Albert Mohler has a good post at his blog about the importance of telling the truth.
However, the problem with the post is he talks about "the newly-coined word, 'truthiful,' intended to designate something near the truth, or somehow distantly related to the truth, but not the truth." The actual word, coined by Stephen Colbert and selected recently by the American Dialect Society as the Word of the Year is "truthiness" (for more on this word see my recent article: Truthiness).
Despite that error, Mohler still has some good points as he talks about Oprah and James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Here are a couple highlights:
"The controversy has exposed the deep confusion over truth that now shapes our culture. When fact and fiction are this confused -- and when the value of truth-telling is this open to debate -- something invaluable has been lost."
"Christians are to be the people of the truth -- the people who care deeply about the truth and are willing to suffer for the truth. This controversy should awaken us to the dangerous subversion of truth in our culture, and serve to embolden us in speaking the truth -- even about the importance of truth."
"Beyond this, this controversy should also serve as a reminder that we are also accountable to the truth. Just as the author of a memoir presented as truth has no right to lie in order to 'improve' his story, Christians have no right to do the same when giving a testimony or using an illustration in a sermon. The last thing we need is for Christians to allow 'truthiful' sermons and personal testimonies."
Good point! Just please get the word right next time (or else this piece accidentally also has some truthiness).
UPDATE [2-4-06]: I emailed Dr. Mohler about the error and sent him the link to the American Dialect Society that chose truthiness as the "Word of the Year." He has corrected the post and added the link to the ADS. Now it is a very good post about the importance of telling the truth.
However, the problem with the post is he talks about "the newly-coined word, 'truthiful,' intended to designate something near the truth, or somehow distantly related to the truth, but not the truth." The actual word, coined by Stephen Colbert and selected recently by the American Dialect Society as the Word of the Year is "truthiness" (for more on this word see my recent article: Truthiness).
Despite that error, Mohler still has some good points as he talks about Oprah and James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Here are a couple highlights:
"The controversy has exposed the deep confusion over truth that now shapes our culture. When fact and fiction are this confused -- and when the value of truth-telling is this open to debate -- something invaluable has been lost."
"Christians are to be the people of the truth -- the people who care deeply about the truth and are willing to suffer for the truth. This controversy should awaken us to the dangerous subversion of truth in our culture, and serve to embolden us in speaking the truth -- even about the importance of truth."
"Beyond this, this controversy should also serve as a reminder that we are also accountable to the truth. Just as the author of a memoir presented as truth has no right to lie in order to 'improve' his story, Christians have no right to do the same when giving a testimony or using an illustration in a sermon. The last thing we need is for Christians to allow 'truthiful' sermons and personal testimonies."
Good point! Just please get the word right next time (or else this piece accidentally also has some truthiness).
UPDATE [2-4-06]: I emailed Dr. Mohler about the error and sent him the link to the American Dialect Society that chose truthiness as the "Word of the Year." He has corrected the post and added the link to the ADS. Now it is a very good post about the importance of telling the truth.
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