November 17, 2014
Opinion, Theory, or Fact
I recently interviewed a
woman whose pet peeve is people presenting their opinions as fact. After some
thought I realized that whether a speaker or a listener, the difference between
opinion and fact is seldom clearly stated. What I find even more interesting is
that society tells us to accept what is said on the grounds of “to each his own,”
rather than asking others to quantify statements. I now have a greater
appreciation for Paul’s clarification about his own opinion, “Now about
virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by
the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. Because of the present
crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are” (1Cor
7:25-26 NIV).
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1 comment:
Gail;
-----Listening to other people’s opinions is always beneficial. At one time (very recently, actually) I had a low opinion of opinions. But then, I began to realize opinions were like art. They are representations of things revealing more about the opinion holder than they do about actuality. Within someone's opinion of a thing is embedded at least something of what that person wants to be true. And when you know the truth of the thing yourself, you can pretty well estimate someone else’s character having heard his opinions. Even if you don’t know the relevant truths, you can still evaluate a person’s desire for truth by how he develops his opinions.
-----Naturally, there is always the age old “Who’s to say what’s true” nonsense having the lipstick of its kissing cousin smeared all over its face: “What is truth?” To know the kissed cousin, first know the kissing one. The telltale clue is the lipstick. Putting forth the proposition that there is no truth in the form of a rhetorical question belies the fact of a dodge, a feint, a healthy smear of lipstick covering for the real lips’ "We don't want to admit the truth." The dodge itself points in the opposite direction towards the actual truth. The shape of the lips, not their color, reveals truth. For things simply are as they are. This is the first principle of science upon which we depend for knowing anything. It is called the identity principle. Everything is identified by its own self. Truth is the knowledge of something’s actual identity. So, there you go, Pilot, that’s what truth is.
-----Then, who is to say what’s true? I love this question. And I relish answering it. For the person to say what is true is the person who desires truth enough to put his own self aside and search out actual identities. Everything starts with desire. That’s why the Psalms are so replete with messages of desiring the Lord and desiring righteousness. When you start there and keep there, you end up there, because we naturally seek what we desire. And if we desire the truth, we seek it rather than whatever concept might serve anything else, simply because we haven‘t desired anything else; we‘ve desired truth. So desire for the truth drives us straight ahead into searching for it, turning neither to the left for someone else’s guess, nor to the right towards our own guess, but onward to only evidence revealing particular characteristics of actuality, whether we like them or not. And having these evidences securely in hand, and being able to eliminate by them all possible perceptions except one, you’ve become the one to say what’s true concerning something. It doesn’t matter whether anyone believes you or not. For what is true is the actual concept of what something really is, not pop hodgepodge. It only matters that you’ve attained all of the relevant facts, known them as they are, and understood their real interrelationships.
-----As being God in a man, the Creator living as one of us, Jesus knew all facts about all things and all of their interrelationships. He desired His Father’s will to it’s last jot. His life was the epitome of desire for God, His righteousness, and for exactly how the I AM meant things to be. He laid Himself aside for the way things have been and are and forever will be. He is to say what is true. And since He reflects His Father and the real way everything actually relates to God, He is the Truth. Each of us who have followed Him into the same character of laying self aside to grasp reality are to say what truth is about the few things we’ve completely examined. Everything else incompletely examined are estimates only, called opinions when they’re improperly regarded as truths.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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