Nothing but the truth

Dear All

Lately I have been in quite a few situations where I've had to tell people uncomfortable things about themselves and it got me thinking: what do you think would happen if everyone was able to tell only the truth and everyone was able to accept the truth all the time (especially when it's not pleasant to hear).

In my mind there is an absolute truth. This is not an assumption on my part, but comes from my belief in the Christian God. Obviously, if this is not the case for you (if you don't believe in absolute truth) then the basis on which this article relies is false in your opinion and discredits the whole article. Feel free to read on though, because I only want to get my point across about people being truthful. Now I don't believe we can always know exactly what the truth is. I believe that biblical literacy might get us close, but as we are a flawed species close is our uttermost best and we can never reach that level of certainty about truth in every single situation. That still doesn't stand in the way of what I want to say.

What I want to get at is that we are able to always say what we think. Truthfully. Respectfully. Lovingly. Honestly. Too often I see people mistake being truthful or "straight" with being harsh and in an attacking mood. Please note that being truthful has absolutely nothing to do with the attitude that you do it with. I do believe though that being truthful without being harsh narrows the gap between your truth and absolute truth. What I mean by "your truth" is those concepts that you believe to be true in your mind.

It follows then that to be as truthful as you can be, the best that we can do is to speak about the things that we believe truthfully. Even if those things are uncomfortable for some to hear. I am not quite sure what to make of society in its current state yet. Look, it's obviously a stretch to say that my philosophies are correct and the way to move forward so I won't say that. I am simply asking that you think about this with me. If we always (when the opportunity is adequate) speak the truth (bearing in mind that sometimes it's not necessary to speak; let alone speak the truth), and our fellow humans learn how to accept it and the same can happen the other way around, wouldn't society be better of? Wouldn't we learn how to deal with so many more issues in a mature and much more efficient way?

I certainly believe that. I have heard the harsh truth about myself many times. I can tell you that it is not always pleasant, but I have come off the situation as a more mature person every single time and in my heart of hearts I am thankful to every single person who has had the stomach to be ruthlessly honest. Again, the tone in which we do this always has some sort of effect, but nonetheless I have an immense sort of respect for anyone who treats me that way and who are willing to be treated that way.

Leave your thoughts. I learn from every single one of you every time that I read :)

Have a great weekend.

Hermann

Intelligence vs. Christianity

Good morning

This will just be a short piece on something that I again noted last night: the comparison of being a Christian vs. being intelligent.

My wife and I were watching this series called 'Bones' when the protagonist questioned a man on his beliefs and then referred to her having a hard time seeing how he can believe when he looks like such an intelligent man. Obviously this is simply a television series, but I have encountered this notion among other serious atheists before. Richard Dawkins, for one, thinks that Christians should be ridiculed for their beliefs, which to me shows that he thinks that Christians (among other believers) are lesser than others on Earth. I mention him since he is one of the biggest proponents of atheism.

Now, to me, it seems to be a false argument on Dr. Dawkins's side, because I can't possible imagine how an intelligent person like him can believe that all Christians fall into an "unintelligent" category. I'm not writing solely about Dr. Dawkins today, though. The point that I want to make is that I think the argument has no merit whatsoever, and I truly hope that all of you can see that. If we only take Christians and Atheists, surely all of us have to be able to see that there are intelligent people on both sides. For example, Peter Singer (atheist) is intelligent and so is Francis Collins (Christian).

Intelligence (and in my mind scientific reasoning) has nothing to do with whether one is a Christian or not. We can have them on both sides.

Hermann