Do we often say things, as if they are absolutely true and beyond doubt? Are we sometimes not completely confident in the veracity of our statement? Is it fact? Is it a theory? Is it a hunch? Is it best guess? Does it need research or fact checking?
What compels us to present something as fact, when we are not absolutely sure it is factual? Sometimes is this extended to statements made as true, even when we know that they are not?
Do we sometimes hedge with disclaimers; like-“at this point it appears that” or” there is evidence that indicates” or ”preliminary findings lead us to believe that”. Are there times when the disclaimers are omitted?
Obviously, these untruthful “truths” are common to political speech, but are they becoming increasingly accepted in normal discourse?
Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other.”–Benjamin E. Mays
Are we becoming culturally immune to a lack of veracity?
When you speak, are you sure you speak the truth? How? Are you personally frustrated by the falsehoods presented as truth? Are you now more skeptical of what you see and hear? Are you more skeptical of what you say and even what you think?
Please share an experience of facing an untruth- one that slapped you in the face!
openingyourmindblog 
I may be offering you more than you’re asking for here.
I grew up a devout Southern Baptist. I was taught from an early age that the 66 books of the protestant Christian Bible were God’s inerrant and completely inspired words to mankind. There were no mistakes. All our theological ideals and beliefs could be found unquestioningly in these scriptures. In my mind, there was an absolute unshakable foundation that the scriptures provided for all man – that man was created perfect by God but sinned. As a result, man was separated from God and needed some type of blood sacrifice to find reconciliation. Jesus came along and provided the ultimate blood sacrifice once and for all to bring man to God. Endemic to this belief was the idea that there is a heaven and a hell and that all men’s souls will spend eternity – a sort of timeless forever-ness – in one place or the other after dying from this earthly life.
After serving as a youth pastor at a Vineyard church in the 1990s, I began to be uncomfortable with some of my dogmatic beliefs. Young people would ask me questions about theology or why we believed what we believed as Christians. I would provide answers I had been given as a young man in church when I had asked similar questions, but deep down I knew some of these answers were logically unsound. This uncomfortable-ness led me to seek greater insight into the history of the Bible and Judaism and Christianity.
One summer in the late 1990s, I decided to dedicate about 6 weeks or so to just doing research. I drove every day to the library at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Each day I would grab numerous books and sit down and take notes. I started with books on the history of the Bible and the various councils that led to the canon. I ended up reading books about other religions as well as books about Christianity.
The result of all this opened my eyes to a great untruth that I had believed for my entire life. The truth was that my Christian beliefs were not near as cut-and-dried as I had always believed or been told. “Slap in the face” doesn’t even describe my feeling. I felt like the very ground upon which I was walking had been yanked out from under me, and now I was in a free-fall.
This eventually led me to agnosticism – I simply didn’t know whether “God” existed or not.
Today, I believe that “God” is real, but my definition of God is vastly different than it was when I was a youth pastor. Today I recognize that so much of what I assumed to be absolutely true as a young man simply is not. At best, many of my beliefs were questionable if not outright false. Truth can be difficult when it rocks our world, but I always believe that Truth is Truth, and no matter how much we may want or try to hide it, it always seems to find its way out.
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Wow! What a story. You explored many layers into the question of “Are you sure?” It reminds me of how impressionable we are and how we often accept things without really investigating the facts and what we truly feel. Thanks for your comment and sharing your journey. Is there another book in this story?
Bill
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