Every Sunday in the Springfield News-Leader (my hometown newspaper), the paper runs a column called "Check the Facts" on the editorial page. The column seeks to show common misconceptions or false statements in the news.
The phrase "facts do not lie" is often quoted assuming that truth is based on facts or events that actually happened or statements made by one or a correct interpretation of a law or scripture. Crime investigation seeks to discover what happened, who did it, and why to determine if the law has been broken. Accident scene investigations look for witnesses who can provide information about the event. Newspapers seek to report events as they happened. Lawyers and judges pass judgements based on an interpretation of a law. Theologians declare and make declarations of faith and do actions based on their interpretation of a Scripture or a Sacred Writing.
Often, we think of facts as being black and white with no gray area, but we forget that we are human and that we seek to understand what we saw, what someone said, or what the law or scriptures states. Humanity looks at events, statements, laws, and Scriptures based on experience, what they have been taught, their logic, and their view of Sacred Writings. So, we look at what we call facts through some biases.
Recently, a letter to the editor in the local paper, a reader wrote, "Avoid Pastors who pander". The writer declared that pastors who favor GLBT marriage equality is not a true pastor. The reader declares these pastors are more interested in attendance or money and not in a real relationship with God. No doubt this reader believes what she is saying is based on facts.
This blog is not about GLBT issues so much as what are facts and when do we know truth. The lady who wrote the letter to editor based her facts on what she had been taught about the Bible. So often, we rely on our upbringing to guide us in our daily. For many years, the church taught us that the earth was flat. For many years doctors thought "bleeding" or eliminating bad blood from the body by bleeding people cured them of disease. Overtime, we learned that these beliefs were not fact.
Some people live and die by what is said in the Bible or Sacred Writings. I have heard people state, "If the Bible Says it, I believe it and that's that." Muslims quote the Quran as their source for their actions. Jews use the Torah to guide them in their daily living. Yet, we forget that these writings are about a culture and time different than our own so when we hear someone declare that some passage teaches this or that, we should question and digest the passage based on many factors not what someone declares it to say. We all tend to place to much emphasis on "sermons" from Pastors or "teachings" from Inmans or Rabbis. We tend to make pastors/ministers, inmans, rabbis to be more than they are. Often, pastors build empires with huge mega churches. Why? Because we often blindly accept these men/women as God's messengers.
We tend to look at actual events and writings through our own experiences. If we have been wronged by a pastor, a doctor, or a lawyer, we tend to generalize and declare that all people in that profession are not to be trusted. Our experiences often dictate our view and understanding of reality. In fact, when we witness an event, we tend to believe and see what we want to see. People who sit and listen to a speaker will have different reactions to the speaker. Some will think it is the greatest speech ever and others will think it is the worst speech.
When we read and study history, we see learn about the events of long ago based on the interpretation of the facts by the person writing the history. When do not always hear about the flaws or the problems that a historical figure may have. We may assign to that person certain traits or attitudes or actions that may not always be true. We hear so much in our country about the founding fathers of our nation. One person believes that a statement a founding father made supports their views on government while another person may read the same statement and declare that it supports a totally different view.
Facts do not lie? That depends on the interpretation and the interpreter and whether I agree with that person or not. Think about it.
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