What is Truth?
By Rita Davidson
“What is Truth?” asked Pontius Pilate to Our Lord. Most of the depictions I have seen show him asking, with a sincere question, not sarcasm. Are we seeking truth?
Our Lord said, “I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.”
Where do we get our truth?
The internet is rampant opinions and comments. Truths mixed with lies, scandals, and gossip. No where is this more evident than Facebook, one of the biggest chat groups online ever, with every kind of conversation and comments.
This is not to say that Facebook cannot be a good source of solace and comfort, as one follower on my page said, “Rita, thank you for all the spiritual food you give us. The Lenten maxims . . . I really like them & they are thought-provoking.”
I take my Facebook page seriously.
Many of us had to grow up before we learned our Catechism, or at least I did, since I never was taught in Catholic schools. (I shudder what they teach now!)
The local news has it’s own slant of news, depending on the need, news is customized to fit the goal, while good news is often silenced. (Yes, didn’t you know your local news is more propaganda than truth?)
Online we get every opinion from every angle. Even angles we don’t want to see! But Facebook is a place where you get forwarded articles from your friends on topics. I’ve seen some great articles on there, GOOD news, forwarded, for which I am so thankful. And to have a place you can actually find real news free from propaganda is a real freedom.
But more and more I am finding articles are splitting hairs. Especially on hot topics like the recent movies coming out today.
Depending on the current thought of a movie, (example the loudest message!) there is a concerted effort to share those articles that support that view. But often I seen these articles are not coming from good sources. For example, there are hoax sites now that just generate fake news. There is even a hoax site that takes a sarcastic view of everything Catholic, even making up news up about the Church and the Pope in a bad way. Yes, I have seen all these forwarded on Facebook by Catholics!
On the other side of the coin, I have seen good Catholics miss out on either good books or movies all because someone forwarded them an article that lead them to believe something was no good.
Where does your truth come from?
Comments and Opinions need to follow the golden thread of the Catholic faith to be truthful. Fake sites reporting with the goal of undermining all truth are inexcusable, but part of the increasing confusion we have today.
Yet some protestant reviews are against something because their view of the Catholic Church teachings is wrong, so their foundation is flawed.
Often well meaning Catholics are accomplices in spreading lies, by keeping truth hidden. Whether you are aware of truth and keep it hidden, or forward an article that causes someone to believe mis-truths, we are all doing truth a disservice.
Yes, we all have a grave responsibility to everything we say or don’t say to see that it serves truth. That includes everything we write on Facebook too.
How do we us recognize Truth?
- Protect your mind from lies. Don’t be afraid to search something you hear or read. Don’t listen to the local news regularly. Take in most things with a grain of salt. Be discerning.
- Check your sources! So many Catholics today I find, do not ‘think’ for themselves. They arbitrarily take something as truth because of what someone else decided is truth and it gets passed around and around until someone stops it by researching it. If your not sure about a website, read their About us page, are they anti-Catholic perhaps, or have a strange agenda to affect their reporting? Look for that common thread of Catholic truth in all they write.
- Pray and really think before forwarding something in your Facebook feed, or by email. You never know who may be reading this and where it will end up. An email you forward today could be the cause of someone two weeks later, doubting their faith. Be responsible!
- Pray for the grace to know and love the Truth.
- Jesus said He is “Truth”. He will surely grant us this grace since this is His own life. But you must pray every single day for this grace. There is such a growing confusion in society that is only going to get worse. We must be lovers of Truth to survive. If you don’t want to become an accomplice to keeping truth hidden, then cultivate your love of truth, by learning about your faith and pray always for God to give you this grace.
It is said, that children of the last days, will be known by their love of Truth. And as we watch the growing confusion today in the Church and society, we can see why.
May God bless you as you seek the Golden Thread of the Way the Truth, and the life of Christ in your life!
With love,
Rita Xo 🙂
©Copyright 2014 Rita Davidson All Rights Reserved.
Rita is a Catholic wife, and mother of seven, with three autistic boys. Currently a writer, & published author, she is a former hairdresser, professional make up artist with a degree in Natural Health. She is now a Young Living Distributor. After overcoming a stroke, disabilities, and more, they recently lost everything in a devastating house fire that made them homeless for six months. She is determined to lead souls back to Christ by carrying their crosses with Joy!
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