I think there is a big difference between truth and the honest truth.
With so much information at our finger tips, it seems we have a harder time knowing what’s true. We are the most knowledgeable society that has ever lived on earth, yet discerning the honest truth from the truth is not easy.
And it’s our vast knowledge that is partly to blame.
It is common knowledge now that you should always read the fine print on anything you sign up for or purchase.
At one time it was the hope that people would not read the fine (small) print. But so many people were deceived about what they were signing or purchasing that measures were brought in to make the small print larger.
Now the small print is bigger and more available, but it is still hidden in large paragraphs of legalese print. No one wants to read all that information, so we just sign or purchase … just like when we didn’t read the small print.
I think with more knowledge comes more opportunity to reveal truth, but not always the honest truth.
Honest truth is when all the bias and desire to form another’s thinking is taken away, which leaves you with just the truth, the honest truth.
We have trouble doing that in our world because we always want to present the truth in a way that favours us, our own opinion, our our bias.
For example, my church just changed a service contract because we didn’t like the company’s deception. Oh, they told us the truth, they just didn’t present the honest truth.
Our contract with them was for service, not repairs. Yet when a repair was needed, they still tried to charge us huge fees to make that repair.
Fortunately we had an expert in our church who told us to get the repair done by another company. The repair ended up being so insignificant that the other company refused to even charge us for it. They just fixed it for free.
When we tried to end our service contract with the first company, we were informed that it needed to be done in writing six months before the renewal date. Since we were only a month from the renewal date, we were stuck automatically renewed for another seven years.
They had told us the truth – it was there in the small print of the contract. They just didn’t push the honest truth.
It is so easy to tell the truth in the way we want someone to understand it … which means we have to be so much more careful and use all that available information to help us determine the honest truth.
If we don’t do that, we will actually be living with half truths … and depending on how you look at it, you could consider them half lies.
Here’s the thing: The Bible pulls no punches. It states the honest truth that you must believe in Jesus Christ alone to have your sins forgiven and end up in heaven rather than hell. It’s not a popular truth and it certainly goes against our wants and desires. But the Bible is giving you the honest truth. It’s up to each one of us to believe it or look for something we like that we call truth.
That’s Life!
Paul
Question: What topic do you need to research more to find the honest truth? Leave your comments and questions below.
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