible, the earth He created and the people around me who were made in
His image? If the Bible clearly states, I am to be holy as God
is holy... if I am supposed to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly
with God, what does this look like? How am I to live out these
characteristics in the flesh? Is it optional for the person who
claims to follow the God of the Bible, who has left a narrative of
how He has intervened and shaped the world through the lives of men
and women? If God is intervening in the world He created to
accomplish something specific, then how do we participate in what He
is doing?
Big "T" Truth requires action... the kind
of action consistent with that Truth. This present day
spinelessness... this era of relativism where having conviction
demonstrates "intolerance" has paralyzed us from defending
what is right publicly and then doing it. "Intolerance"
is the new evil. Meanwhile, real evils are explained away with
arguments of moral equivalents and personal little "t"
truths based on feelings or the inability to know anything for
certain.
It's not just an academic exercise. This moral
relativism threatens to put good people to sleep and allow people
with evil convictions to impose their world views on those who don't
have the spine to stand for anything but tolerance. Examples
include, any form of terrorism, immoral levels of taxation, abortion,
euthanasia, oppression of the poor by giving them something for
nothing, racism in any form, politicians who divide our country by
pitting one group against others, pedofilia and other crimes against
our fellow humans. When it becomes impossible to discern good
from evil, freedom from slavery, wisdom from folly, justice from
crime, love from apathy, humility from hubris and mercy from hatred,
we have lost the ability to live out the nature and character that
our Creator, who gave us the task of stewardship over His creation.
If we fail to stand for what God stands for, the consequences are
dire for our times. Notwithstanding your particular faith or
philosophy, the Bible narrative clearly identifies goodness and
exposes evil. It is the best place to start a conversation of
what is worth fighting for... not the only place but the best
place.
America is the last great hope for freedom in this
world. More specifically, those in America willing to stand for
good and against evil are the last great hope for the world. We
cannot allow the castrated warriors of tolerance to guilt us into
lethargy and an apathetic acceptance of whatever "truth"
comes along or is imposed upon us.
Real Truth requires action,
not mental calisthenics and moral paralysis.