why, the ultimate truth

[sidgi]

Truth. The truth about what? There are many truths, about many things. It depends on the motive of the one looking for it. Yes, but you say, “I want the whole truth.”  Do you, really? Or do you just want the truth from a certain perspective? Do you want God’s truth? Which God? The God of the Bible, the Koran, or the millions of other named, or nameless gods in this world of mankind? Do you want the truth of accountability? To whom or what are you ultimately accountable? Or, is there no ultimate accountability?

Perception all comes down to the motive of the one perceiving, not only that, but accountability all comes down to motive, to the one initiating; and the motive of the one perceiving. It seems complicated, but it is very simple. It all boils down to one little three letter word, in the English lexicon……why? Why did you do it? Why didn’t you do it? Why did you believe it? Why didn’t you believe it? Motive.

Accountability, requires a set of standards. Ultimate accountability, requires an ultimate set of standards. There are many man made standards, and depending on your residence, or location at any given time, they may vary.  Mankind is subject to the standards of mankind; standards of law, behavior, relationships, etc. Sometimes the accountability has a small price, sometimes a large one, relatively speaking. Motive has a big part in all accountability. The motive of the one holding the account, so to speak, and the motive of the one being held accountable.  Where is the ultimate set of standards to be found? Regardless of mankind’s willingness, or lack there of, to hold themselves ultimately accountable to a higher power, they are held there any way. They are held by the need for oxygen, food, water. They have to deal with gravity, inertia, motion, the weather, sunlight etc. That is a fast and hard truth readily accepted by all reasonable men and women. What about moral accountability, right and wrong, good and bad, useful and frivolous, etc?

Moral accountability, is the area in which motive most often comes in to play. It’s the behavioral aspects in this life that give mankind the most problems. The reason? Motive. Left to their own standards, and own accountability, mankind is always injuring themselves, and others. No matter what the perceived motive, selfishness always wins out in the long run. If there were only one human on the earth, his selfishness would still do harm to the environment, and his own existence. Mankind does not have the capability to even guide his own steps, let alone all of the seemingly great things they are trying to do. Everything men do, results in more trouble. Why? Motive.

Some have said that love is the answer. Love of what? Again, motive. The only thing that can be of benefit in the long run, is love of truth. If truth is loved, then motives are apparent. It is soon discovered who is not a lover of truth, and therefore not to be trusted. But that is only an individual fix, and only protects to the degree that knowledge of a lie protects. Is there an answer, an ultimate set of standards, that can be accepted as truth? There have been many proposed over the years. Most are similar in content, with variations suitable to those recommending them. Again, motive. Where can an unselfish set of motives be found, in a set of standards, that will have long lasting benefits, and not do harm to the environment? There is one, you know. Most are aware of it’s existence. Why isn’t it universally recognized? Motive.



sidgi

 
 

[sidgi]

Why, you say, would anyone bother to write such a post? What is the motive? Well, actually, the motive is to see if it strikes a resonant chord in anyone. Or maybe a dissonant chord, for that matter. To see if a discussion could be started. When you read something, study something, examine something, with an educational goal in mind, do you ever consider the fact that the presenter's motive in life might be selfish? If it is, then even if the information is accurate in fact, it will be slanted because of an errant motive, a motive lacking pureness.

I'm sure that most reading the first post in this thread will know that I was referring to the bible as the source of unselfish standards. If you are going to get the most value for your effort, in understanding it's information, your motive has to be in harmony with it's author. The bible itself points this out.

(John 5:39-40) 39 “YOU are searching the Scriptures, because YOU think that by means of them YOU will have everlasting life; and these are the very ones that bear witness about me. 40 And yet YOU do not want to come to me that YOU may have life.

(Acts 17:10-11) 10 Immediately by night the brothers sent both Paul and Silas out to Be‧roe′a, and these, upon arriving, went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes‧sa‧lo‧ni′ca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so. . .

(Matthew 18:3-4) . . .: “Truly I say to YOU, Unless YOU turn around and become as young children, YOU will by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens. 4 Therefore, whoever will humble himself like this young child is the one that is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. . .

(Matthew 13:44) 44 “The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and for the joy he has he goes and sells what things he has and buys that field. . .

(Matthew 13:45-46) 45 “Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls. 46 Upon finding one pearl of high value, away he went and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it.

What was God's motive in having the bible written? If you don't know that, how could you understand it's purpose? Sure you can get many valuable things from it, but if you don't understand the originating motive, how can you really get the benefit that God intended? As the scriptures cited here show, along with many, many others, proper motive is necessary to even want to understand the true purpose of the bible's message.

(Proverbs 2:1-9) 2 My son, if you will receive my sayings and treasure up my own commandments with yourself, 2 so as to pay attention to wisdom with your ear, that you may incline your heart to discernment; 3 if, moreover, you call out for understanding itself and you give forth your voice for discernment itself, 4 if you keep seeking for it as for silver, and as for hid treasures you keep searching for it, 5 in that case you will understand the fear of Jehovah, and you will find the very knowledge of God. 6 For Jehovah himself gives wisdom; out of his mouth there are knowledge and discernment. 7 And for the upright ones he will treasure up practical wisdom; for those walking in integrity he is a shield, 8 by observing the paths of judgment, and he will guard the very way of his loyal ones. 9 In that case you will understand righteousness and judgment and uprightness, the entire course of what is good.
 
(Matthew 7:13-14) 13 “Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; 14 whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it.

