Hello David, My name is John. The only thing about me that's important for you to know other than my name is that I'm old enough to be your father, and I am writing this with the best of intentions. I'd like to help you if possible, not hurt you. I truly have your best interests at heart, whether you choose to believe it or not. So I'm going to speak to you as your father should be doing, and as if I were speaking to my own son--who is actually ten years older than you. I'm offering you the same advice I would give Matthew, if he were in the same situation as you at this moment: please, for the love of God, stop talking. Why in the hell your own parents haven't already had this conversation with you is another topic and possibly beyond my comprehension. But Hillary Clinton once claimed that it takes a village to raise a child, so for once in my life, I'm going to pretend she actually knew what she was talking about, and assume that writing this letter is a good idea. In my opinion, you must learn to choose your words very carefully, before you speak. Why? Because people are currently listening to you. You've got just about everyone's attention. That can work against you. This cliche that sounds like an ominous warning is actually a truth I learned as a child--be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. If you wanted to be famous, consider that goal achieved. You have gone through a very stressful and traumatic experience, one about which I can empathize, at least to some degree. When I was about your age, I got into a heated argument … [Read more...]
Truth
Quid est veritas? Perhaps the most provocative question of all time translates from Latin into English to query, "What is truth?" According to John 18:38, Pontius Pilate asked this of Jesus prior to his crucifixion. Some people believe that Jesus was only a man. Others believe Jesus never even existed. And there are also people like me believe the story told in the Gospel of John is basically accurate, and that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah and Son of God. Now I can confess that I believe the previous statement is true, but I can't claim to know it is true. Get the difference? Not everyone believes that Shakespeare wrote his own plays. A movie called Anonymous asserted that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote and published those famous plays like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet using the pseudonym of William Shakespeare. Francis Bacon and Christopher Marlowe have also been credited with the work of William Shakespeare, but there is no way to conclusively prove beyond all reasonable doubt that William Shakespeare did not write his own material. We might even be able to back up our speculation with tantalizing bits of evidence, but we cannot establish something as a fact when we don't have proof. However, every person on Earth believes they possess absolute knowledge when in fact, we all have beliefs based on reasonable assumptions. Beliefs that are easily confused and twisted to the point where something probably real, or true has been accepted as a false, or a forgery...for example, the Shroud of Turin. Quid est veritas? What is truth? Is the … [Read more...]
