Impossible . . .

I have come to the conclusion that it's impossible to figure out anymore who's lying and who's telling the truth. 

President Trump's last comments, about "poophole" countries, just takes the cake.

He denies he said it.

Others say he did.

Others don't remember it.

They can't all be right.

So who is?

And don't get me started on the Bible . . . I can pick it up and do a straight reading, but then you have original Greek, original Aramaic, original Hebrew, cultural context, textual context, possible translator bias . . .

Everyone believes they are right and they "have a verse" to prove it.

There is no such thing as "objective news" anymore.  People take facts, twist them to prove their point, and then present them as truth. 

I wrote in my journal the other day, I don't know what to believe anymore. 

And I don't think it's possible to know, either.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Liar! Li-errr!!!

I've been doing a lot of lying to myself lately.

Mainly, about how "no one likes me and no one tells the truth."

I dealt with a lot of bullying growing up, and even now, it's very easy for me to project onto people what I think they're thinking about me.  It is so easy for me to think that "no one likes me" when the truth is, plenty of people like me and the vast majority of the world's population doesn't even know or care that I exist. 😊  It is true that there are probably people who don't like me.  In saying that, I'm just stating a fact:  there's no one in this world who is liked by everyone.  Even Jesus was hated by a lot of people.  He still is.

It's also not true that everyone lies.  I do think it's more difficult in this day and age of "fake news" and information overload to determine exactly what truth is.  And while I don't want to be paranoid, I do think that a healthy skepticism is called for.

I asked the question "Am I wrong?" in this last blog entry.  There's things I don't think I'm wrong about.  I believe there is a God, and I believe the Bible reveals Him.  And I do believe Jesus when he says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father except through me."  (Just a few verses later, Pilate asked, "What is truth?"  He didn't realize truth was standing in front of him.)

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul calls on Timothy to, among other things, "correctly handle" the word of truth.  I grew up with the King James Version, which translated this verse as "rightly dividing the word of truth".  Much of my frustration with "who's right?" revolves around whether or not the Bible is "correctly handled".  This is what I mean when I talk about everyone being able to "prove" they are right by Scripture, but coming out with diametrically opposed conclusions.

In Acts 17, a group of people in Berea were called "noble" because they examined the Scriptures to see if a fellow named Paul was handling them accurately.  It's possible, since we are different people, to come to differing opinions on matters.  Even Paul, in the books of Romans and I Corinthians, addressed matters such as whether or not to marry and eating meat offered to idols, acknowledging that different believers would believe different things on such matters, and that believers should respect the opinions of others.

He did, however, hold firm to certain bedrock truths:  that Jesus was the Son of God, that salvation was not by works of the law but through faith, that Christ had indeed been raised from the dead.  And plenty of people hated him, too.

I am such a people-pleaser at times that it's not even funny.  I care a great deal about "what people think of me" and too many times, that just leads me to a lot of turmoil.  I don't want to use "not being a people-pleaser" as an excuse to be rude, arrogant, and uncaring.  But I don't want to be so wound up in "what people think" that I have no convictions about anything.

Right now, I think the best course of action is to recognize where I've been lying to myself and ask God to steer me towards the truth.

In the meantime, here's a funny note to end on, from The Princess Bride:

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.

Telling the truth, objectively and subjectively

"The media no longer tells the truth!"
"The media is biased!"
"The media leans left/leans right/whatever!"

Like many, I've been very disturbed by the difficulty in finding objective reporting.  And in the last year or two, I've been especially disturbed by the rise in "fake news".  It's gotten so that, when I'm on Facebook and an article comes up, I immediately wonder if it's true or not.

We've gotten so that we can't tell facts from opinions, and too many of us are broadcasting opinion as fact.

Well, here are a few things I've decided:

1. I will tell the truth.
2. I will have my facts straight, to the best of my ability.
3. If I write opinion, it will be labeled as opinion.
4. I will not deliberately set out to personally attack or offend people.  While truth is offensive to some, there's a difference between telling the truth and having people be offended by it and deliberately setting out to attack or offend a person.  
5. If I am wrong on a fact, I will correct it.
6. If I have attacked someone unintentionally, I will apologize.  
7. My blog, Allyn's Alley, will be a place where the writer can be trusted to tell it straight.

So, let's get started.  First, here are the definitions of "fact" and "opinion" that I will be using. Merriam-Webster online defines "fact" as "a thing done, the quality of being actual, something that has actual existence, an actual occurrence, a piece of information presented as having objective reality."

Facts, as I understand this definition, are objective.  Merriam-Webster defines "objective" as, among other things, "of, relating to, or being an object, phenomenon, or condition in the realm of sensible experience independent of individual thought and perceptible by all observers: having reality independent of the mind . . . involving or deriving from sense perception or experience with actual objects, conditions or phenomena . . . expressing or dealing with facts or conditions as perceived without distortion by personal feelings, prejudices, or interpretations."

Merriam-Webster defines "opinion" as:  "a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter; belief stronger than impression and less strong than positive knowledge; a generally held view; a formal expression of judgment or advice by an expert; the formal expression of the legal reasons and principles upon which a legal decision is based."

Opinion, as I understand it, is subjective.  Merriam-Webster defines "subjective" as, among other things, "characteristic of or belonging to reality as perceived rather than as independent of mind; relaiting to or being experience or knowledge as conditioned by personal mental characteristics or states; peculiar to a particular individual; modified or affected by personal views, experience, or background; arising from conditions within the brian or sense organs and not directly caused by external stimuli; arising out of or identified by means of one's perception of one's own states and processes; lacking in reality or substance."

Okay, now that all that hard work is over :-) let me give an example of fact and opinion.

On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.  That is a piece of information that has objective reality.  Millions of people saw him be inaugurated.  (I was one of them.)  Therefore, this is a fact.

Donald Trump is a poor choice for president.  Or, Donald Trump is a great choice for president. Both statements are a view, judgment, or appraisal formed in the mind about a particular matter. Therefore, both statements are an opinion.

I describe myself as an imperfect follower of a perfect God.  That God is a loving, compassionate God who forgives over and over.  If I am to follow him, though, he does expect certain actions and attitudes from me.  (His Holy Spirit will give me the power to follow him and produce those actions and attitudes.)   One of those actions is to tell the truth.

My blog, Allyn's Alley, is the product of a woman who writes about anything and everything from the point of view of a Christian conservative.  One complaint about the media is that they have a "hidden agenda" or that they are "biased".  Here, when you read what I write, you will read the writings of a Christian who is a conservative morally, fiscally, and politically (admittedly, an imperfect conservative.)  That's my "agenda", or "bias", if you will.

But even with that admitted "bias" or "worldview", I will always strive to tell the truth.  I will report facts, and when I share opinions, they will be labeled as opinions.

This will be a place where I will be open with my views.

And ultimately, I want to be a writer who is trustworthy.

Just my .04, adjusted for inflation.