Acting Like Truth Matters

Folks have thought truth is important for quite a while:

“Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.”
(Aristotle, “Nicomachean Ethics” (349 BC))

3 Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss.
“Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.”
(Psalms 85:1112)

“Never gainsay the truth, and struggle not against the rushing stream.
“Be not ashamed to acknowledge your guilt, but of your ignorance rather be ashamed.”
(Sirach 4:2526)

“The Heavenly City outshines Rome, beyond comparison. There, instead of victory, is truth; instead of high rank, holiness; instead of peace, felicity; instead of life, eternity.”
(St. Augustine of Hippo, “The City of God,” (early 5th century))

“The inclination to seek the truth is safer than the presumption which regards unknown things as known.”
(St. Augustine of Hippo, “De Trinitate,” (417))

I think truth is important, too. As a Christian, I’d better:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth 5 and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
(John 14:6)

The Cambridge dictionary says truth is “the quality of being true,” and “the actual fact or facts about a matter:” which is a bit more useful than the other definition.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church’s glossary doesn’t include that word, but the index has quite a few entries under “truth.” One of those says that truth is the virtue of being true in what I do and say. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2468)

That helps, a little.

At least now I know that truth or truthfulness is a virtue. Backing up a little, there’s a pretty good overview of virtues in “The Dignity of the Human Person.” (Catechism, 18031832)

That part quotes Philippians 4:8, then says that a virtue is an established habit and attitude that points me toward what is good. It helps me notice what is good, and choose to do what is right. (Catechism, 1803)

Ignoring what is good and true, and making bad decisions, is an option. I’ve got free will, and that’s another topic. (March 5, 2017; November 13, 2016)

Faith, Reason, and Mr. Squibbs

I don’t know if I’d have decided to become a Catholic, if it meant steadfastly ignoring what we’ve learned since 1543, 1749, 1859, or some other arbitrary date.

The question is hypothetical, since we embrace truth: all truth. We should, that is.

Individual Catholics may be as fervently dedicated to a bit of 17th-century scholarship as their Protestant counterparts. (October 28, 2016; August 28, 2016)

But the Church does not warn us against “tampering with things man was not supposed to know,” as Mr. Squibbs put it. (October 16, 2016; August 21, 2016)

We’re told that faith means willingly and consciously embracing “the whole truth that God has revealed.” (Catechism, 142150)

We’re also told that God created everything: this universe and the things of faith. Faith, the Catholic version, and reason, get along fine. So do science and religion. (Genesis 1:1; “Fides et Ratio;” “Gaudium et Spes,” 36; Catechism, 159)

Sometimes a newly-discovered fact doesn’t fit assumptions we’d made earlier. That upsets some folks, but doesn’t make God a liar.

It means we need to think about what we’re learning. Eventually, we’ll solve the puzzle. “Truth cannot contradict truth,” as Leo XIII said. (“Providentissimus Deus,” Pope Leo XIII (November 18, 1893))

Being curious, thinking, and studying the universe, is a good idea. It’s part of being human. It’s part of what we’re supposed to do. That, and developing new technology by using what we learn. (Catechism, 282289, 1704, 22932296)

Noticing order and beauty in the universe is one way we can learn about God. (Catechism, 3132, 3536, 319, 1704)

Like I keep saying, scientific discoveries don’t threaten an informed faith. They’re opportunities for greater admiration of God’s work. (Catechism, 283, 341)

Asking Questions

The first ‘Catholic’ document I studied was “Humanae Vitae.” I didn’t like what it said, not at the time. But I couldn’t argue with the logic.

Later, I wasn’t surprised by the Catechism’s insistence that logic and truth made sense, that we’re supposed to accept both: and that science and faith both seek truth. (Catechism, 31, 159, 1849)

Where was I? Truth, Aristotle, St. Augustine of Hippo. Right.

I didn’t become a Catholic because the Pontifical Academy of Sciences is at Casina Pio IV in Vatican City.

But I’d be about as likely to join folks who fear knowledge, as I’d be to sign up with a bunch who think they can rewrite the Decalogue if they get enough votes.

