I was at a Professional Men's Breakfast
meeting this morning (Sat Oct 26) and the speaker, Rev. Nicholas
Sykes, chose this as his subject.

I am not going to repeat it what he
said, except his title, and asking us if we had ever watched the
television game show, “Family Feud”?

Most of us said. “yes” and he
pointed out to us that the answers to the question the host, Steve
Harvey, asked ,are the top one hundred answers given by the public
the show researchers obtained. Not necessarily, in fact very often,
the answers are not correct. In other words, they are not the truth.

The two families 'feuding' have to
guess what the public think are the correct answers.

So, what is truth?

Pontius Pilate said this to Jesus at
His trial, after Jesus had claimed that He is ”witness to the
truth”.

Why did Pilate say this?

Was it because he could see Jesus'
trial was a mockery at all the lies. The untruths, witnesses were
saying about Jesus, or was he making a statement that truth is hard
to ascertain?

If it was the latter then Pilate would
be hard put to find out what really is the truth people utter now or
read in the media reports.

“Fake news” that is downright lies,
is sadly the norm today.

Pilate didn't wait for anyone to answer
him.

Author David Lodge wrote a best selling
novel with the title “Home Truths” .

It is a brilliant novel and is about
Adrian Ludlow, a novelist with a distinguished reputation and a book
on the “A” level syllabus, is now seeking obscurity in a cottage
beneath the Gatwick flight path. His university friend Sam Sharp, who
has become a successful screenwriter, drops in on the way to Los
Angeles, fuming over a vicious profile of himself by Fanny Tarrant,
one of the new breed of Rottweiler interviews, in a Sunday newspaper.
Together they decide to take revenge on the interviewer, though
Adrian is risking what he values most: his privacy.

The story examines with wit and insight
the contemporary culture of celebrity and the conflict between the
solitary activity of writing and the demands of the media circus.

Author Ursula K. Le Guin is quoted as
saying, “I talk about the gods, I am an atheist. But I am an artist
too, and therefore a liar. Distrust everything I say. I am telling
the truth.”

Musician, Missy Elliott, said, “I
know that some people shy away from what I say. They think it is too
blunt, but when you don't give people that, they feel like you are
being fake and you're not telling the truth. So it's like, you want
me to tell the truth, but when I do, it's too much for you.”

As I have mentioned earlier Steve
Harvey, I will finish with a quote from him:

“I think there are so many books out
there written on relationships and romance that women are the authors
of. How can women know exactly how men think? And there are so many
guys out there with relationship books who are just not telling the
truth. They have shaded parts.”

The Old Testament Book “Judith” was
taken out of the Old Testament as we know it today, (unless you are a
Roman Catholic) because Judith prayed to God to give her a lying
tongue. Even though it was being used for good.

And that is the truth, the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.

Or is it?