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What is truth?
Tuesday 3 October 2006
King James I put Sir Walter Raleigh, that great Devonian, in the tower of London on a charge of treason. Raleigh was treated reasonably well, however, and sat down (as you would) to write a History of the World. One day he heard the sounds of a fracas in the prison-yard. On inquiry of those who were making the noise, and were on the spot, he found so many contradictions in their statements that he could not get at the truth. It occurred to him that it was a hopeless task to try to describe what had happened in the vast theatre of the world, when he couldn’t find out the truth about an event occurring so close at hand.
The Governor of Judea under Tiberias Caesar, Pontius Pilate, was used to hearing conflicting evidence in court. Wearily (as I interpret it) he is recorded as asking Jesus, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). No reply is recorded for us on this occasion, but we know from the rest of John’s Gospel that Jesus made the unique claim to be “the way, the truth and the life” and that he promised that the Holy Spirit would be the “Spirit of Truth” (John, chapters 14 and 16).
It is often difficult for us to distinguish between that which is true, distorted or plain false. If you believe in prayer, you should ask that the Holy Spirit will guide you into truth. We need to know what is true about things eternal as much as who is making that hullabaloo close at hand.
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