The Farmville herald. (Farmville, Va.) 1957-current, 1961-09-01
Guarding Truth
Lesson for September 3, 1861

Every once in a while you hear
someone talking about guard
ing the truth" = generally
sacred" truth, that is to say
truth which the speaker regards
with a kind of reverence. In writ
ing to younger friend and as
sistant of years standing, Paul
the Apostle urges him to guard
what has been entrusted to him;
and when one reads the whole
letter, both letters. of Paul to
Timothy. we see what is the main
thing that has been entrusted to
him: namely, the Truth. This he
is to pass on to others when he
dies land before). men who can
in turn pass it to future genera
tons. Truth is a treasure. but
when truth vanishes. there is no
treasure to pass on.
The Weakness Of Truth
There is an old story about a
king who wanted to find the wis
est man in his kingdom. So at a
banquet he asked this question:
What one thing is strongest in
the world? One wise man said
Wine" mother said 1.-THE
King" The third said, Women
but truth is stronger still" And
when each had given the reasons
for his choice. all the people
shouted for the third man:
Great is truth. and mighty
above all things" To this day
people speak of the power of
truth. Thomas Jefferson's line is
famous: Truths like torch,
the more it's shook it shines"
Yet there are other proverbs
pointing to the weakness Of truth.
1t has been said that truth walks
on leaden feet. while every lie
has wings. Considering the many
successful lies now abroad in the
world. people may be pardoned
for thinking that truth is weak.
1t is often necessary to fight for
truth, while lies get on all too
well by themselves. One weak
ness of any truth is that it can
be initiated and rivaled by half
truths which sound very much
like 1t. Truth can be distorted
and twisted till it has all the ef-
feet of a lie. Hence, guarding
truth means to keep it free from
distortion. unmixed and uncon-
fused with half-truths and un-
truths that turn it to poison.
The Danger Of Truth
Truth is not dangerous to any
thing that is good. But it does
appear as a danger to those who
profit by lies. It often chal-
lenges peoples prejudices. and
cuts down the power Of tyrants.
Before the American Civil War.
a man in the South wrote a book
on the economics of slavery. The
book was not a. masterpiece of
literature. but it did show one
thing very clearly: Slavery was
not profitable. in the long run.
Was the book welcomed? Was
the author hailed as an advanced
thinker? Not at all. In more than
one state that book was forbidden
to be sold or read. People might
argue a long time whether slay-
cry was sinful or not. But the
facts and figures in that book
showed a simpler thing: slavery
actually did not pay. There was
no way to answer the argument
SO the man was simply shut UP.
In our times prominent Ameri-
can magazine published a long
article on socialized medicine in
England and Scotland. It showed
beyond a doubt that the British
system of medicine costs a lot of
money. But there were two facts
that were kept out of that arti-
Gle: one. the British people seem
to like that system: and two.
they are healthier than they used
to be without it. Those two fact,
are challenging; but to some
people they seem to be danger
GUS, SO they we're not mentioned
How To Guard Truth
You might think that Christian
truth. surely, needs no guardians
Yet Christian truth also can he
distorted, and needs to be pro-
tected against half-truths that
sound like Christianity but are
not. Christian truth also chal.
lenges all the forces Of evil. Min
listers and other Christians who
stand for truth need not be sur
prised to be called starry-eyed
idealists at best. or communists
at worst. Yet there is need for
modern Tomothys who will guard
what truth they have learned
Know the truth! Stand up for it,
Teach it! are the three best ways
Of guarding truth, now as always
BASED on outlines copyrighted
by the Division Of Christian Edu-
cation, National Council Of the
Churches Of Christ in the U. S. A.
Released by Community Press
Service.)
r. FACT