MARK CARNEY & A 2-STATE SOLUTION

 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has stated Canada recognizes a Palestinian state to exist beside Israel. His “envisions” this yet to be state of Palestine that will living harmoniously with Israel, “building its future in peace and security alongside the State of Israel.” Didn’t we go down a similar path with the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995? 

The idea of a two-state solution or land-for-peace has been proposed for decades, without success. The idea is as deeply flawed as land-for-peace efforts of the Clinton Administration in the 1990s. The Oslo Peace Accord eventually collapsed with both Israel and the Palestinians blaming each other. I predict (and I hope I am wrong) that the latest attempt at a two-state solution will have as much of a chance to succeed as the Oslo Accord. 

Nearly 30 years ago (June of 1996) I wrote to then Secretary of State Warren Christopher about the unstable Middle East and the proposed land-for-peace solution. As noble as the idea was, many people suspected it wouldn’t work. There was no desire of either party for it to work. How could it? Both parties claimed historic ownership of the same land dating back to antiquity. There have been oceans of blood shed over historic grievances. But the central ingredient for a two-state solution or land-for-peace is missing. What was the missing ingredient? A desire by both parties—an authentic wholehearted desire for peaceful coexistence. It didn’t exist 30 years ago, and it doesn’t exist now! The foundation of a two-state solution is too shaky and fragile.

In my correspondence to US Secretary of State Warren, I stated: 

“Any peace worth having must be based on peace for the sake of peace. That is a peace of substance. It’s rather like love motivated by money versus love motivated for love’s sake. The first is counterfeit, the second is genuine. Love based on pecuniary motives is not love at all.  Peace motivated by securing land is a counterfeit peace. The real question arises: What happens after the land swap? Will the memory of land for peace be steadfast when the next grievance is on the table? (Desiring is a strong motivation until the object is attained, then often the desire for more raises its ugly head. It’s human nature.) Deep-seated, historical hatred between peoples will remain—not to mention wild variables like Hezbollah and Hamas. … Land for peace can be a motivation, not the motivation. Peace for the sake of peace is the only peace worth having.” 

Fast forward to 2025. What makes Mark Carney think it will work now? It may well be that the Palestinian authority gets will get sidelined again by Hamas. Will Hamas willingly step aside from power when their goal to wipe Israel off the map is still unattained (and hopefully never will be attained)? They will regroup. They may combine forces with other terrorist groups in the area such as Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Resistance Committeesand/or the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade to seize power in a newly establish Palestinian state?  

Remember how ineffective the PA was after the Oslo Accords of the mid-1990s? Why wouldn’t they be equally ineffectual now? The central ingredient for peace is still missing: A desire to achieve peace for the sake of peace and a willingness of both sides to sacrifice something to achieve such a worthy goal. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emphatically vowed to prevent a Palestinian state. His first priority is protecting Israel and its people and eliminating Hamas. That’s his job. He has no other choice. And so the impasse to a two-state solution will continue as long as Hamas is part of the equation.  Prime Minister Netanyahu has clearly stated that he will not stop hunting down Hunting down Hamas until they are completely eliminated and all hostages released. So why haven’t the Palestinians cooperated with Israel to eliminate Hamas from their midst? The war will be over. Could it be that the Palestinians actually support Hamas? If that is true, how can there be any peaceful two-state solution?

Carney’s regurgitated two-state solution remains an unstable vision for Israelis and Palestinians as two independent states living peacefully side by side. Why would Israel agree to live side-by-side with a state in which an entity remains embedded that has vowed for their destruction and will likely continue campaigns of terror against them? Hamas wants Israel’s destruction and Israel may rightly believe they are in Gaza. There is still no overwhelming desire in for peace from those who surround it Israel. Israel cannot allow itself to be next to a state that poses a clear and ever-present danger to very existence.

