All life is evolved from other less complex life with all life inter-related. This includes humans (Homo sapiens). Our next closest living relatives are the chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobos (Pan paniscus). Our common ancestor with these two species lived between 5 and 7 million years ago.
A slightly more distant relative of ours is the gorilla (Gorilla) with the common ancestor of humans, chimps/bonobos and gorillas having lived about 10 million years ago. Next in the family line from humans are orang utans (Pongo). Humans, chimps/bonobos, gorillas and orang utans had a common ancestor that lived around 14 million years ago. It goes on like this for each and every living species on earth.
And that’s the truth.
John 8:32 tells us "And you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free." I’m fairly certain that, whoever the author of "John" in the New Testament was, he didn’t mean it the way I’m using it here. But truth is truth. And like a few dozen other wise sayings that can be found in the Holy Bible, this one is right on target.
Truth may or may not be pleasant or fit in with how we would like to see ourselves or the universe. But when we deny the truth, we demean ourselves and become phonies. Whatever other positive traits we may possess, we become frauds to ourselves when we deny known truths.
10 comments:
Good post. Next step: helping believers distinguish between knowledge and belief.
Don't they really know?
Yes, well they didn't mean actual truth, just their truth, which does set you free. Free from thinking for one, and of course free to run for office in the US.
The thing I like about truth, is that there is no "my truth" or "their truth". And, at least deep inside, everyone knows it. People can take it as "truth" that god is up there, because there are no facts that absolutely preclude him. But they are forced to fit him in to the facts that we know. If they refuse to make that much of an effort, then they truly are idiots.
Your truth is that there is no my truth and their truth, just one absolute truth and failure to recognize that makes you an idiot? Oh boy. Well that should play well {cough}. Good luck with that.
You do a good job of making it sound funny, but, YEAH. There are not alternative "truths".
"True" is just another word for "factual". Throwing "absolute" in there makes it sound dogmatic, but it's not.
Citing a fact is to say something that is true. Again, the facts (truth) in no way precludes the existence of god. But certain facts absolutely preclude the god of the Old Testament if your claim is that the book is literally true. The facts don't support that outlook. If they don't accept that, they are idiots. I don't care how it plays, but I'll tell you what - no one likes being known as an "idiot" and I think some people will move away from a literal belief in the bible if enough people call them an idiot, often enough.
You have to remember that their idea of "truth" is "whatever we believe is true", they really have no interest in what is factually true if it violates their interpretation of the Bible.
Truth, apparently, is in the eye of the believer.
I think Cephus has it right.
I know it's off thread, but my memory isn't what it was.
Was it on your blog that I used the expression "I'd bet a dollar to a dog turd" and someone took me to task about the disparity of values? If so, I'd like to posit that their values now seem pretty much equal.
"The Truth"...
When I was in 9th grade I had a teacher who hated me. Said so right out loud, in front of me and my father during one of his very frequent visits to the school for a conference about what to do about me.
He pointed a finger at me and shouted that if he had his way, kids and others like me would be be taken out and destroyed like dangerous livestock.
He felt that we (me in particular)were more dangerous to society than the crooks and juvenile delinquents of the school because we would not accept the fictions necessary for the orderly functioning of any society. Something should be done about us.
It's like with my freind and her little boy. She told him "THE TRUTH" about the benefits of honesty and inquiry. He learned the truth when he took her at her word.
Rudyard Kipling's mother is quoted as saying, "Fear of the lord is the beginning of falsehood". A pretty good way of looking at it, say I.
If I didn't know better, I would have sworn this post was written by the Happy Hominid.
Post a Comment