Just how important is honesty? Long before Pontius Pilate through until today, the question, “What is truth?” has been asked with varying answers. I’m not going to quote a bunch of statistics, though many polls and research projects have attacked the question of honesty, because results span a wide margin. Let it suffice to say that most people want doctors, pastors, and teachers to be honest, a majority of people distrust media pundits, lawyers, and salespeople, and most folks outright assume politicians, government officials and corporate moguls are bald-faced liars. The sad thing is that a majority of Americans are okay with this. Holding leadership to a standard of honesty with integrity is simply no longer valued by most of us.

Truth today is less about facts than personal beliefs, opinions, and attitudes. A fascinating correlation emerges concerning politics. Most supporters of Donald Trump, Karoline Leavitt, and Stephen Miller unquestioningly assume and accept that most of what they say is false. They don’t care. As one older woman stated, “honesty has very little to do with being able to do your job.” But think about the deeper implications. What does it say about a culture that holds honesty in such disregard or contempt? I use politics as an example because it is what comes up first on my news feeds, but what about our Christian faith? Do we apply the same thinking about honesty and truth for our religious convictions? Do we not care what is true, what is false, what is fact, and what is opinion?

This becomes a slippery slope in short order. There is very little about spirituality and religious beliefs that can be factually proven. Faith demands accepting things that cannot be proven. All faith demands and includes speculation and interpretation. We believe something to be true whether we can prove it or not. And interestingly as the authority of scripture is more hotly debated in our country, more and more people are developing a Christianity free from biblical support or validation. Look no further than the Prosperity Gospel or Christian Nationalism. People do not believe in either of these things because they are biblical. They choose to believe in them for personal reasons that require the outright rejection of the teachings of Jesus. What is truth?

For many, truth is whatever I choose to believe, facts be damned, evidence be damned, consensus be damned, scholarship and expertise be damned. From the dawning of the enlightenment, science and medical knowledge gained respect and support. The rigors of the scientific method, verifiability, reproducibility, gains through trial and error, and the overall improvement of life gave science a very good reputation. The COVID-19 hit and look at the rampant skepticism, rejection, cynicism, and contempt that emerged. It is very simple today to look at the quality of scientific research and validation that happened worldwide in a very short period of time, yet in the face of irrefutable and overwhelming evidence and incredible number of people still want to call hoax and opt out for imbecilic conspiracy theories. Yes, I choose to believe, but not without a lot of reading, study, and research. I personally need to lay a foundation of trust that what I am hearing is valid, well-understood, tested, verified, and makes sense. I am feeling more and more like an endangered species.

I have learned that most of our religious and political beliefs are not essentially cognitive in nature, but are framed by emotions, feelings, hunches, and a commitment to validating individual subjective worldviews. If it makes sense to me, it must be true. Why would I believe something I know to be false, stupid, irrational, or harmful? Why would I vote for someone who violates all my most deeply held values? Why would I worship someone/something I think is silly, irrelevant, or non-existent? I wouldn’t – unless these things really don’t matter.

Human beings can rationalize just about anything. It is our super power. We can effectively create an alternate universe where war is peace, selfishness is good, intolerance is normal, greed is celebrated, debt is success, and lying is celebrated. But is such a reality really real? If such qualities as honesty, integrity, empathy, mercy, compassion, trustworthiness, and humility don’t matter, where does this leave us?

For followers of Jesus Christ, there are two vital factors to consider – and I want to be clear that these are beliefs I hold, not facts I can prove – 1) we cannot lie to God, and 2) God forgives. It isn’t that God doesn’t care, but that God loves us so much that no matter how dishonest and disingenuous we are with ourselves and with each other, God will not condemn us. This shouldn’t give us unlimited freedom to be lying liars who lie, but should remind us that there are some truths beyond our ability to corrupt, dirty, disrespect, and despise them. For me, I spend time in the gospels meditating on the teachings of Jesus. Where I see these teachings valued and honored in our culture, I place my trust. Where Jesus’ teachings are denied, rejected, or pretended to matter, I withhold. Honest to God, it is getting harder and harder to tell truth from lies, but I do trust Jesus and to the extent that I can, his gospel interpreters (Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John – and sometimes, Paul & James).