Monday is a good day for truth.
On a Monday in 2006, David Edmonson, Radio Shack CEO, resigned from his job because of a disagreement he has with his alma mater. His resume submitted 11 years earlier credits Edmonson with two college degrees from a Bible college. The college, however, reports that they have no record of Edmonson graduating and that they have never offered one of the degrees he claims he earned there. Can both Edmonson and the college be right? Can both be telling the truth?
British historian David Irving was convicted in a Vienna court one Monday of denying that the holocaust happened. That denial is a crime in Austria. Irving was sentenced to 3 years in prison for saying in two speeches in that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz and that most of the 6 million Jews who died under the Nazi regime died of disease rather than execution. Irving insists, “History is like a constantly changing tree.” It changes with the seasons. The court disagrees. Can both Irving and the court be correct? Is the truth different for different people?
On Monday, February 12, 2018, Ireen Wust of the Netherlands won gold in 1500 meters speed skating with a margin of victory of just .2 seconds. The following Monday, Norway’s Håvard Lorentzen won the 500 meters by just .01 seconds. In both races, the winning margins were less than one-third of a second. Yet, the second-place finishers aren’t claiming victory. Nobody is saying, “Well, it’s all relative. He feels he won, but in my reality, I was first.”
Contrary to what is often said, we usually believe in absolute truth. In the market place, dishonesty can cost a man his job. In the courts, there are objective facts and truths to be determined. Juries make mistakes, but even that admission suggests that there is an objective truth by which we may judge even the jury. In sports, the clock and the tape are used to determine winners – not just favorites.
In matters of faith, too, there are some iron-clad, non-negotiable truths. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” he said (John 8:32), and “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Truth is alive and well. May we humbly acknowledge it - on Monday and every day.