Making A Difference – Part 4 – Where Is God’s Truth?

Knowing that God exists does not help with knowing God’s truth. According to John Ciardi, good works would follow automatically if one were to give all of his energy and attention to the pursuit of God’s truth. [1] I agree with him, so I need to find out where is God’s truth and what it is. Otherwise, how could life have even a scintilla of meaning when one tries to make a difference by doing good works that turn out not to be good works in God’s eyes? With God’s grace I would get to the divine truth.

There is no guarantee that grace would be granted, however. In that case, how could I be so arrogant as to think that I would find God’s truth and state what it is? But what is the alternative? The alternative is to live life without knowing or caring about it. Many are doing just that, allowing worldly matters to consume all of their energy and attention.

That is fine too. Free will permits each of us to choose what to consume and how much. Nonetheless, God’s truth exists. Despite its existence, the world has far more interest in the other kinds of truths, such as scientific truths, observable truths, undiscovered truths, partial truths, obfuscated truths and manufactured truths. The latter three truths are also known as fiction, or lies. All these earthly truths or lies, compared to God’s truth, are presumably unremarkable. Yet they are powerful, for all human decisions and lives are based on them, and so too, is the state of the world.

As a result, the world is not utopian. It is not unlivable either. Some, in fact, live quite comfortably and happily while complaining intermittently, even bitterly. Therefore, to no one’s surprise, everyone seems to be able to imagine a better place, and a worse one. The fact that people have such visions suggests that life on earth may not be all there is with nothing preceding it and nothing afterward, and that an existence could very well take place beyond our planetary sphere and our earthly lives. These imaginary places are not just places but also states of mind. At one extreme is heaven, a place of peace and complete fulfillment, at the other, hell, a place of torment and unquenchable desires. I think God’s truth would be clear at either destination. That does not help since I would already be dead and it could be too late.

Earlier I was thinking that it would be great if I can know God’s truth but it would not be a tragedy if I did not. The paragraph I just finished changed my mind. Now I am dying to know God’s truth. I just hope that I do not have to die first to find out.

Life cannot be that ironic, can it?


[1] Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy. The Purgatorio, Notes, p. 433. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: New American Library, 2003.