“An impeccable argument can rest on undeniable facts, but if it is used
to hurt another and to discredit that person in the eyes of others,
however correct it may appear, it is not truthful. We can recognize the truth of statements from their fruits.”
-Pope Francis
Source
Asad Rustom on the Patriarch Sylvester
3 hours ago
2 comments:
The quotation is absolutely genuine, but your Source quotes it in isolation, asserts that the only "sane" meaning of truth is proposition corresponding with reality, and then asserts that Pope Francis is advocating some sort of sentimental, subjective understanding of truth. But Christians have always understood "truth" as having wider connotations that simple propositional veracity:
"In Christianity, truth is not just a conceptual reality that regards how we judge things, defining them as true or false. The truth is not just bringing to light things that are concealed, "revealing reality", as the ancient Greek term aletheia (from a-lethès, "not hidden") might lead us to believe. Truth involves our whole life. In the Bible, it carries with it the sense of support, solidity, and trust, as implied by the root 'aman, the source of our liturgical expression Amen. Truth is something you can lean on, so as not to fall. In this relational sense, the only truly reliable and trustworthy One – the One on whom we can count – is the living God. Hence, Jesus can say: "I am the truth" (Jn 14:6). We discover and rediscover the truth when we experience it within ourselves in the loyalty and trustworthiness of the One who loves us. This alone can liberate us: "The truth will set you free" (Jn 8:32)."
It's a pretty garden-variety message, but in today's party-riven atmosphere it's a perfect example of how the simplest and most traditional exhortation to personal inegrity and care with what we say can be used to attack and pull down.
Well said. Thank you for that.
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