“The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.” –Thomas Sowell

This quote reminds me of the classic “If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it make a sound” argument. My position is truth is truth, self-evident, given by God, external to ourselves. Our perception of it, whether individual or collective, is external to that truth, it does not change the nature of Truth itself.

The Truth is always the best. But we live in a craven, fallen world, full of sinners & saints. The Truth stands even if everyone of us declaim, defraud and denude it. Yet, going to what Dr. Sowell is saying, what we do with our perception of the truth…ah, there’s the rub. How do we know that our actions, or even our experiences, are in accordance with the Truth? How do we know our assessments are correct?

This is one of the most monumental dividing issues between conservative and liberal ideology. Truth is either subjective or objective. It is either a construct of human will, or it stands on its own, given by a Creator greater than ourselves.

Of course, too often, the truth is brandished about as an objective club by fallen human beings. This is often one of the chief complaints by liberals against conservatives. Sooner or later, other fallen human beings begin to see the truth about the so-called truth-bearer, and their conclusion is the emperor has no clothes. Conservatives open themselves up to legitimate criticism when the proclaim Truth and fail to act according to the light of that truth.

But, the the liberal throws out the notion of Truth while rebelling against imperfect societal constructs proclaimed by conservatives. The liberals, who reject the notion of Truth itself, proceed to attempt to remold humanity, government, and society into what THEY want. And what they want is generally anathema to the Truth, because they generally get rid of the idea of a Creator who gave forth Truth in the first place. Their error then expresses itself exponentially as they veer further and further away from the source of Truth.

So how do we know if we are on the side of Truth? How do we know if we serve Truth? The Creator revealed himself in the Bible. So first, we check our actions & thoughts in line with Biblical precepts. And we need to do so regularly. We need to keep at it, checking and verifying our perception of truth against Truth as objectively revealed.

If we do this, we tend to become less dogmatic about more things. I boil my perception of the truth down to one essential fact: Christ died for me as my sole source of salvation & sanctification. So for me, The Atonement of Jesus Christ is 51% of the deal. All else is part of the 49%…important stuff to be sure, but not the deal-breaker.

What is best is what is truthful. The liberal schema does not serve what is best, because they deny our Creator. They mask their true intentions with a populist appeal to fix the fallen creation without acknowledging the Creator, Sin or Savior. And as they try to remake society, they decide what is best. They proclaim what is best. They endlessly proclaim what is best.

But, with humility rather than anger (something I’m not very good at, I admit), we need to hold to the truth no matter what the liberals proclaim. We know the emperor has no clothes. Even if all of society is going down the tubes, we hold to a cause greater than ourselves. Being true to our nature, true to our God, and true to our God’s intention for our lives.

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