The Danger of Truth

On this blog and in other settings I tend to talk about truth and reality a lot.  But there's a danger to that.  All you have to do to recognize it is look back at history, even recent history.  Figures like David Koresh, Jim Jones, and Marshall Applewhite show that truth sometimes appears to be in the eye of the beholder.  Islamic terrorism is a good example of what happens when a strong belief system is coupled with cultural identity and a desperation for salvation.  It's crucial to be able to differentiate between truth and belief.  Truth is simply what equates to reality despite what I choose to believe.  It is not perception, or hope, or even plans.  It is simply what is.  That's why God's statement of "I AM" is so interesting.  It seems awkwardly simplistic for an infinite being to just come out and say, "I am."  You would think that is obvious.  But the truth isn't always so obvious.  Maybe that's why He said it; to remind man where ultimate truth's source is found.  While I think truth is ultimately very important, I think that it's also very important for me to realize sometimes that I may not have fully grasped it yet.  However, the fact that the truth is not always easy to grasp doesn't mean it isn't worth searching nor give a valid excuse for bowing to the world's philosophy of moral relativism.  Two opposing views can never truly be reconciled unless there is a third thing to compare them to, and that third thing is called the truth.