We've all heard it before: those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it. I love reading history. I think it's fascinating to learn how things have been done in the past, what made certain people and civilizations great, and what brought them down.
David, King of the United Kingdom of Israel, was highly favored of God for many years. He listened to the prophet of God, Saul, and HEEDED Saul's counsel. Then, after many years of war, bloodshed, and incredible success, David listened but failed to heed Saul anymore. He was full of himself, full of pride at what HE had accomplished, and eventually stopped listening to the Lord's prophet altogether. Then came his fall. He tried earnestly to repent, but never quite made it back into the good graces of God.
Solomon, the Wise, King of the United Kingdom of Israel and son of David, ruled well and wisely...as long as he obeyed the commandments of God as given to him by the prophets of his time. He was even allowed to build a temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. But, again, he was lifted up in the pride of his heart and stopped listening to the voice of the Lord, the prophets.
It seems that when people stop listening to God's promptings, whether they come in answer to questions we pose to the Almighty in our personal prayers or from the Lord's own prophets, they (we) become full of pride and we fall. The fall of all great civilizations has been the result of leaving behind their religious beliefs and relying on their own strength, intelligence, wisdom, and forgetting that they got where they did because of the blessings of a loving Father in Heaven. Ingratitude and faithlesness pushes us away from God and He lets us do it our way. When we have fallen on our collective faces and become humble and teachable, then He calls to us once again and says "Follow me". If we heed the call, we can and will be blessed once more.
After 9/11, after Katrina, after virtually any major disaster, people turn back to God and ask for His help. When the help comes, they are grateful. After a few months, maybe a year or two, they forget from whence the blessings came and go right back to their old ways. The thing is, Father in Heaven WANTS to bless our lives, our crops, our homes, our nation. All He wants from us is obedience to His commandments, our willingness to follow Him and our selfless service to His children. He also wants us to be grateful, which requires humility. When we acknowledge His hand in our affairs, He prospers us further.
Why can't we, as a nation, as a people learn from the mistakes of the past and remember the Lord, our God? Why can't we be humble on our own and thank Him daily for our blessings at His hand? Why can't we love and serve one another on our own, without the force of law and the redistribution of wealth mandated by the liberal government? PRIDE, LAZINESS, SELFISHNESS, HATRED, and GREED are reasons that leap into my mind.
What do my readers have to say? I'd like to hear from you. And if this post makes you think, then I've done some good today. May God bless America. And may HE bless you, too.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
What is Truth?
Greetings. This is my first foray into the world of blogging.
I like to read. I read a lot. Some of what I read is very good, and some is, frankly, a waste of time. Of course, you don't know something is a waste of time until you're finished with it. I will endeavor to write things here that I hope you will not think has wasted your time. I'll try to keep it brief, but I make no promises.
I'm an interested in many things. Life is full of fascinating stuff. So my blogs will probably meander around on a number of different subjects. If something tickles your interest and you'd like to comment, feel free to do so. Just keep it clean and intelligent. You won't be graded on spelling, but please try to keep it understandable.
My blog is "Truth be Told". So today I want to say a few things about TRUTH. There are those who think that truth is whatever one believes in, as in Personal Truth. When I was attending college 30 some years ago, I read Plato's "Republic". Great read, by the way. There was a segment entitled "Allegory of the Cave". Some of you may be familiar with that story. If you are not, here it is in a nutshell. A bunch of guys are being held prisoner inside a cave. They are chained in such a way that they can only see shadows on the wall in front of them. As the guards pass by, their shadows appear to be those of giants. So the prisoners NEVER attempt to escape. Who wants to be killed by a giant, after all?
One day, one brave fellow does escape. He finds that the guards casting those giant shadows are the size of young boys and could easily be overcome by the concerted efforts of the escaping prisoners. When he returns to his fellows with the good news they reject his message out of hand, because they can see the shadows; they know that he's lying to them and will get them all killed if they attempt an escape. No amount of reassurance will change their minds. They "KNOW the truth". The lone man escapes with no trouble at all and leaves his companions to their personal truth. But having seen for himself the TRUTH, he gains his freedom.
Jesus Christ was asked by the religious rulers of His day (Pharisees) about truth. He said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). So what is TRUTH, with a capital "T"?
Back to Plato for a moment. He figured that there were absolutes in the universe. TRUTH is one of those absolutes. Theories and beliefs abound, but TRUTH is eternal and unchangeable, or it is not true. For example, 2 + 2 = 4. Not even "new math" can mess with that one. It was true way back when and has never changed. (I like mathematics for the purity of expression and because the expressions, once proven, are true.) I could say, if I were color blind, that the sky on a clear, sunny day, is pink. But to those who are not color blind, the sky is truly blue. Me belief doesn't change the truth that the sky is blue, only my ignorance of the truth makes it pink.
So, TRUTH, then isn't what we think or believe it is. TRUTH just IS. And what I would hope more humans would start searching for is TRUTH. Once found, it is precious and satisfying. Don't give up. As they said on the X Files, "The truth is out there". You just have to keep searching.
Have a great day.
I like to read. I read a lot. Some of what I read is very good, and some is, frankly, a waste of time. Of course, you don't know something is a waste of time until you're finished with it. I will endeavor to write things here that I hope you will not think has wasted your time. I'll try to keep it brief, but I make no promises.
I'm an interested in many things. Life is full of fascinating stuff. So my blogs will probably meander around on a number of different subjects. If something tickles your interest and you'd like to comment, feel free to do so. Just keep it clean and intelligent. You won't be graded on spelling, but please try to keep it understandable.
My blog is "Truth be Told". So today I want to say a few things about TRUTH. There are those who think that truth is whatever one believes in, as in Personal Truth. When I was attending college 30 some years ago, I read Plato's "Republic". Great read, by the way. There was a segment entitled "Allegory of the Cave". Some of you may be familiar with that story. If you are not, here it is in a nutshell. A bunch of guys are being held prisoner inside a cave. They are chained in such a way that they can only see shadows on the wall in front of them. As the guards pass by, their shadows appear to be those of giants. So the prisoners NEVER attempt to escape. Who wants to be killed by a giant, after all?
One day, one brave fellow does escape. He finds that the guards casting those giant shadows are the size of young boys and could easily be overcome by the concerted efforts of the escaping prisoners. When he returns to his fellows with the good news they reject his message out of hand, because they can see the shadows; they know that he's lying to them and will get them all killed if they attempt an escape. No amount of reassurance will change their minds. They "KNOW the truth". The lone man escapes with no trouble at all and leaves his companions to their personal truth. But having seen for himself the TRUTH, he gains his freedom.
Jesus Christ was asked by the religious rulers of His day (Pharisees) about truth. He said, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). So what is TRUTH, with a capital "T"?
Back to Plato for a moment. He figured that there were absolutes in the universe. TRUTH is one of those absolutes. Theories and beliefs abound, but TRUTH is eternal and unchangeable, or it is not true. For example, 2 + 2 = 4. Not even "new math" can mess with that one. It was true way back when and has never changed. (I like mathematics for the purity of expression and because the expressions, once proven, are true.) I could say, if I were color blind, that the sky on a clear, sunny day, is pink. But to those who are not color blind, the sky is truly blue. Me belief doesn't change the truth that the sky is blue, only my ignorance of the truth makes it pink.
So, TRUTH, then isn't what we think or believe it is. TRUTH just IS. And what I would hope more humans would start searching for is TRUTH. Once found, it is precious and satisfying. Don't give up. As they said on the X Files, "The truth is out there". You just have to keep searching.
Have a great day.
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