Truth

What exactly is truth? That sounds like a simple enough question, yet answering is not so simple. As I was researching, I found out that it has several different meanings. One of Thomas Jefferson's outlook on truth is "Truth is certainly a branch of morality and a very important one to society." This is most definitely true because where would we be today without the certainty of truth? Some of the difficulties that I encountered while I was researching this word were the real meaning and how the word is perceived.

I can offer a definition like, truth is that which conforms to reality, fact, or actuality, but this basic definition is far from complete because it is open to such a wide variety of interpretation. I chose this word because I felt the need to discover what the true meaning of truth is. The way I see it, you can approach truth from two very different view points. The first being that society decides what is true, and the other being the absolute truth or biblical truth. In today's world, I believe society is deciding whether or not things are truthful. In my opinion, we are doomed because of worldly opinions unless we change to believing in the absolute truth or biblical truth. If we do not agree on one absolute truth the world will be in conflict because having individual truth and an absolute truth can not coexist. This is because they can contradict each other and are on the opposite ends of the spectrum.

THE FOLLOWING IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY.

The two women are eating lunch and the topic of religion comes up. Kathy asks Judy, "How is your brother and girlfriend doing?" Judy explains, "They are not doing well because the girlfriend wants him to convert to her religion."

- "Is religion important to him?"

-"My brother and I are not religious people, but people of faith. Do you believe that the entire Bible is true?"

-"Yes, how about you?"

-"No I just believe that parts of it are true"

-"Then who do you have faith in?"

-"God"

- "It can not be the God of the Bible then because you have to accept what the Bible says, everything or nothing."

- "Well I don't believe that to be true."

- "Then do you believe in an absolute or one truth?"

- "Yes, God reveals truth to each individual"

- "Can individual truths be different then?"

- "Of course, each person has their own path way to truth."

- "Ok, I have a friend who agrees with you. I asked her if her son would become a mass murderer, would you try to stop him? Her answer was no, because that is his pathway to truth."

My truth is that I believe that murder is wrong and you should stop murderers. If you believe that each individual is revealed their own truth and these truths are in direct conflict, how do we get along in society together? Whereas, if you accept an absolute truth, taught by the Bible and claimed by Jesus, all truth would be the same and unity in society should be able to be accomplished.

The definition of Truth from the Unabridged Dictionary is: * noun (pl. truths /trooths, troo&ulth;z/) 1 the quality or state of being true. 2 (also the truth) that which is true as opposed to false. 3 a fact or belief that is accepted as true.

PHRASES in truth really; in fact. to tell the truth (or truth to tell or if truth be told) to be frank. Middle English trewthe, loyalty, from Old English tr owth. See deru- in Indo-European Roots. The uses have not changed that much over time because really there isn't that lenience for the word to really change. It is a special, different kind of word.

While researching, one of the first sources that I went to was the Metaphor Dictionary. It took me awhile to find an acceptable metaphor that I felt made sense in terms of what the word means by definition and what society tells us it means. Finally, I stumbled upon one, "We are all afraid of truth: we keep a battalion of pet prejudices and precautions ready to throw into the argument as shock troops, rather than let our fortress of truth be stormed." (Morley Metaphor Dic.) This gave me the impression of what I see many people do with the truth. They would rather hide behind lies and throw out false accusations than to step up and face the truth eye to eye. People are so terrified by the truth that they see it as a bad thing, because most of the time, it is a harsh truth. This is because it may disagree with what we wish or have convinced ourselves to be true. For example: I for one would prefer to hear that I passed the test, rather accept that I miserably failed.

"Truth is a torch, but a terrific one, therefore we all try to grasp it with closed eyes, fearing to be blinded." (VonGoethe Metaphor Dic.). The metaphor means that people want the truth; it's just that for the most part it is so overwhelming. They are so used to having falsehood that the truth comes off so incredibly shocking that they don't want to get hurt by it.

After looking in the Metaphor Dictionary, I decided that I needed to interview some people to see what there perspective on truth is. First, I interviewed my dad. While interviewing my dad he stated, "Truth is a tricky thing. How do you tell the difference between the truth and false statements? Meaning and truth is not the same thing. Just because a statement has significant meaning, it does not necessarily mean that it is true. That may seem like a very simple distinction, but don't be fooled because so often the results of truth are confused or overlooked." After the deep outlook on truth from my father, I realized that truth may be a simple and clear cut idea, but the hard part of distinguishing truth or fact from fiction was who decides whether its truth or not. I believe that society's standards and beliefs ultimately decide what truth is. My dads last thoughts were, "Truth is knowledge, and knowledge is truth." So, if mankind is always seeking out knowledge, they would also be seeking out the truth in the world. (Thompson, Interview)

After I had interviewed my dad, I needed an innocent and not so philosophical view on the idea of truth. I found a perfect person, my friends little sister. I asked Jessica what truth meant