Friday, April 30, 2010
Playing God - Religion
Monday, March 22, 2010
Playing God -Scientific Method
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Truth and Playing God - Relativism
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Truth Recognizes Personal Fallibility
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Mistakes Can Draw Out the Truth
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Referencing Truth
I once knew a man named Wes, who’s last name was Ted. I had to bail him out of jail because he was a-wes-ted.
This is a bad joke reflecting my sense of humour, or lack thereof, to start the day. My kids know my wit and will apply its label to any pun by saying, “that’s a dad thing to say.”
To know truth we must be able to recognize it as easily as my children recognise my jokes. The converse is also true; in order to recognize it we must know truth. My kids need to understand humour in order to think my jokes funny. OK, about me being funny, that may or may not be true.
So how so we start? We need a reference point, some baseline that lets us know where we are, so we can move in a direction that points to the truth.
There is a tree that stands alone on the prairie of Manitoba. It stands tall beside the Trans-Canada highway almost exactly halfway between Brandon and Winnipeg. One hundred kilometres to Brandon and 100 kilometres back to the ‘Peg. I text my friend almost every time I pass it, often using a corny riddle to explain my location. “X L Ent” and “Treemendous” are just two of a plethora of identities I have given this spot and I am trying to send a new identity every time.
When I am heading west this tree signifies an unofficial beginning trip. The next delivery will be many miles down the road and I can settle in to enjoy the drive. If I have forgotten something I am well past returning for it, unless what I have forgotten is my mind and then I can only how that it returns to me on its own.
When I am heading east the big tree means that I am almost home. I am only about 2 hours from the house and for a trucker who has been out on the road these last two hours are oft times the longest two hours of my trip.
So we need a tree of truth, planted in our soul to determine if we are heading to or moving away from the truth. Hey, wasn’t there a tree mentioned in the Bible? Was it the tree of truth? Hmmm....
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Truth, Foolishness and Wisdom
Driving for a living is like searching for truth. I spend most of my time in the truck , but I am always heading for some purposeful address.
Truth is both a path and a destination. Sort of a chicken and egg thing; when we look for truth we have to start with the truth. It is not a one time possession or something we can hold in our hands. To grasp the truth we must first have an ability to perceive it and know what it is, and you can't get the truth without many, many truthful decisions from the beginning of the search and every step along the way.
We need to make the wise choices and throw away the foolish ones. Which leads us to trying to understand what the difference is.
Foolishness is not merely stupidity or ignorance. Stupidity is a lack of mental ability that is not curable. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge that is either purposely or indifferently chosen.
Foolishness is a deliberate choice to do something that is harmful to oneself or society.
Wisdom on the other hand is not just knowledge or intelligence. Knowledge is an ability to remember facts. Intelligence is the ability to organize those facts.
Wisdom is a deliberate choice to do good for oneself and society, with the relevant information as we are aware of it.
That begs the question; what does “to do good” mean. Do you know?
Sunday, March 7, 2010
I Love Watching My Kids Play

Hitting the road today. Going to Weyburn, SK; Regina, SK, Medicine Hat, AB; and then Calgary, AB. Need to be home by Thursday so that I can get some work on the truck done. The A/C belt broke about a month ago and I need to get it fixed before the weather heats up or before I have to hit warmer areas of the continent.
Also, BJ has a Volleyball tournament out in Selkirk next Friday and Saturday. I love watching him play. He has skill, heart, game sense, court awareness, and courage. My heart swells with pride, and I get a great pleasure from watching him play.
Even better, I am very pleased with how he relates to the people around him. He works hard to encourage teammates, respect his coaches and play with sportsmanship. He has much of the class that I lacked in the later years of my athletic career.
The reason I write about BJ is to convey how truth is sometimes complicated.
Most of my life I have believed what I now consider to be a lie. I thought that I was a person with little ability and low character. I could see little value in who I was or in what I tried to accomplish. I thought God only watched me to correct all the mistakes I was making.
The truth about me is that God finds pleasure in who He created me to be regardless of how close to excellence my endeavours take me.
As I ponder about Truth I am considering this; God loves to be with us more than he loves to correct us. He wants to spend time with us and love on us more than He wants to make sure that we are “flying right.’ He revels in our accomplishments no matter how grand or how miniscule. We don’t have to be perfect or noticeable in the eyes of men, He sees the truth of our abilities and person as we are often blinded to them.
I have learned this; God enjoys watching me the way I like watching BJ. He gets joy and pleasure from being with me even when I fail. His love for me comes before His corrections of me.
What do you think?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Truth Needs to be Separated from Dross
“Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.” ~Leo Tolstoy
It is the washing away process that is an arduous experience. How do you know what is gold and what is dross? What process do you use to determine truth from non-truth? And once, having found it, how can you hold it intact without pieces of it being stripped away?
Finding truth that can be applied is more than a philosophical endeavour. As I see it, truth that isn’t sewn in to the fabric of my life is useless. If truth remains a concept it will become like a stagnant pool. Truth needs to be applied into every thought, decision and action. Only then will it be of any value.
Without real life application, truth is as valuable as the dross it was smelted from.
And getting truth to have value in our lives is as difficult a process as prospecting, mining, smelting and refining gold. Each step has its own challenges and needs a completely different set of tools and skills to create a bar of pure gold.
Is the process worth it? Does a search for truth provide value that lasts?
Hmmm.... I think that truth is the basis upon which a life can be solidly built and as such has immense worth.
Most of my life has been a search for truth. Or maybe that should be a search for Truth.
Truth is elusive. It is not easily found, nor does it give itself up without a struggle. Struggles may exhaust and nearly destroy the pursuer. Fights may lead the seeker to hopelessness and futility. Or battles may drain the soul and empty the mind of reason and purpose.
On the other hand Truth can also give hope, invigorate the psyche and refresh the prospector.
I am calling this blog Prospecting Truth’s Riches as it implies a process and a movement towards the goal of Truth. Finding and holding truth is a bit like catching water. If you use your hands the grasp on it is very temporary. However, if you use your mouth to catch the water and your stomach to hold the water you will be able to utilise the water for your personal benefit.
So I am going to try to catch truth by the mouth and take a long hard swallow. I invite whoever reads this to join me on this prospecting expedition.
Prospecting for Truth; where we will find true riches.