Let me tell you about two fictional stories, a quote from Abraham Lincoln, and a story from the Bible.
Story 1 – Star Trek: The Next Generation, Chain of Command
In December, 1992, Star Trek released a decidedly non-Christmas two-part story line. The story line focuses on Captain Picard being captured by the Cardassians and then brutally tortured. Gul Madred does not torture Picard for information, but conquest and control. Madred wants to show that he, and the Cardassians, are superior to Picard and the Federation.
Madred aims to achieve this by twisting Picard’s perception of reality. Along with various sensory deprivations and inflicting pain, the main torture is focused on Picard’s mind. Madred repeatedly shows four lights and commands Picard to say there are five.
The Cardassians sought to maintain control through fear, propaganda, and the manipulation of truth. Whatever Cardassia said was true, was true. Madred wanted Picard to fall in line, simply to prove a point.
Picard refuses to comply, he maintains his sense of reality, and wins.
But only just.
Later, Picard admits to Deanna Troi that he came close to not just saying there were five lights to comply, but he truly began to believe there were five lights. He was ready to surrender his perception of reality to Cardassia.
Story 2 – 1984
Though George Orwell published “1984” in 1949, long before the Star Trek Episode, it was later that I found that the Star Trek Episode strongly echoed themes found in Orwell’s 1984.
Orwell’s book opens with Winston wrestling with the nature of reality. He has no real evidence, just suspicions that nothing is at it seems. As the book unfolds he becomes convinced that Big Brother and the Party are constantly defining, and redefining truth. They hold absolute control over all aspects of reality and the vast majority are either convinced they are right to do so, or they are too afraid to say otherwise. By means of Newspeak, doublethink, and the constant revision of historical records, the Party sought to eliminate the very possibility of objective truth.
Winston eventually is convinced he must fight the Party and joins the rebellion. Before he really does anything, he is captured and his torturer, O’Brien, works to break Winston, and make him willing and eager to let the Party take control of reality.
O’Brien holds up four fingers and wants Winston to say there are five. Not just to say there are five, but to really believe there are five because the Party says so. Not “Tell me there are five” but “Believe there are five”.
Winston, like Picard, is being forced to surrender his perception of reality to the Party.
Abraham Lincoln and the Five-Legged Dog
There is a famous quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln:
“If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have? Five. No, four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”
The Exodus of Israel and the Idol
The book of Exodus opens with Israel trapped as slaves of Egypt. They are helpless and hopeless. They cry out to the God of their fathers, Jehovah, and God hears them. God raises up a deliverer, Moses, and through Moses God saves His people. Over and over again, God proves His power and personal concern for Israel.
Shortly afterward, at the base of Mount Sinai, Israel become impatient. Moses has been gone for a short time and they turn to Aaron and ask him, “Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses… we wot not what is become of him.”
Aaron concedes, a golden calf is made, and triumphantly he declares to the gathered people, “These be thy gods, O Israel…”
After incredible miracles and a minor obstacle, Israel in a moment surrender their grasp of reality. The stupid golden cow, was their “gods”. Not Jehovah, a golden cow of their own creation.
Several more times in the Bible we find a similar situation, truth is denied, a lie is embraced.
In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 the pattern is prophesied as a precursor to the final chapter before the Lord returns:
- Truth is presented.
- Truth is rejected.
- Delusion follows.
- The lie is believed.
Winston and Picard: The Attack on Human Identity
Both Winston and Picard are strong-willed men.
The torture is aimed at destroying the thing that makes them human, individuals:
- independent thought
- objective reasoning
- personal conviction
- moral courage
O’Brien wants Winston to become a loyal servant of the Party.
Madred wants Picard to become an example of Cardassian superiority.
In both cases the goal is not death. The goal is conversion. A dead enemy is a martyr that would inspired followers, a dead enemy in such a case is less valuable than a conquered mind.
The Golden Calf and Religious Liberalism
Aaron and Israel wanted gods that were made in an image of their choosing, in a form they were comfortable with, and ones that worked according to their will and in their timing.
Jehovah was none of those things. Aaron and Israel had to have known the golden cow was no god, but when what was true and what they wanted to be true was at odds, they chose their imagined truth. They wanted to conform truth to them, and not themselves to truth.
Current Philosophical Movements, Politics, and Current Events
Postmodernism, while a broad and complex movement, owes much to skepticism towards universal, objective, absolute claims of truth.