Asking questions, seeking truth in what we can see, is far from a new idea:

“Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air…. They all answer you, ‘Here we are, look; we’re beautiful.’…
“…So in this way they arrived at a knowledge of the god who made things, through the things which he made.”
(Sermon 241, St. Augustine of Hippo (ca. 411))

Simple, Far From Easy

I could decide that just believing is enough.

I’ve got free will, so that’s an option. It’s also a bad idea. I have to act like our Lord matters. That gets me to Sunday’s Gospel reading, John 14:1521:

“‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate 8 to be with you always,
“the Spirit of truth, 9 which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.”
(John 14:1517)

I could go nuts, trying to memorize the Ten Commandments and every rule of conduct that’s been written since. That might be interesting, but it’s not necessary.

Our Lord boiled the whole thing down to a few simple points.

I should love God, love my neighbor, and see everyone as my neighbor. That’s “the whole law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:3640, Mark 12:2831; Matthew 5:4344; Mark 12:2831; Luke 10:2530; Catechism, 1825)

“Simple” isn’t “easy.”

Let’s say I notice my neighbor trying to commit suicide.

Saying ‘do whatever you want, I love you’ would be a bad idea. So would telling a suicide victim’s nearest and dearest that the recently deceased is roasting in Hell.

Suicide is a bad idea and we shouldn’t do it. But life is precious, hope is a virtue, and trusting God makes sense, even — particularly — when bad things happen. (Catechism, 18171821, 2258, 22802283)

I know from personal experience that choosing hope can be very, very hard. But the other option is not viable. (February 24, 2017; October 14, 2016)

Depression, death, and despair, aren’t cheerful topics. They’re unpleasant, unavoidable, and unacceptable, respectively. Dwelling on them doesn’t, I think, make sense; and that’s quite enough words starting with “d,” at least for the moment.

I’ve found that remembering the big picture helps lift my mood. Your experience may vary.

“These Few Years….”

I can’t die: not permanently. That’s good news, or bad news, depending on what I decide at my final performance review. We call it the particular judgment. It comes right after my physical death. (Catechism, 10201037)

If I decide that acting like a rational creature is less important than some trivial whim or desire, I can opt out of Heaven. That’d be a daft decision, but it is possible. (Catechism, 10211022)

Nobody’s dragged, kicking and screaming, into Heaven.

It’s not just about me and eternity, though.

Part of my job is passing along the best news we’ve ever had.

God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (John 1:1214, 3:17; Romans 8:1417; Peter 1:34; Catechism, 1, 2730, 52).

If I take love seriously I’ll also do what I can to help build the “civilization of love” Pope St. John Paul II talked about. (May 7, 2017)

Dual Citizenship

In the long term, my “citizenship is in heaven.” (Philippians 3:20)

At the moment, I’m living in America; so I have a sort of dual citizenship. (February 27, 2017; August 14, 2016; July 24, 2016)

Part of my responsibility as a citizen is to do what I can to work for the common good, correcting what is unjust and supporting what is right. (Catechism, 19281942, 24012449)

That does not mean claiming that everyone should act like an American, or insisting on one ‘correct’ form of government. We’re not all alike, and aren’t supposed to be. (Catechism, 18971917, 1957)

I can’t end world hunger, establish a lasting peace in the Middle East, or cure the common cold. I’m just one man living in central Minnesota.

But working at conforming my will to God’s, trying to act as if God matters: that, I can do.

I can also suggest that we all work with what we have: doing what we can, correcting what is unjust and supporting what is right.

And I can repeat what I think is true: that we are, each of us, made “in the divine image.” (Genesis 1:27)

Whoever we are, wherever we live, each of us has equal dignity. Part of our job is working with each other, correcting inequalities which do not reflect that dignity. (Catechism, 18971917, 19281942, 2334)

I think we can build a better world. I am sure that we must try.


(From Ridwan Chandra, used w/o permission.)

More, mostly about love and making sense:

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About Brian H. Gill

I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.
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4 Responses to Acting Like Truth Matters

  1. Peggy Haslar says:

    We must try. Yes indeed. The challenges are huge and our love must lead.

  2. irishbrigid says:

    I feel something is missing here: “The idea that asking questions, seeking truth in what we can see, is far from new”

    The Friendly Neighborhood Proofreader

Thanks for taking time to comment!