What is Truth?

By Kaka D. Iralu | EMN During the trial of Jesus, when Jesus told Pilate, that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth, Pilate countered Jesus by asking: “What is truth” (Jn. 18: 37, 38). Pilate’s question in fact had been asked and debated by religious leaders, philosophers, legal experts and political thinkers all down through the centuries of human history.And although Pilate’s, question had echoed and re-echoed down the corridors of history, Pilate was not the first man to utter to question. This is because, ever since the creation of man, God has been trying to reveal his truths to mankind and mankind too had been seeking these truths (e.g. Gen 2: 16,17; 3:14,15). As for mankind’s search and definition for “The truth,” some had said that the truth is multiple and diverse while others have said the truth is relative and subject to change and time. Coming to the very recent times, one of the most popular definitions of truth stated by the Pragmatist school of philosophy said: “The truth is the cash value of an idea” (Willam James). Pragmatists of course insist that the truth in any given situation should be the cash value to be gained from that situation. This political and economic philosophy of pragmatism seems to have taken a strangulating grip on Naga society today. Given the historical political and legal truths of the Naga struggle, in the aftermath of the bloodbath, many opportunities for making quick money emerged. Into this whirlpool of opportunities, many Nagas who had sacrificed nothing in the struggle made their millions at the expense of those who sacrificed their all. Like the pragmatists, these Nagas cashed in to the cash value of the idea of Naga nationalism. But coming back to the question of “What is Truth;” what in fact should be a right definition of truth? In my opinion (which is based on the Bible), a definition of the truth should simply be: “What is true as opposed to what is false.” It should be truth without additions or subtractions. As for taking a position in regards to truth, it is, as Jesus himself had said: “Let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one”(Mat.5:37). This is to say that whether it is in the religious realm or the economic realm or the political realm, the truth should always be simply “What is true.” In the context of the conversation between Pilate and Jesus, though Pilate was was questioning Jesus on what is truth; he was not ignorant of the following truths: 1.He was fully aware that he had the political and legal authority to either let Jesus go free or crucify him (Jn.19:10). 2. He was also fully aware that Jesus was not guilty of any political or legal crime (Lk. 23:4, 22). But Piate succumbed to the pressure of the Jewish mob and the then existing situation.Succumbing to pressure and existing situations and failing to uphold the truth! That was Pilate’s story and that, has also been the story of humanity all down the ages of history. Now, knowledge of what is right and what is wrong or knowledge of truth and falsehood is not something external to the human heart or mind. This is clear from the Bible when it says that God’s laws are written into our very hearts (Dt. 30:11-14). But the tragedy of humanity and human history has been that we always try to ignore the truth or keep it in abeyance or walk in a middle path so that we can escape the implications and consequences of applying the truth and living it out in our real life situations. But do we get away by resorting to such evasive actions. Perhaps in Nagaland today, we are living in a situation similar to Isaiah times, when the whole nation of Israel was living in a state of apostasy. In that situation, the prophet of God cried out: “For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us...speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter” (Is. 59: 12-14). Have we Nagas too descended into a similar state of apostasy where because of our compromise with our political truth, justice and equity cannot enter into our society? After all, compromise with truth in one area, always affects all other areas of one’s life.