Exchanging Truth for a Lie

“The past was erased; the erasure was forgotten; the lie became the truth.” George Orwell

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus at His trial, “What is truth?” The irony of that scene shows the truth stood right before him, but he did not recognize it. Later, the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans about the world system exchanging the truth for a lie, and refusing, like Pilate to see the truth. As a consequence, they worshiped the creation rather than the Creator.

Despising the truth leads to passion ruling our lives–hatred, murder, stealing, envy, strife and malice–the trailblazers to the inability to reason and enslavement to improper things. The past two-thousand-plus years have not taught humankind much, so we seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Watching the defacing and removal of statues, the burning, looting and lawlessness we view on the news leads us to understand truth is terminally ill. Erasing our history will not make things better, for history simply records human nature. America is not perfect, nor will she ever be, because its citizens’ hearts are prone to wickedness, the problem for all humankind no matter what color. The ancients considered the heart to be the seat of emotions and will. Until hearts change, erasing the facts will do nothing. Laws simply define evil, place protections around the most vulnerable, and bring order to the chaos of everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.

When Pilate rejected the truth of Jesus, he allowed a mob to crucify Him. Washing his hands did nothing to absolve him from the guilt of his action/inaction. Today, each of us has a choice. Accept the reality of eternal truth or wash our hands in indifference. Statues erected to commemorate people and events are the reality of history. Right or wrong, they stand as sentinels of events.

Giving hearty approval to these acts of destruction not only put our nation precariously close to ruin, it also fuels the fires of insatiable passion. America can be better, there is no doubt of that, but a reasonable person looks to the Constitution to make meaningful changes peaceably and in an orderly fashion without violence. Lawlessness rejects truth and brings anarchy, the opposite of truth and righteousness. America, wake up before truth is replaced by something we will all regret.