What shall they say?

Life is more than the acquisition of stuff, it is about what we have done,whom we have served and why we will be missed when we leave (Zoe Believer, 2007)

I was going to title this post 'My Epitaph' but that sounded a bit morbid and didn't really fit my 'Thank God it's Friday, looking forward to the weekend' mood that I'm currently in! Lol! I try to read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People at least once a year, I'm on my third cycle and I still hmmm and haa although I can repeat some bits almost verbatim. I'm on the second habit which states "Begin with the end in mind" and at the beginning of the chapter, the author Stephen Covey encourages the reader to carry out an exercise in which you imagine yourself attending a funeral only to find out it's yours but you have to sit and listen to what others have to say about you.

Now before we start casting down evil imaginations, the aim of the exercise is not to focus on dying and death per se but on the epitaphs that will be given. What shall they say? I just realised that although every human being is created unique and we are so diverse, there are some things we all have in common. We are all born, we all are given 24 hours each day and someday we all die. The point is that we should live our lives focusing on the important things. It's not about living up to other people's expectations but living a life of purpose.

I always like to think that my epitaph would read "Here lies Zoe Believer, Served God, her family and humanity" but this would mean that my purpose would have to be; Serving God, my family and humanity because if what is written on that stone should hold true, it should only be the past tense of what I am living today.

On a deeper level, musing on the conversations, hoping that they're honest, what would Daddy say about me, and Mummy, my sisters, my colleagues at work, my best friends, readers of this blog, whose words would matter at the end of the day? Dr Covey says that doing this enables us touch on what are our core values; helping us arrive at our own definition of success. As a believer, I know that death in this realm is not the end and while my desire is not to be so heavenly concious that I am of no value here on earth for I recognise that God's purpose is that I run, rise and reign here, I am becoming increasingly aware of what my deposits into my spiritual bank account are and if I am really living life in balance.

Even more important is what shall He say? Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into your rest or depart for I don't know you. God forbid the latter, but what we do today determines what we get tomorrow.

What shall they say, what shall He say?

Selah.

Remain blessed and highly favoured. Have a great weekend!

What is truth?

"What is truth?" Pilate asked. With this he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him. John 18:38 (NIV)

I received an email from a reader of this blog a while ago, in which he posed the question, I have used as the title of this post, from the verse above I guess he isn't the only one who is asking this, seems not many things have changed from 2,000 years ago! As I reflected on his question, I also asked a few friends as to what their thoughts were, I've added both his email (not exactly in the same format I received it but without changing the meaning I hope) and the responses I received duly referenced. I'll also add my own 2 cents..so this may be a very LONG one.

Hello

I couldn't help but copy what you asked not to copy even though I didn't need it. :) Human nature I guess.... Maybe its just me anyways got a question for you.

WHAT IS TRUTH?
AND HOW DO YOU ARRIVE AT IT?
SHOULD TRUTH BE UNIVERSAL, EXPERIENTIAL, ACQUIRED OR INFERRED? (CONTINUOUSLY REFINED)

I can pretty much make out that you are a christian from your blog hmm...took some brain teasing ( laugh ** :)) seriously

IS IT REVEALED?
HOW INDIVIDUAL IS IT?

Father, help me, what is truth? The simple answer is that TRUTH IS TRUTH. That's exactly what it is, if I'm telling you the truth about something , my story never changes because truth is truth. From dictionary.com, I got some definitions of truth as

1. the true or actual state of a matter: He tried to find out the truth.
2. conformity with fact or reality; verity: the truth of a statement.
3. a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like: mathematical truths.
4. the state or character of being true.
5. actuality or actual existence.
6. an obvious or accepted fact; truism; platitude.
7. honesty; integrity; truthfulness.
8. (often initial capital letter) ideal or fundamental reality apart from and transcending perceived experience: the basic truths of life.
9. agreement with a standard or original.
10. accuracy, as of position or adjustment.
11. Archaic. fidelity or constancy. (dictionary.com)

Do we arrive at truth,is it revealed and how individual is it?

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me". John 14:6 so Jesus is the truth.