Instead of asking, “What is truth?” it focuses on “Whose truth is this?”. Truth for many is not an objective goal to be discovered, but is rather something shaped by culture, language, social structures, personal experience, and power dynamics. By the way, this is the fallacy that results in Bible studies that asks of Bible verses, “What does this mean to you?” rather than “What does this mean?”
As a result of postmodernism, it is not unusual to hear phrases like, “That’s your truth.”, “My truth is difference”, or “What’s true for you is not true for me.”
Postmodernists may seem to be at opposition to the Cardassians, Big Brother and the Party, and Aaron, but the end result is the same.
The Party, the Cardassians, and Aaron decide what is truth for you, and it is true until they decide to change it.
Many forms of postmodern thought reject or question universal claims to objective truth. In popular culture this often becomes the idea that truth is personal, subjective, or determined by individual experience.
The end result is the same.
In politics it is not unusual for promises to be made, broken, and then for supporters to pretend the original claims were never held. Positions are held and abandoned with the changing of the proverbial winds and their supporters just let it slide. No, not just the Republicans or Democrats, but all sides.
Another current symptom of our confusion about truth is the tendency to treat disagreement as hatred. If truth is objective, then reasonable people will sometimes disagree about what is true and what is false. Historically, tolerance meant permitting others to hold views we believed were mistaken. Today, tolerance is increasingly expected to include approval and affirmation. As a result, those who refuse to affirm certain beliefs are often labeled hateful. Yet calling disagreement hate does not make it so, any more than calling a tail a leg gives a dog five legs. A person may be entirely wrong, but believing someone is wrong is not the same as hating them.
A Biblical Perspective
The deeper issue in both stories, the Biblical texts, and the Abraham Lincoln quote is the nature of truth.
The totalitarian state claims authority to define reality. Some philosophies say you can define truth yourself.
Scripture presents the opposite view. The only way to have an objective truth is to have a source above and entirely detached from us. The only choice is God.
Truth exists outside government, culture, or political power because it originates with God. Though many would like to deny it, that is a large part of what makes the United States unique. Rights are not given by governments, but endowed by God. Something I’ve seen a number of Democrats actively deny in recent months.
When O’Brien or Madred says reality is whatever the state declares, they are assuming a role that belongs only to God.
This is why Christians throughout history have often been persecuted by authoritarian governments. A believer who says, “God’s truth is true regardless of what the state says,” becomes difficult, if not impossible, to control.
Objective Truths Under Attack
All truth, in some respects, are under attack, but at different times in history the truths on the frontline change.
Here are some truths that are fiercely attacked today, and where I find myself out of step with the majority of society:
- God exists
- Because God exists objective, unchanging truth exists.
- Sin exists
- Hell exists
- God’s Word, the Bible, is true and trustworthy
- There is one way of salvation, Jesus Christ.
- There is one true faith, Christianity.
- There are only two genders, male and female.
- Gender is not a spectrum or a choice an individual can make.
- Marriage is between one man and one woman.
- Life begins at conception
In Closing
The problem originates in the heart.
The human heart has always had a troubled relationship with truth. In the Garden of Eden, Eve exchanged God’s Word for the serpent’s promise. Israel exchanged the God who delivered them for a golden calf. Ahab exchanged the prophet of God for four hundred flattering voices. The people described in 2 Thessalonians exchange the truth for a lie and eventually embrace their delusion.
We are often tempted to imagine that, had we been in Winston’s place, we would have resisted the Party, or had we been in Picard’s place, we would have defied the Cardassians. Yet the greater question is much closer to home: What lies are we willing to believe today because they are convenient, comfortable, profitable, or popular?
The battle for truth is not fought only in legislatures, classrooms, newsrooms, or on social media. It is fought first in our own hearts. Every day we are confronted with a choice. Will we submit our thinking to God and His Word, or will we redefine reality to suit our desires?
The Christian’s responsibility is not to create truth, redefine truth, or negotiate with truth. Our responsibility is to recognize it, believe it, and obey it. Truth is not determined by governments, political parties, philosophers, celebrities, influencers, or public opinion. Truth is what God says it is.
Abraham Lincoln was right. Calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg. Gul Madred was wrong. There were four lights. O’Brien was wrong. There were four fingers. Aaron was wrong. The calf was not God.
Reality remains reality, whether we acknowledge it or not.
The challenge before us is simple: Will we conform ourselves to the truth, or will we demand that truth conform itself to us?
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