Until Hamas is eliminated there can be no two-state solution, no land for peace. The risk is simply too high and unstable regardless of what Prime Minister Carney wants to envision. Desiring is not having. Until peace is wanted for the sake of peace there will be no peace. 

President Trump can provide a critical stabilizing role in finding a solution for the Palestinians and Israels. I think it begins with the complete elimination of Hamas by whatever tough or brutal means are required short of nuclear. This may create deterrence for other terrorist groups who threaten the security of Israel. They must understand that President Trump is resolute in protecting Israel (surrounded by hostile nations). If that means Israel’s allies must assist them in rooting out and neutralizing Hamas, then so be it. Once Israel feels safer, a path forward for peace and economic renewal for all can begin. 

 

 

CHARLIE KIRK'S ASSASSINATION AND AMERICA'S FUTURE

 

Did Charlie Kirk die in vain? He was such a good man with wisdom beyond his young years. Charlie Kirk was a husband, a father and a Patriot, but he was first a lover of Jesus Christ. He openly proclaimed his faith to the world. For the sake of goodness and Truth, he willingly took the poison darts and arrows of the woke left. Millions of people across America (and at least one old man in western Canada) are tearfully asking the question: Why? Vision is blurred when clouded by tears. Charlie Kirk has become a Christian martyr.

 

Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Saint Paul said that all things work together for good to those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose. That describes the life of Charlie Kirk.

God can use what has happened for good. God can use conservative America’s pain to accomplish wonderful things far beyond what we can imagine. 

Let me illustrate this with an example from my own life. Early in my career I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). It was very aggressive.The upward trajectory of my career stalled. Eventually I was put out to pasture at the age of thirty-eight. I sank into a clinical depression as MS ravaged my body and a creeping paralysis became apparent. I asked God ‘Why?’ My life seemed over. 

It was in the dark shadows of depression and defeat that God gave me a task: Be willing to go with my canes, or crutches or wheelchair anywhere I was given the opportunity to proclaim a simple message. What was that message? Every human life has incalculable value and worth for no other reason than they bear the indelible image of God. America and many jurisdictions were contemplating legalizing euthanasia. Jack Kevorkian was leading the charge. I said Yes, thinking God would only send me around the Canadian province where I live. Nope. He sent me across Canada and the United States—from Victoria on Canada’s west coast to Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast, from Los Angeles to Boston, Whitehorse in the Canada’s Yukon to Louisiana and Alabama on the Gulf of America and countless small towns and big cities between those points. My last speaking engagement was Dubuque, Iowa in 2018. Travel had become too difficult.

What seems like a tragedy or defeat can be the beginning of something much larger, like using Charlie’s martyrdom as a turning point for America to return to being one nation under God? I believe with all my heart that being one nation under God was what raised America’s economic prowess for unprecedented prosperity, and a colossal military for the forces of good, and human liberty (not licence) to heights never known before in history. God blessed America.

Now that is threatened because half of America has forgotten they were one nation under God. America is at a crisis point. You can either crack apart and make a mockery of your noble experiment that thrived for more than two centuries; or will this hour of crisis be an opportunity for America’s renewal. Take Charlie Kirk’s example. 

Reject the evil of the woke far left who seek to destroy America as we know it and replace it with communism or some grotesque entity concocted in their own image.They and their Democratic friends (with a compliant media) fan the flames of American against American. Christ said: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand".

I don’t want that for America! I love America! Take the love of Christ to Americans who are so lost they don’t even know if they are male of female, take it to women in crisis pregnancies to choose life not death for their babies, Make killing old and disabled people—who have sunk beneath the waves of their circumstances—anathema. Remove gender ideology from schools, encourage faith and family and pray for God’s guidance in the coming dark days of crisis that will either lead to America’s demise, or America’s renewal. Understand that free speech must have its limits. It stops with the espousing the killing of fellow American, or the destruction of the nation: its institutions, its laws and constitution, its mores and long-established Christian ethos that has been a blessing to America. The left is trying to bring all that down.