Jesus said He is the truth, I believe this is because He SEES and KNOWS all things. You are only 100% sure of what the truth is when you can see and know all things. Remember the poem about the blind men and the elephant, it was one elephant but while their descriptions of what an elephant was could be said to be true,they all had different descriptions or truths but ONE elephant. After all, they could prove that their description was right based on the evidence before them but was their description true? No, because they couldn't see the whole picture. At the end of this story, we are told to be more tolerant of the beliefs of others because truth can be told in different ways, do I agree? Not necessarily, what about if I asked each or just one of the blind men what would be required to kill the elephant, I would have received various responses and the choice I made on what the truth was would enable me to either kill the elephant or be killed myself! Now if I asked someone who knows all things, the Creator of the elephant this question, what do you think my position would be.

In statistics (I stand to be corrected, I am not a statistician!lol!) there is something called a Type I error where we reject an answer even though it is true and a Type II where we accept an answer even though it is wrong, these errors arise from both known (systematic) and unknown or random (statistical) sources. The basic thing is that I might think that something is true based on the information (or data) that I have and make decisions based on that information but could be making a mistake because what I think is truth is not the actual truth because I don't have all the information. In taking an oath before giving evidence in court, we swear to say the truth, the WHOLE truth and nothing but the truth, this is because lawyers know that sometimes leaving a phrase out of a testimony could render a true account wrong.

All your words are TRUE; all your righteous laws are eternal (Psalm 119:160)

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)


Jesus says He is the truth, the word of God is also truth, in that respect it is universal for He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Truth is acquired by revelation, it could also be acquired by experience and on that basis could be said to be individual for it is the truth that you know that sets you free. I think I will update this as we go along because I don't think enough justice has been done yet.


Jaycee

Truth is FACT. Fact comes in different ways: could be as a result of a proven experiment (scientific) or could be as a result of one's experiences. As a Christian, I look around me and I know for a fact that there has to be God because of the indescribable works behind the creation of living things (mountains, seas, oceans, trees, animals, human beings). From experience also, I have seen miracles done in my life as a result of praying to God (the Creator of the Universe)--and if there is evil (for instance in the occultic powers), then there has to be a God, and this has become my TRUTH. Truth is all of the above (universal, experiential, acquired or inferential) depending on what topic you're talking about. You can acquire truth from an instructor, and then a few years later experience it for yourself (which will then confirm all the truth previously acquired). Truth is universal but not everyone is knowledgeable about it and so some live their lives in ignorance, until maybe one day experience the truth.


AA

These are my thoughts...

Truth is absolute and does not depend on geography, race, creed, economic status or religion. However, we usually perceive the truth differently based on how some of the parameters listed above affects us.It is our perception that we refer to as revealed or individual truth. The truth is like looking at a huge multicoloured ball with us standing at different areas and seeing different colours based on our positions. The fact is that we would all be correct if we insisted that the ball is colour we could see yet the truth is that we would all be wrong because the ball is more than we could see. The truth is from the perspective of the originator not how it is perceived.

This is the reason why the bible says "Let all men be liars and God alone true". We know only in parts and so we cannot claim to truly know. The truth is based on knowledge and can only be complete when knowledge is complete.... The only one who has complete knowledge is God and so he originates the truth. However he will typically reveal the knowledge and hence the truth that is required by different parts to complete their assignment.

A good check for whatever we hold to be true is to compare it to the position of the originator because whatever is revealed can only be sampled from what already is the truth. if it doesn't align then it stands no chance of being true. Secondly the seeker of truth must first seek to know its originator cos it is in the knowledge of the originator that you are able to tell if what you know as truth can truly emanate from the originator and hence really classify what you know as truth.

I hope i made some sense.

So D.S, thank you so much for your email. I don't know if your question has been answered but please this discussion is open to all for their 2 cents.

Remain blessed and highly favoured.

Where are you?

But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?" Genesis 3:9 (NIV)

When God asks a question, believe me when I say He knows the answer already. When God asked this question, it wasn't so much a geographical question as it was a positional one. Adam, where are you? You, the epitome of my creation, where are you? You, I fashioned from the dust of the ground and breathed my very own Spirit in you, where are you? You, who I gave the job to care and tend this garden, where are you? Have you fallen into the devil's deception?

Believer where are you? Are you standing in the purpose I designed you for? Are you walking in love? Where are you? Standing on the Word of God or drowning in the devil's deception when he tells you there is no way out. Where are you my daughter, are you ready for the battle, dressed in your armour or are you playing ten ten in the field oblivious to the forces of the enemy gathering to attack. My daughter, remember who you are, remember whose you are and act accordingly..Selah.

To be continued...