PASTOR DAVE’S MUSINGS FROM THE HEARTLAND

January 14, 2024

FOUR-WAY TEST (Part II)

Is it the truth?

The first test suggested by the Rotary Four-Way test is “Is it the truth?”  In a world that has been reduced to talking points, it has become harder and harder to tell what is true.  The number of sources that can be trusted as striving to discover the truth has been reduced to almost nil.  What Is important is power and winning at all costs.  Discussion has been reduced to personality attacks rather than being fact based.  In such an environment how can one discover the truth?

Rotary International suggests the following process to discover what is truth.  To find what is true it is necessary “that we do our homework to collect information and to apply critical thinking by asking questions to know the difference between facts, beliefs, assumptions, and opinions as well as know what we don’t know.”  Important for this process are clarity, transparency, fact check, and ethical behavior.

The place to begin to become a truth teller is to examine our own opinions.  Are they based on facts, beliefs, assumptions, opinions, or talking points.  Some may be a combination.  We need to examine the sources we use to form our opinions.  How much can they be trusted to be factual?  How much is actually commentary.  Nouns tend to represent facts while adjectives tend to represent opinions.

Once we have done an analysis of our own opinions as to whether they represent facts, beliefs, assumptions, opinions, or talking points, we need to be careful in how we represent them.  Unless we are absolutely sure an opinion is a fact, we should probably preface it with “I believe,” or “I think,” or “It is held by some,” or “It is my opinion.”  This is especially true for political opinions.  It has been my experience that most commentary about current events is given through the filter of the presenter’s standard talking points.  We get close to the truth of a statement if we can hear the actual statement rather than a report or commentary about it.

In the scriptures we find “Above all, my beloved, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ’Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation (James 5:12), anything more than this comes from the evil one (Matthew 5:37b).”  In Proverbs we find “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but the prudent are restrained in speech (Proverbs 10:19).” The Bible would seem to be saying that in striving to tell the truth, the less said the better.  This is especially true when one gets into the areas of beliefs, assumptions, opinions, and talking points.

It is natural to seek out resources and sources that support one’s own position.  Unfortunately, this can also reinforce opinions, assumptions, and beliefs which are not true.  There is value in seeking out resources and sources that challenge what one holds to be true.  On the one hand, such an effort might help to correct misconceptions and misunderstandings.  On the other hand, it might help to clarify the truth of one’s own belief.

“Is it true?”  This is an important question that one should ask in considering the ramifications of a thought, statement, or action.

(Comments may be sent to davidh15503@embarqmail.com.)