Their treacherous and treasonous ideas cannot be tolerated. They must be rooted out by whatever means necessary to preserve the American Union and the integrity established from the nation’s beginning. Granted, there were dark chapters, but the journey toward a more perfect union has always been the goal within the Founder’s original vision. They had a vision of what America could be but was yet unattained. Do not lose sight of their great vision and stay the course toward it.

Reflecting on the 1787 Signing of the American Constitution in Philadelphia, one of the nation’s Founding Fathers, James Madison (1751-1836), remembered words Benjamin Franklin spoke at the Constitutional Convention. He wrote:

“Whilst the last members were signing, Doctor Franklin, looking toward the President’s chair, at the back of which a rising sun happened to be painted, observed to a few members around him, that the painters had failed to distinguish in their art, a rising from a setting sun. I have, said he, often and often, in the course of the sessions, and the vicissitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that behind the President’s chair, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting; but now at length, I have the happiness to know. That it is a rising, and not a setting sun.”^[1]

Now, 238 years after the great man spoke those immortal words, Americans must again determine whether the sun is still rising or is it setting on the United States. If the sun is setting on your great nation, understand that darkness always follows sun sets. If the sun is still rising on the sacred uplands of America, there will be a light of a renewed and hope-filled future. American’s must decide which it will be. I pray you will follow Charlie Kirk's example, choose to a rising sun, and Make America Great Again. 

MDP

Alberta, Canada.

_____________

[1] Lefton S. Stavrianos, ed., Reading in World History (Boston: Allyn and Bacon Inc.),  p. 258.

SEVEN WONDERFUL YEARS

 

What is the difference between envy and jealousy? The Mirriam-Webster online dictionary defines it this way:

“While many people believe that jealous means fearing someone will take what you have, and envious means desiring what someone else has, historical usage shows that both mean "covetous" and are interchangeable when describing desiring someone else's possessions.”

And again:

““Envy means discontented longing for someone else’s advantages. Jealousy means unpleasant suspicion, or apprehension of rivalship.””[1]

 

Envy can fester inside a person like a boil that needs to be lanced. It can bring the worst out in a person. Envy is corrosive to the soul. Jealousy sets the human heart on fire. Covetousness. It is the Tenth Commandments: Exodus 20:17. It tells us not to covet any of our neighbours’ possessions.

At a personal level, I am not guilty of coveting other people’s cars or large houses, exotic vacations or business success. I have, however, been guilty of coveting other people’s health. For over 40 years, I have struggled with multiple sclerosis (MS). Large swaths of my adult life have been in wide-eyed fear of aggressive MS, as paralysis gradually spread. It put me in an electric wheelchair. Often, I wished I could walk like other men do. That’s envy.

My Canadian community has a hill at its center. One crisp Canadian winter day, I took my three-year-old grandson for a ride on my electric wheelchair. The fresh air was cold and clean. My little guy was toasty warm in his snowsuit and touque under a wool blank on my lap. We headed up the hill (my house its at he bottom of the hill). About halfway up, I stopped to watch another grandfather sliding down the hill on a toboggin with his small grandson about the same age as mine. His child squealed with delight. They tumbled off the toboggin into a cloud of snow and laughed more.

My grandson simply watched them from my lap. I was envious. I wished I could do that with my grandson! I wanted the health that that other grandfather enjoyed; there was no desire to take his health from him. I was envious not jealous. But as the good folks at Mirriam-Webster said, “…historical usage of both [envy and jealousy] shows that both mean “covetous” and are interchangeable when describing someone else’s possessions.” That other grandfather possessed health I did not have. I felt swindled by life.

To covet is a sin. That wintry day, covetousness gripped my heart and stripped me of my joy of being with my grandchild. Envy robs joy and contentment. 

