The Book of Ten Sayings 8

Some readers will find this next saying ridiculous. They will say, "Why constrain yourself to an old-fashioned concept such as truth? Limiting you options up front by declaring that you will avoid all non-truths is just not workable in our current era. But we stand by the truth, believing that it provides the optimal choice.

 Always prefer Truth. 

Truth is a shockingly powerful and uniquely dangerous concept, not just in itself and for what it can do, but as a tool of manipulation. As you strengthen your resolve to be a friend of truth and an advocate for her cause, ponder deeply these cautions and ask yourself if you can be sufficiently brave.

A. The truth will set you free, but many are interested in neither truth nor freedom. Truth is too painful and freedom too fearful to accept. 

B. When Jesus says that "the truth will will make you free" (see John 8:31-38) he means that the truth will set us free from slavery to sin. He does not mean that we will be free of all restraints and moral rules. We will be free to obey his commandments and to live a moral, spiritual life serving God.

C. Few people believe something that they want to be false.

D. Among the living, fame and reputation rise from  publicity rather than from excellence.

E. The law may say, "Yes," when righteousness says, "No," for the law is in the hands of men and righteousness belongs to God.  

F. What seems and what is differ often. If you are content to live a life of appearances, why do you care about truth?

In classical art, Truth is often depicted as a naked woman, who bares her beautiful body because she has nothing to hide. Nothing needs to be covered or patched up or hidden. If she dealt in cliches, she would quote, "What you see is what you get." Disguise and painting over flaws are simply not necessary or even desired. Falsehood, on the other hand, is represented with a plenitude of disguises, including enough makeup to cover a bridge, enough clothing to open a discount warehouse, and enough phony airs to fill the curriculum of a school for con artists.

The advice for those who want to build truth into the foundation and walls of their lives is

+ Test the truth claims. In a postmodernist world culture such as ours, many people are  happy to spin their own "narratives," which replace an accurate and objective account of things (formerly known as "truth").

+If you weaken and give up on truth, what you'll have left is a set of absurd ideas forced upon a culture adrift morally, economically, politically, and spiritually.

The Book of Ten Sayings 1

 Introduction This "book" was intended to be an entire book when first conceived, consisting on an elaboration of the ten most important sayings of all time. But life circumstances have held it back into a very incomplete form. In spite of that, perhaps there is a kernel of wisdom somewhere here that will resonate with you and help you to grow into a better person and friend. 

 The First Saying 

 1. Put God First .

Some have accused God of being self-centered and even egotistical for wanting to be worshipped and at the center of humans' attention. But the truth is, the fallen creature known as man has been so corrupted by Satan (who IS the egotist) that the only way to get man from being self-centered is to shift his focus onto something more powerfully attractive. Focus on God, knowing him, serving him, loving him, and you will find a better opportunity for happiness than through any other activity. Putting ourselves first results in unhappiness, to ourselves and others. 

Take a look at those who can theoretically buy anything, including happiness. Often they embark on a trajectory that traces the meteoric path across the sky, running on alcohol, sex, drugs, and wild behavior. But even ordinary teenagers can find misery--or death--by putting themselves ahead of everyone and everything else.

 I probably sound preachy, so I will just close with an anecdote. One year my friend Phil and I were driving on the way home from a computer conference in Las Vegas. Suddenly a small red sedan raced up behind us, swerved onto the median to avoid hitting us, and raced out of sight. Perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes later, we drove into a traffic jam. It soon cleared up. It was caused by the little red car, which was lying upside down in the ditch that separated the two sets of lanes. We read later that the car contained four teens. They died either by having their skulls crushed when the the top of the car collapsed on them, or else they drowned in the shallow--but deep enough--ditch water in the median. 

 The most serious and damaging of the "Seven Deadly Sins" is Pride because it not only does harm by its own misguided and misleading attitude, but it also stimulates some of the other of the sins, such as greed (or avarice) and anger (aka wrath). Finally, Pride affects and damages both the prideful person and everyone he comes into contact with. Some of the Seven Deadly Sins can be limited, generally speaking, to their owner. Sloth, for example, harms only the slothful one directly, although the damage done by shirking duty and by a attempting to skate by with shortcuts has negative effects on others, also.