To Love the Truth Day 2: Why Truth?

I guess you can blame my mom and dad for this one.  In a way, truth was destined to be a part of me.  My name, Allison, means "little truthful one."  While ultimately they chose my name because they liked it, they were well aware of the meaning and for that reason I like to think I've been called to love the truth.  To testify to the truth.

So why is truth so important?

Here are a few verses that give us a hint.

John 8:32 "Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

1 John 2:20 - "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth."

3 John 3-4 - "It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear my children are walking in the truth."

Because once you hear it and believe it, Truth changes everything.  It frees us.   We must learn to love the Truth because our very lives depend on it, as it says in the verse I posted yesterday.

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Truth is also important on an ethical level.  Even those who don't believe in God acknowledge that some socially accepted degree of truth must exist for the sake of humanity.

Think about it.  The very art of communication requires that we tell the truth.  Imagine living in the world where we didn't have at least the expectation that people tell the truth.  Life would quickly become chaotic without the norm of honesty.  Similarly, truth is necessary for human dignity.  If you believe human life is of any amount of value, you must live honestly and assume that others are telling you the truth as well.  How would you ever even make a decision? 

I know some of you may think we already live in the chaotic world described above.  I assure you that while things seem bad, we aren't there *yet*.  We are still more or less surprised when big lies are exposed and people behave dishonestly.  We still appalled by those actions and are outraged to have been deceived and betrayed.  The day someone's double life is exposed and no one bats an eye: that's when we'll know we've lost sight of all Truth.

Truth is absolutely necessary for society to function.  Our lives are ultimately dependent on Truth.