Saint Paul said: 

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.”[2]

 

I needed to confess my sin and be content with what I do have: life and love. With time I learned to stop looking back at the normal body I once had. After many years of paralysis and in an electric wheelchair, something unexpected but marvelous happened one day when I prayed to Christ before me in the Blessed Sacrament:

“Lord, if it be possible, raise me from this wheelchair, even for a short time, even if I must use a walker, crutches or canes. Let me dance with my wife, even if it’s only once. Make my atrophied legs bear my weight.”

 

I didn’t ask for a cure, only time. 

And then over the next few days, it happened! God did raise me (an old man) to walk again in late-stage MS. That was over seven years ago. We had been convinced my next address would be a nursing home or a cemetery! Everything turned around.

 

On a cold winter’s night, with the dim light of a fire's embers in our fireplace, my wife and I danced once again, just the two of us. I played the last song we danced to so many decades before: Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady, by the Commodores. I have walked for seven years. My wheelchair has been in a spare room gathering dust, and my wife and I still dance.

Now, my legs are growing weaker and tire walking more than short distances. I've developed a serious limp. Is it time to go back into my wheelchair? I don't know. If so, then let it be. I was given seven wonderful years. I prayed for time, not a cure. God gave me that. Thank you Lord.

---

[1] Mirriam-Webster, ”Jealous versus Envy”  https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/jealous-vs-envious

[2] Philippians 4:12-13.

A MORE PERFECT LOVE

I read an excellent rather old but thought provoking article by Gilbert Meilaender in the February 2022 edition of First Things magazine, under the title “Reunion of the Far Shore.”  He addressed the desire Christians have to be with love-ones who have died. He wrote:

 

“What should be apparent is that thinking about our desire for reunion on the far shore directs us to add a problem at the heart of Christian life. How are we to hold together—to live together—the two great commands, to love both God and our neighbor? Clearly, if we think of God chiefly exists to satisfy our desires and make us happy, we are hardly loving him above all else. Moreover, it is hard to deny much in our loves and desires are misshapen and distorted, and that they often need not to be satisfied but to be redirected and perfected.”

 

He's right. What are Christ’s two great commandments. We find them in in Matthew 22:37-40, when Jesus responds to a pharisee who tested Him by asking what is the greatest commandment? Jesus responded, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 

Out of our love for God should pour gigantic love for our neighbour and ourselves. Only in having a healthy self-love or self-concept, are we capable of properly loving others. I’m not talking about having inflated egos or conceit or a deluded sense of self grandeur; I’m referring to a self-awareness that we have being endowed with since our beginning with the indelible image of God, and that we are loved with unfathomable love by Him. 

 

The closer a person draws to God, the more he becomes aware of his own inadequacies and sin and distorted state of being.  Like Peter falling at Jesus’ feet, we are tempted to ask the Lord to depart from us because the blazing holy light of His presence exposes our darkness and sin, our unholiness.  He is perfect as we should be.[1] The light of His perfection, makes us turn away in shame.

 

I dare not delude myself to think that becoming perfect is possible in this life, only the next, even though Jesus said to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5.48). The Apostle James wrote “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect and able to keep their whole body in check."2  Church tradition holds that James was the half-brother of Jesus (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3; Galatians 1:19).

 

I’ve fallen short of the mark so often, it could fill volumes to chronicle my failings. One of my faults—sins, has been misplaced love that has focussed of my family, at the expense of my love for God. I am guilty of breaking the 1st Commandment, for that I have confessed my sin.

 Mark

 

 

---

[1] Cf. Leviticus 19:2, Deuteronomy 18:13, 2Samuel 22:31, 2Corinthians 7:1, Philippians 3:12.

[2] James 3:2.

SHOULD I START A PODCAST EXPLORING ISSUES OF DISABILITY?

 

Earlier in my life, numerous people tried to lure me to central Canada and away from my little French town in the hinterland of western Canada. Perhaps the most tempting offer that I remember (it was a very long time ago) was being offered a job to host a national TV series the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was planning in 1990 (I told you it was a long time ago). The series was going to deal with issues surrounding disabilities and showcase the lives of Canadians with physical and mental challenges.

