In one of the most poignant scenes in all of scripture, Pilate is interrogating the prisoner Jesus, brought to him under charges of sedition: claiming to be king in place of Caesar. Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate asked him, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38).
Pilate knew the truth: he found no fault in Jesus. Yet he caved to political expediency, participated in The Big Lie, and allowed Jesus to be unjustly crucified.
Truth is under assault in our world, and it is a matter of life and death for all of us. Back in the 1990s, when the internet was still young, there was wide-eyed optimism about the power of the information revolution. Communist dictatorships that relied on state-controlled propaganda crumbled as truth seeped in at 2400 bits per second. The internet was to be the great disseminator of truth, and with it, freedom.
We know, of course, that the information revolution has had the opposite effect. We are so deluged with information, that we no longer have the capacity to judge truth from falsehood. Sophisticated disinformation programs can subvert the truth through echo-chambers of like-minded people. Politicians cooperate to repeat lies that undermine democracy itself.
Some disinformation appeals to our own cynicism and vanity. It draws us in with the promise of revealing secret knowledge, decoding hidden meanings, and exposing massive conspiracies convincing us that up is down, truth is falsehood, wrong is right. The most egregious example is how thousands of American “patriots” acting on a blatantly untrue conspiracy theory of a stolen election launched an insurrection against our Capitol on January 6.
Presbyterians have a commitment to the truth. Among the great ends, or purposes, of the church affirmed in our Book of Order is “the preservation of the truth” (F-1.0304). Our historic principles tell us that “truth is in order to goodness… and that no opinion can either be more pernicious or more absurd than that which brings truth and falsehood upon a level…. We are persuaded that there is an inseparable connection between faith and practice, truth and duty” (F-3.0104). Jesus said the same to Nicodemus, who had come to him under the cover of night: “Those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God” (John 3:21).
Every lie has its price. Every falsehood damages someone or something. There is an old Jewish story about a woman who came to her rabbi and told him that she had been telling false rumors about her neighbors. She wanted the rabbi to help her make everything right. He told her to go and pluck a chicken and scatter the feathers all the way from her home to his, then to gather them up again and bring them to him. He promised her that if she did this he would give her his answer. She agreed and left. The next day she came back and told the rabbi that she had done as she was instructed. She had plucked the chicken and scattered the feathers. But she said, she could not bring the feathers to him, for the wind had scattered them everywhere. Then the rabbi said, "Lies are like feathers. Once you have scattered them, it is impossible to pick them all up again. You cannot undo the damage or completely change it. So from now on, make up your mind to speak only the truth."
There are many ways of lying, but there is really only one way to be true. It is more than just uttering factual statements, more than mere forthrightness. It is an attitude of the heart, what might be called truthfulness. It emerges from our inner person and makes itself known in action. It is, in another word, integrity.
Jesus instructs us in the Sermon on the Mount: “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’. Whatever is more than these comes from the evil one” (Matt. 5:37, NKJV). When we knowingly promote lies, it is from the evil one. When we tweak facts and shade the truth to suit our liking, it is from the evil one. When we tune out the voices of others who speak the truth in love, it is from the evil one.
But we are not of the evil one; we are the children of God. As those who hear the voice of true King, let us bear witness to the truth in every part of our lives, and especially in the community of faith.
Faithfully,
Dan Saperstein, Executive Presbyter