As I read posts on the different sites related to the understanding of the bible on the internet, it is readily apparent that understanding the bible's message, from God's point of view, isn't the paramount motive. The words of Jesus, at John 5, cited earlier in this post are having continued fulfillment right up till today, and will continue, I am sure, right up till the end. I write these words in the hope that some will read them and gain a newness in their motive, a dusting off, if you will.

(Revelation 2:1-7) 2 “To the angel of the congregation in Eph′e‧sus write: These are the things that he says who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, 2 ‘I know your deeds, and your labor and endurance, and that you cannot bear bad men, and that you put those to the test who say they are apostles, but they are not, and you found them liars. 3 You are also showing endurance, and you have borne up for my name’s sake and have not grown weary. 4 Nevertheless, I hold [this] against you, that you have left the love you had at first. 5 “‘Therefore remember from what you have fallen, and repent and do the former deeds. If you do not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 Still, you do have this, that you hate the deeds of the sect of Nic‧o‧la′us, which I also hate. 7 Let the one who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the congregations: To him that conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

These are words of encouragement, not egotism. Each ones motive will come to the fore because of them, yours and mine.


sidgi


   

[admin]

I have been thinking about these comments all day. Firstly, it triggers a life long love of words and biblical philosophical leaning, and secondly it brought about a wave of long abandoned thoughts and feelings.

As to my motive for writing this? I don’t know. I do know of late I’ve been looking for a catharsis in my life. Perhaps wanting a clean out of old ideas, removal of certain innate human weaknesses, eradication of those fears that wake you in the darkest part of the night which somehow seem to be shared with the very essence of our existence, and hence all mankind at some point of their life, at some stage or another come face to face with their mortality.

To establish truth per se, one must have a grasp on what truth is. In reading the writings of men, especially post modern revisionist thinkers, one would think truth is linked to relativism and pragmatism. A simple read of the philosophical nature of both schools of thought will lead the reader to see the self defeating nature of both in relation to truth.

Truth itself has only one definition. Truth is what corresponds to reality. Once a truth is established, it is what it is, move on with whatever you know to be true and build on that.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. Each one has a multitude of answers, some in the yes/no region and then….”Why?”

Why pick the Bible over any other professed Holy book?
Is the “Christian” faith true?
Which denomination of “Christianity” is the true one?
Do the teachings of the denomination you picked follow the Bible accurately?
Is there an eternal Hell for sinners?
Is Jesus God?
Are you once saved always saved?
Is God using an earthly religion in these final days to spread his message?

Are your answers based on upbringing, personal reasons, friendship with others or reality based according to truth or truth based according to reality?

My mother taught me from an early age to respect the Creator. My indoctrination of Bible teachings was from the Jehovah’s Witnesses. I had no way of knowing what was truth, without doing an independent study of both the teachings of the J.W’s and the Bible to see if they matched. My early days of knowing truth therefore were prohibited by virtue of acceptance without a reality based check. I accepted on the basis of trust, which in itself is blind without validation. My trust was either true or false, and either way, it mattered not to what truth is, for truth will be truth despite a contrary viewpoint. Truth and reality exist always independent of words or feelings or convictions.

The flat earth Society promotes a deeply held conviction that the earth is not round. The reality is that the earth is round. The conviction of the flat earthers, however sincerely held, is incorrect and in essence, a lie.

I believed that the Jehovah’s Witness leaders known as the Governing Body were appointed by God as his visible organization here on earth in the final days. Why did I believe it? Did the Bible teach it? Did the history of the WTBTS merit such a claim? Was the claim real?

I don’t like reality much. It rocks my world with harsh responsibilities and encroachment on my self created delusional existence. I have to face something that I might have to act on and actually face criticism for. However, either I face it now and deal with it, or ignore it and suffer internally for a long time and have to face it later. Either way, I WILL have to deal with it.

I didn’t like reading the Bible for the longest time in the 90’s because with each opening of the scriptures I began to have more questions than answers. I was faced with dilemmas daily. What was going to happen if I began to have issues with Organizational teachings and the Bible? 

The reality was and is, it didn’t matter. TRUTH was truth and all I had to do was make a decision to accept it, or not. Truth is so independent of our choices it isn’t funny. Truth exists whether we see it, endorse it or abandon it, there is no changing truth. It is.

Jehovah God claims to be truth. I can accept it or not. If I don’t, its no big deal, it wont alter the fact he is truth. It only alters the whole “acceptance” of mine for the Bible, for his words, for the existence of Jesus and the sacrifice and that Jesus rose from the dead. If I don’t believe it, and it’s a lie, then we might as well pack it all in now. However, it would be extremely foolish of me to accept parts of the Bible and not others. It would be foolish of me to accept words of men in explanation of Bible passages when on reading, there are not the limitations placed on mankind that they would have me believe.

With the burden of truth, comes the reality of what we must endure before the words of the Bible are brought to completion. In accepting the Bible as true, I committed myself to a rocky walk in reality. But even if I rejected it, it wouldn’t affect the truth, only my acceptance of it.

It sucks. Everything I believed in had to change. It wasn’t real.

I don’t worry about dates and times and prophetic this and that. I wouldn’t even know when the last days are supposed to be… I know we have some signs and portents that MIGHT indicate we are in them, but…. It will happen when it happens. The truth is, the reality is, it will happen when Jehovah has decreed.

WHY do I walk the path I follow when its so hard? I guess by now you know my answer….my response to it doesn’t matter, truth is reality and I have no say in it. It just is.

I accept it, Build on it, and move on.

Believe what you will…. It doesn’t affect truth. Only your life and acceptability to God.