 

The CBC flew me to Ottawa to meet with a senior producer at an elegant restaurant who presented me with the idea. There was only one catch: I would have to uproot my family and move to Toronto or Ottawa (I can't remember which city) and leave our small town life. It was an extraordinary opportunity—to be sure—one of the best I was ever offered during my short career. I must admit that I was tempted. 

But the timing was wrong: My children were young and settled. Uprooting them would have been too disruptive to their lives. Besides, we had extended family near who needed us. I looked out the restaurant window while the executive producer for the series sat across the table waiting for my response to her offer to host the show. That still small voice inside me said, "Let it pass." Reluctantly I turned down the opportunity.

 

Dreams of grandeur were not mine to have. God planned something else for me: Quiet contemplation in the midst of physical struggle rather than a television show. To the world, God's plan might have seemed laughable compared to the lights and glamour of television. 
 Just over a year later my disability forced me to retire and live on a modest disability pension. My disease kept ravaging my body and forcing my type A personality into stillness and contemplation. Days, months and years, then decades, were spent convalescing while looking out my window as seasons passed. Successive generations of blue jays flew to the bird feeder in the backyard. My hair turned white. Grandchildren were born. That still small voice whispered, “Be open to love for in love you will find God.” I discovered it is true. The meaning of my life did not come in a thunder-clap of glory rather in a breeze and ordinary rhythms of life. Sometimes we see most clearly through eyes blurred with tears. 

Looking back now, as a 72 year old man, I think God wanted to use my disability and paralysis with aggressive MS to teach me something critically important that can only be learned in quietude: The art of true love (both human and divine). God wanted me to stay put and wait on Him.

_________________

Now, 35 years after the turning down my chance to host a national television program about disabilities where I could have taken my advocacy to Canadians across the nation, new technologies and new ways of communicating have emerged, I’ve decided to try and take a next step and try podcasting to complement the blog. What do you think?

Mark

IS THERE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

The belief that Jesus Christ alone is the saviour of humanity and the only way to salvation has been a foundational tenet of Christianity from its beginning.  At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke to his disciples about the way to heaven. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6.) 

Jesus went on to promise “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept.” (verse 16-17) After Christ’s Ascension, Peter was filled with the holy Spirit (as promised) and proclaimed this about Jesus: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4.12)  Pretty clear, pretty exclusive. The Apostle Timothy was equally clear: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2.5)

Unpopular message

This sort of message is not generally welcome to our age of pseudo-pluralism where truth is relative and people want to hear about many paths to God.  But if the testimony of Jesus, Peter and Timothy are to be believed, this is not true. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ.  Should I believe those who espouse that all religions are basically the same and there are many paths to God, or should I believe Jesus, Saints Peter and Timothy.  Hmmm, I wonder who it will be ? 

Truth is rarely fashionable—but it is knowable.  The truth is knowable because Jesus Christ is truth and the He is the saviour of the world, and we can know Him.

21^st century relativism

Many people in the 21^st Century no longer accept that there is such a thing as truth, and certainly no such thing as absolute truth. To them, the only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth—there’s no right and wrong, only opinions.  All ethics are situational.  (Actually, if there’s no such thing as right and wrong then the concept of ethics is meaningless.)  Everybody is tolerant of everything; the only thing not to be tolerated is intolerance. What we are experience is the liberal left's emerging as intolerance of any views except their own. And as we see with the left's intolerance of even laws that don't meet with their approval. We witness that with violence such the riots in Minneapolis and Los Angeles in open defiance of law and order.

