The Truth About w/ Pastor Del
In the present world, “truth" has become an endangered species. Absolute moral standards that once governed our society have been replaced with ambiguous placeholders. The erosion of truth is not just about distinguishing between fact and fiction, but also the deliberate replacement of traditional truth standards with corrupt values without any basis in truth.
The Truth About w/ Pastor Del
The Truth About: Truth - Etymology
This episode unpacks the complexities of truth, exploring its etymology and cultural interpretations that shape our understanding. The concept of truth in modern culture has evolved so much that its original meaning is almost unrecognizable.
Join us as we unravel the intriguing journey of the word "truth" from its Old English origins, a cultural analysis from the Akan people in Africa, and finally, a deep dive into the Hebrew word structure that offers a deeper meaning and grave consequences.
w/ Pastor Del
I just would also like to to just dig into the background a little bit, maybe get into some of the weeds, if you will, intentionally, and look at the etymology of the word truth the the term in our current vocabulary, comes from the old English word travel. How do we know what is true On the Gold Coast of Africa, in Ghana, they will tell you, is the opposite of a lie. When God, his name, his influence, his presence, is removed from the equation of our life truth is altered.
Speaker 2:Truth is Altered true then, the moment it becomes true. It's true for all times.
Speaker 1:Studies show that you may be lied to anywhere from 10 to 200 times.
Speaker 2:If at some point you got lied to, it's because you agreed to get lied to. Somebody that says there's no such thing as absolute truth is making a statement. They All right.
Speaker 1:Welcome back to the Truth About Truth podcast. I want to thank all of those who have really stayed the course with us in this inaugural series that we've introduced to our podcast, and the opportunity has just been incredible. I wanted to add to this portion of our focus dealing with truth as an endangered species. I want to add just some, what I'm going to call some additional background concerning truth. I want to dig into the etymology of the word truth. I know we've done some great analysis already and I believe that we've had some real good perspectives that have been presented for us. But I just would also like to to just dig into the background a little bit, maybe get into some of the weeds, if you will intentionally, and look at the etymology of the word truth itself. The term in our current vocabulary comes from the old English word trouth, trouth, which dates back to the late 12th century. It's associated with its phonetic variant. The word trout typically has been used to signify faithfulness and truth and as the word began to evolve it became associated with a more familiar term for you and I in the English dialect betrothed. So the old English word trouth or troth or trowd in its phonetic variant is where we get the terminology for a person to be betrothed to another individual, generally speaking, of the bride who is betrothed to a groom, a wife, future wife who is betrothed to a future husband. All right, it is that marriage contract that is being pledged here. I want to play around with the word a little bit more because when we see it from that perspective, in definition the word troth actually means to pledge and become a true lawful companion. Now, what's important here and we're taking us back to the 12th century, this word, I believe, came to fruition or evolved from the original usage to be attached to the concept of marriage for this reason that I'm about to state, because in its origin, this pledge to become a true lawful companion also means it removes the option to take the same pledge with anyone else else. So, once the pledge has been made, you can't, you cannot use as an option. I changed my mind. I want to make this pledge with somebody else. Sorry, you are betrothed, meaning you have already identified yourself to be pledged and true to a lawful companion and you remove the option to make that pledge to anyone else. Interesting, interesting. That term is greatly lost in the present world that we live in now that responsibility is diminished in the culture that we operate in this world today. In this world today, the origin of the word truth in the English language implies a pledge and commitment to a standard or a belief which prevents a person from making the same pledge to anything else. As I've stated, the usage of the word truth has greatly declined, has greatly been diluted, and certainly it shows up when we look at the commitment to truth standards especially.
Speaker 1:I find this interesting that in the Akan people, which is in the southern regions of what we would refer to as the Gold Coast region in the nation of Ghana this is in Africa they are accredited with originating the Africa applies a clear and simple definition to this meaning of its counterpart. In other words, it is the opposite of the word. In their language. That means lie Simple. How do we know what is true? Truth On the Gold Coast of Africa, in Ghana, they will tell you, is the opposite of a lie. So everything that's not a lie.
Speaker 1:Watch this oversimplification on purpose Everything that's not a lie is true. Everything that's true is not a lie. Could we make it any easier than that? In simplifying the application of truth, it leaves less room for misidentification. Identifying a lie. Anything that's not supported by observational fact or information, in their culture it's untrue. Anything that cannot be supported by observation or informational facts is not true. Without a witness it cannot be true. Without observable evidence it cannot be true. The other half of the simplified equation explains that anything that cannot be true is a lie. End of discussion no debate.
Speaker 1:See, we get caught up, especially in Western culture, of observing opinions about something that's supposed to be true. Listen to this In our culture, in the Western culture, the opposite of something true is generally categorized as false generally. But in Africa the expected antonym false is inadequate because false implies that information can be rearranged to produce something true. The enemy of the truth is not simply a false narrative where facts or information can be rearranged, can be rearranged. The enemy of truth is the lie that intentionally denies and dismisses the evidence and presence of truth. This is why we can't get in to the opinionated debate. I know we all have opinions, but our opinions cannot alter the truth.
