Dear Readers,
This is not really a fic, it's actually a short reflection essay for my Morality class that I had to do on the Scripture verse below. I just decided to post it.
Best Regards from a Bookworm (and God Bless),
Miss Pookamonga :-)
"Jesus then said to those who believed in him, 'If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" (Jn. 8: 31-32)
Truth. Jesus said Himself that He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But what does truth mean? What Jesus says is Truth goes beyond what we perceive to be as the truth—an accurate account of something. Truth is not just an accurate description of a person, place, or event. It is a value that must be held in high regard, but one that has sadly been pushed aside by the modern world.
The term "absolute truth" may not be a familiar one to us today, as it has been totally disregarded by many people, including those we call "scholars." An absolute truth is a fact that is true and that exists no matter what people's opinions are. Most of us today are subject to allowing each other to have our own truths—our own personal beliefs and views on certain issues. This is fine; however, we often use this tolerance of "personal truths" to a degree where it crosses the line set down by absolute truths. For example: one person may say that although he or she personally believes that murder is wrong, if another person believes the opposite, that is perfectly fine for he or she to do so because that is his or her own opinion. This idea, of course, is ridiculous, because we all know in our hearts and in our consciences that murder is morally wrong. What Jesus is talking about to "those who believed in Him," which includes ourselves, is that the world will shape us to become too attached to our own individual selves, and we thus forget the Laws that have been set down by God and discard them for our own rules about what we regard as right and wrong. Jesus says that if we set our focus on Him, and keep Him within the highest priority of our lives, He will strengthen us so that we can become resistant to this poisonous influence of the secular world and that we will always recognize what He has said is right and wrong. For His Law is what is called "absolute truth," because it has and will never change, no matter how many passing trends and personal beliefs may change over time.
To me, "morality" is the knowledge of absolute truth—the knowledge of what is truly right and truly wrong. Without a good sense of morality, it is impossible to go about daily life serving God to the best of our abilities. Having a good sense of morality ties in to keeping focus on Jesus. This means that we should pray daily and actively allow Him to become involved in our lives in everything that we do. If we cultivate a strong faith in Jesus, then we will be more aware of our morals. In turn, if we are more aware of our morals, then we have a much better sense of what we should do in life to serve God. But say we do the opposite: instead of trying hard to make faith the most important part of our lives, we replace God with a material "idol." What will happen then? Our sense of morality will become dulled, and we will assimilate ourselves into the often immoral secular culture that believes that it is okay for us to do whatever we want, as long as we feel happy at the moment. How can we then serve God with this kind of sense of right and wrong? It is impossible. Being a moral person means doing what we know in our hearts to be the right thing for every person, not doing what we always feel to be right for our own selves. And this is what Jesus means when he speaks of "the truth." If we all do what He has said is right, we will be "set free"—meaning that we will not have to remain in a cage of worldly lies and personal deceit. Rather, we will have the ability to make the world a better place by spreading the Good News—Jesus's message of this Truth.