People must rely on laws as the only recourse for moral direction. But even laws can be changed with a simple majority vote and a stroke of a legislative pen. In a world of relativism, there is no higher Truth that exists apart from what legislatures declare and enforce. The final arbiter of truth is power. Change the government and what was right and true yesterday is replaced by a different government and a new set of standards and a different set of lawmakers. What was previously unthinkable can becomes the law of the land. Germany showed us that in the last century.

 

Without a higher moral Law or standard for people to agree upon and follow (or an author and giver of that higher Law or standard), all that’s left is consensus of those who are most powerful and cunning. If there’s no lawgiver, no Messiah to save us from ourselves, then ultimately most people will find no meaning or purpose to life, no truth, life will have no intrinsic value.   

Society may have to hunt down and jail criminals like Paul Bernardo or John Wayne Gacy to protect itself.  But if we seriously believe there is no such thing a right and wrong, no truth, then it’s pointless condemning what they did. After all, when they committed their sexual abductions, tortures and murders, their personal definition of truth may have been dominance and self-gratification.  Somebody may interject to say, “They had no right to impose their views on others or kill those women!”  Why not?  If there is no right or wrong, then there’s no basis to make such a claim.   

What is truth?

That’s why I find 21^st Century relativists suspect. In one breath they maintain there is no objective right and wrong, no absolute Truth.  In the next breath they’re decrying the destruction of the rain forests, or using animals in medical experimentation, or they’re marching in the streets against globalization or lawful deportation of illegal aliens. Methinks the relativist believes in objective truth more than he’s letting on and he expects the rest of us to agree (or at least acquiesce). Why? Well, according to the relativist, each person has his personal truth, his own standard of right and wrong, and he must not inflict his standards or morals on others. But that is exactly what relativists are doing when they march in the streets shouting and waving banners or destroying property. 

Now, if there is such a thing as objective truth, where does it come from? Christianity says Jesus is the Truth. His crucifixion and Resurrection gave rise to a tidal wave of love and hope for millions of people for more than two thousand years. 

Each person must decide if Jesus is the only saviour of the world. Personally, I’ve concluded the answer is Yes. Christ has utterly changed my life for forty-five years.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: AN ALL-PERVADING PRESENCE?

They say artificial intelligence (AI) knows all about everyone who has an Internet footprint: It knows who you are, where you live, what you do. Really? Out of curiosity I asked AI about myself. Its response is below. Hmmm. The only thing it got wrong was the number of my grandchildren (7 not 5). Very quick. 

AI Overview

Learn more

Mark Davis Pickup is a Canadian Christian author and advocate. He is known for his work on issues related to disability, human life, and assisted suicide. He has written extensively and given numerous speeches on these topics. He currently resides in Beaumont, AB, with his wife and family. 

Here's a more detailed look at his work and background:

·       Advocate for Life and Disability:

Mark Pickup is a prominent voice in the pro-life movement and a strong advocate for the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. 

·       Multiple Sclerosis Diagnosis:

He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis at the age of 30, which significantly impacted his life and career path. 

·       Writer and Speaker:

After leaving the workforce due to his condition, he dedicated himself to writing, speaking, and advocating on issues he felt strongly about. 

·       Author of "To be, or not to be...":

He wrote a documentary, "To be, or not to be... the Human Family. (A disabled man's plea)," which focused on the issue of assisted suicide and the dignity of human life. 

·       HumanLifeMatters.org:

He runs a blog called HumanLifeMatters.org where he writes about Christian faith, ethics, and his views on various issues. 

·       Multiple Awards:

He has received several awards for his work, including a Governor General's Medal for community service and the Monsignor Bill Irwin Award for Ethical Excellence. 

·       Family:

He lives in Beaumont, AB, with his wife LaRee, and they have two children and five grandchildren. 

 

IS THERE ABSOLUTE TRUTH?

The belief that Jesus Christ alone is the saviour of humanity and the only way to salvation has been a foundational tenet of Christianity from its beginning.  At the Last Supper, Jesus spoke to his disciples about the way to heaven. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life, No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14.6.) 

