Several years ago, comedian Stephen Colbert coined the term truthiness. This term sounds a bit like truthfulness; however, on a continuum, truthiness and truthfulness are at opposite ends.

The term truthiness is used when speaking of verifiable falsehoods that are repeated so often they seem to be true. Truthfulness is concerned with verifiable facts and the means of embracing and expressing them in an authenticate and genuine fashion

For something to be true, it must correspond to reality. If I were to say: The peel of a lemon is red, my statement would be false because it did not correspond with reality.

When it comes to the subject of truth, people will generally approach it from a relative or objective perspective. The results of a survey conducted by George Barna revealed the following:
• 63% of the American public believes there is no such thing as absolute truth
• Two people can define “truth” in conflicting ways and both would be correct
• 53% of adult church members believe there is no absolute truth

The sad truth is that far too many people are viewing life through the lens of relative truth. This is a perspective that asserts: What is true for me does not have to be true for you. Isn’t that like saying: If I believe 1+1 = 3, I am as correct as the person who believes 1 + 1 = 2?

Objective truth asserts that:
• Truth is true whether I believe it or not
• Truth is discovered or revealed, but it is not invented by a culture
• Truth is universal and trans-cultural

Personally, I believe objective truth is the fountain from which morals and ethics flow. Early in the history of our nation, the codified morals and ethical principles of the Ten Commandments influenced our founding fathers.

When a society rejects these principles and tries to function with human reasoning at the center and not God, the foundation begins to crumble. A case in point is the horrible atrocities committed by Dr. Kermit Gosnel. He rejected what we must hold dear—respect for life and human dignity.

When officials raided his clinic, they found amputated feet and other body parts of babies that he had mutilated, and this was after some had been born as living and viable human beings! Gosnel labeled the body parts of some of these babies and kept them in cold storage.

I believe the future holds something much different than cold storage for Gosnel.