“He who sees the truth, let him proclaim it, without asking who is for it or who is against it.” –American political economist Henry George (1839-1897)


“It is of great importance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and a third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him. This falsehood of the tongue leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good disposition.” –Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr, 1785

“If the people are capable of understanding, seeing and feeling the differences between true and false, right and wrong, virtue and vice, to what better principle can the friends of mankind apply than to the sense of this difference?” –John Adams (1775)

I always get a little uneasy when someone says “to tell you the truth” (was the rest of the conversation a lie?) , “you’ve GOT to believe me!” (why?), or “okay…..honestly?….” These are always red flags waving because it should be a part of our complete nature to tell the truth, nothing BUT the truth, so help me God! each and every day.

Truth is defined as: accordance with knowledge, fact, actuality; the real state of affairs.

The truth just IS. It is solid and real and ungarnished.

The truth of a circumstance can be worthy of praise or something that we are not particularly fond of….but it is the truth. It does not move or change.

So we must handle the truth with unwavering commitment to remain honest, even when we don’t like the facts.

If we begin to manipulate the truth, then, like it or not, we become liars and that’s where the ice grows very thin indeed!

If we persist, it becomes more and more difficult to tell the truth from a lie. We begin to get sick in our reasoning and  soon it becomes impossible to discern reality from the perversion.

A person can get hopelessly mired in quicksand once we wander from the bedrock of truth. Let’s commit to be people of the truth.

John 8:42-47, The Message (MSG):

“If God were your father,” said Jesus, “you would love me, for I came from God and arrived here. I didn’t come on my own. He sent me. Why can’t you understand one word I say? Here’s why: You can’t handle it. You’re from your father, the Devil, and all you want to do is please him. He was a killer from the very start. He couldn’t stand the truth because there wasn’t a shred of truth in him. When the Liar speaks, he makes it up out of his lying nature and fills the world with lies. I arrive on the scene, tell you the plain truth, and you refuse to have a thing to do with me. Can any one of you convict me of a single misleading word, a single sinful act? But if I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Anyone on God’s side listens to God’s words. This is why you’re not listening – because you’re not on God’s side.”