Jesus went on to promise “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept.” (verse 16-17) After Christ’s Ascension, Peter was filled with the holy Spirit (as promised) and proclaimed this about Jesus: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4.12)  Pretty clear, pretty exclusive. The Apostle Timothy was equally clear: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2.5)

Unpopular message

This sort of message is not generally welcome to our age of pseudo-pluralism where truth is relative and people want to hear about many paths to God.  But if the testimony of Jesus, Peter and Timothy are to be believed, this is not true. The only way to God is through Jesus Christ.  Should I believe those who espouse that all religions are basically the same and there are many paths to God, or should I believe Jesus, Saints Peter and Timothy.  Hmmm, I wonder who it will be ? 

Truth is rarely fashionable—but it is knowable.  The truth is knowable because Jesus Christ is truth and the He is the saviour of the world, and we can know Him.

21^st century relativism

Many people in the 21^st Century no longer accept that there is such a thing as truth, and certainly no such thing as absolute truth. To them, the only absolute truth is that there is no absolute truth—there’s no right and wrong, only opinions.  All ethics are situational.  (Actually, if there’s no such thing as right and wrong then the concept of ethics is meaningless.)  Everybody is tolerant of everything; the only thing not to be tolerated is intolerance. What we are experience is the liberal left's emerging as intolerance of any views except their own. And as we see with the left's intolerance of even laws that don't meet with their approval. We witness that with violence such the riots in Minneapolis and Los Angeles in open defiance of law and order.

People must rely on laws as the only recourse for moral direction. But even laws can be changed with a simple majority vote and a stroke of a legislative pen. In a world of relativism, there is no higher Truth that exists apart from what legislatures declare and enforce. The final arbiter of truth is power. Change the government and what was right and true yesterday is usurped by a new set of standards and a different set of lawmakers. What was previously unthinkable can becomes the law of the land. Germany showed us that in the last century.

 

Without a higher moral Law or standard for people to agree upon and follow (or an author and giver of that higher Law or standard), all that’s left is consensus of those who are most powerful and cunning. If there’s no lawgiver, no Messiah to save us from ourselves, then ultimately most people will find no meaning or purpose to life, no truth, life will have no intrinsic value.   

Society may have to hunt down and jail criminals like Paul Bernardo or John Wayne Gacy to protect itself.  But if we seriously believe there is no such thing a right and wrong, no truth, then it’s pointless condemning what they did. After all, when they committed their sexual abductions, tortures and murders, their personal definition of truth may have been dominance and self-gratification.  Somebody may interject to say, “They had no right to impose their views on others or kill those women!”  Why not?  If there is no right and wrong, then there’s no basis to make such a claim.  

What is truth?

That’s why I find 21^st Century relativists suspect. In one breath they maintain there is no objective right and wrong, no absolute Truth.  In the next breath they’re decrying the destruction of the rain forests, or using animals in medical experimentation, or they’re marching in the streets against globalization or lawful deportation of illegal aliens. Methinks the relativist believes in objective truth more than he’s letting on and he expects the rest of us to agree (or at least acquiesce). Why? Well, according to the relativist, each person has his personal truth, his own standard of right and wrong, and he must not inflict his standards or morals on others. But that is exactly what relativists are doing when they march in the streets shouting and waving banners and destroying property. Even politicians like the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, are defying legal enforce under federal law which supersedes state and local laws. If politicians can pick and choose  which they will obey and which law they will ignore or defy, what's to stop people under their authority denying or defying state or municipal laws? What good for the goose is good for the gander. 

Now, if there is such a thing as objective truth, where does it come from? Christianity says Jesus is the Truth. His crucifixion and Resurrection gave rise to a tidal wave of love and hope for millions of people for more than two thousand years. 

Each person must decide if Jesus is the only saviour of the world. Personally, I’ve concluded the answer is Yes. Christ has utterly changed my life for forty-five years.