The Search for God Page 1.2
Don’t search for truth, search for not truth. Search for a lie.
You see, when we consider propositions, when we consider ideas, some things can be simplified with an “either-or” proposition. Either we search for truth, or we search for not truth.
Simplified, this means, “search for truth or not truth.”
Search for Truth or Not Truth
Of course, this seems completely obvious; who wants to search for not truth? Many of us use “not truths” to get closer to the absolute truth. We use false things to rule out possibilities.
When we talk about seeking the truth, what do we truly desire? I contend that we desire something to trust or believe in. We want certainty. We want solutions to our problems or an understanding of mysteries about things we don’t comprehend.
We search for truth in all sorts of different disciplines: history, philosophy, science, math, society, and religion. Why?
Why Search for Truth
Happiness, pride, joy, satisfaction, comfort, peace, plus hundreds more. You can pretty much name every emotion, and someone could use such a feeling as a reason to search for truth.
So, is the search for truth only the search to satisfy some emotional state?
- Is there anything else?
- Is there some non-emotional reason we search for truth?
- For the truth itself?
- For the pride of being right?
- Is it for knowledge?
- Do we search because of pure knowledge?
Our search for society and scientific truth is for pure knowledge and intellectual curiosity. That’s it. Tuck that knowledge right into my mental pocket and done; box checked off.
- If someone disagreed with the information you think is true, would you argue?
- Would you come to your truth’s defense?
- If you believe in a particular truth, would you put your trust in that truth?
- Let the maxim “you have your truth, and I have mine” reign.
Your Truth and My Truth
How about engineering and math? What if two individuals are building a plane you will fly in?
One says, “Those nuts need to be 3/16” and tightened to 75 ft/lbs.” But the other mechanic says, “That is your truth. I am putting on 5/16” nuts and they will slide on.”
“But the manual says….” “Manual, sh’manual.”
Which mechanic do you want to build your plane? See, truth matters. Even more, I would suggest all truth has an emotional or practical implication. So, circling back around to the idea of God, the truth about God matters.
- What is the overall goal?
- What do we ultimately want to know?
- What ties together all disciplines of knowledge?
That’s right – God. If such a being as God exists, He ties all knowledge together.
Ultimate Reality
Our search for truth is most assuredly a search for ultimate reality. Reality is what exists or is true about an object, about cause and effect, and about death.
Ultimate reality ties together all of science, history, philosophy, the universe, human nature, how events occurred in time, how food and air enter the body, how the body uses it, everything.
There is only one possible being that could know the ultimate reality. Such a being must be eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, existing everywhere, who can explain what happens after death, and even perceives how the tiniest quark interacts with an atom.
The search for truth is the search for ultimate reality, which is truly a search for a being—a being we call God.
So many people search for truth or God. Sadly, too often we search for truth, little “t”, touching some small aspect of the proverbial elephant, a toenail, or a trunk.
We are little people, with little minds, with short lives who never venture beyond this star system. We worry about what we will consume for dinner, what we will watch on TV tonight, or how we can afford XYZ.
Trying to maintain our pride in our own knowledge, our strength, our money, knowing but ignoring that at the end of this life, those things will fail.
When we should be searching for Truth, capital “T”, which is the search for the ultimate reality of God, if He exists.
Finding the Truth
If you are searching for truth, what will happen if you find it, or what if you find God?
- Will you believe it?
- How strongly?
- Will you submit to truth or God?
Is the difficulty submitting, why we don’t want God to be a being? Will we change our lives?
Is the search for truth just to satisfy curiosity or our pride?
And when truth smacks down our pride, what will we do?
Will we fight all the more for our truth, our reality?
Maybe we should ignore the fact that the nut is 5/16” because the real nut is the person who believes in God or has a belief that is not my own, such as the saying that “they have their truth, and I have mine.”
Truth or not truth, to be or not to be, that is the question.
What Next?
- What is the crucial concept?
- Truth is independent of our emotions or feelings.
- Why is that significant?
- Will we submit to truth and reality, or try to bend reality to our thoughts?
- If you agree, the next steps
- If you disagree, please consider reading
- What’s the alternative?
- To live in non-truth or to live a lie?
References and Links
Why search for Truth?
What is Truth?
- United Faith Church – Why Truth Matters
- Oxford Learners Dictionaries – Reality