Speaker 1:We all have been guilty of not remaining true and commitment in our pledges, going back to that word in our pledges, going back to that word to be betrothed. We have been guilty. I'm in that category, just like hundreds and thousands of others. But I don't get to change the truth. I have to accept in that decision I was not truthful. In that decision that altered the pledge and commitment that I've made. I was untrue. We don't get to rearrange the furniture and make it fit our experience. We have to accept okay, there's a true standard and I missed it. You know what I'm going to do now. I'm going to do all that's in my power, as I learn from that misstep, to make sure that I get aligned Watch this with the truth.
Speaker 1:We all make mistakes. The truth, we all make mistakes. We all error from the path. That is true. But instead of trying to make our untrue path into something that our opinion is going to reshape and make true for us in the moment, let's accept that everything that is not true is a lie. So it's not enough to just say that well, we can debate it. We can discuss it. We can discuss it. Setting the truth against the lie establishes a moral value to the concept of truth In African culture. Truth has an empirical connection. It is not merely an affirmation of a man's rational analysis and intellectual intuition. Truth connects man to the divine, the highest form of truth and the authority that outranks man. So we have much to learn from the Akan people in Ghana, Africa.
Speaker 1:I want to jump to my last etymology illustration. I want to look at the Hebrew. In Hebrew, the physical construction of the word for truth illustrates the significant impact that truth has on an individual life. This is important In Hebrew. We would pronounce it in our language as emet, e-m-e-t, emet. It's comprised with three Hebrew letters the aleph, the mem and the tav. Aleph, mem and Tav these three Hebrew letters assembled together, they comprise the word for truth.
Speaker 1:Now here's a little quick background on the Hebrew alphabet. It's unique in this way because the physical letters are also symbolic, meaning that each letter has some type of symbolic expression, independent beyond the word that they are used to create. Isolated. Each letter has its own identity. For example, the letter Aleph, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It is a silent letter, no sound, but its presence is self-evident Because of its physical structure, structure and soundless nature.
Speaker 1:The letter is used as a symbol to illustrate a Hebrew reference for the name of God. We would see this written out in English form in this way Y-H-V-H, y-h-v-h. It would be pronounced Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh, yud-heh-vah-heh, the Aleph, the script of the formation of the Aleph. It captures the expression of the Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh, which is a symbolic name for the name of God. Quickly, in Hebrew there's not one name for God. As a matter of fact, in Hebrew, there, the name of God is, is cannot be expressed. It's never uttered Literally, it's never uttered in text form. You'll see, if the book is going to print the word God in a Hebrew text, it will leave out the middle letter intentionally. It is not intended to be spoken, to be verbally expressed, because of the greatness of the name. It cannot be stated, it cannot be uttered. So the Yud-Heh-Vah-Heh is a placeholder, representing the name, representing the name, the Aleph, the formation of the structure of the Aleph represents the Yud, he, vah, he. These are all. This is three actual separate letters in the Hebrew alphabet that make up the single formation of the Aleph the Yud, the he and the Vav. All right, the combination of letters, because it's unpronounceable, is naturally a great symbol for the name of the creator.
Speaker 1:Now the next letter in the word for truth is mem. Remember the Hebrew word is emet. So the Aleph represents the first letter. The second letter, mem, symbolizes what is most vital to sustain the world that God has created. Mem is often compared to water, because water is a sustaining force of the world that God has created. Its massive natural presence on the earth is visibly an illustration of how important water is. There's more water than visible land. It's essential Water is essential water Because it's a life sustaining source for all forms of life in creation, not just humans, humans, animals, plants. The entire ecosystem requires the support of water. The symbol of water represented by the mem is also used to illustrate the importance of the Torah as the spiritual water to sustain life in the world that God created for man.
Speaker 1:The last letter, tav, which is interesting because it is also the last letter in the Hebrew alphabet. That's right. So, as the Aleph is the first letter in the Hebrew alphabet, the Tav is the last letter. There are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet and the Tav is letter number 22. Number 22.
Speaker 1:Its place in the Hebrew alphabet naturally asserts finality. Because it is the last letter, it naturally represents finality. The finality that it represents is not only a reference to an endpoint, but it also means it is a summarization or a final total of a tally within an equation. The top is the end summation indicating that nothing else can be added once the total has been quantified. The end results will warrant a response based on that final summation. So it's not just that is the end letter, it is the end summation, it is the end summation and nothing else can be added once that total has been quantified Collectively.
Speaker 1:The Aleph, mem and Tav illustrate the beginning, the end and everything in between, first to the last, with the mem representing what's essential in between. In the end, the truth about every life will be revealed. The summation, the final summation, cannot be changed or altered and an appropriate response will be determined at the end. How we choose to acknowledge God will be the most important summation of our life. Summation of our life, the evaluation of what we have done concerning our knowledge of the creator of the world where we live is going to be the most important sum total ever made about your life or my life.
Speaker 1:The importance is illustrated in the physical structure of the Hebrew word for truth. Listen to this when determining how life should be lived, there are various opinions about what a person should live for and who they should live to please, which offers an important hint or suggestion when we observe what happens when we remove the first letter in the word for truth. Told you that the Hebrew word for truth is the aleph, the mem and the Vav. The Aleph remember the Aleph is a representation of the unpronounceable name of God. If we remove the first letter of the word for truth, it transforms the structure and the meaning of the two letters that remain. Now, the mem and the tav form the Hebrew word for death.
Speaker 1:When God, his name, his influence, his presence, is removed from the equation of our life, truth is altered when God is removed, his presence, his influence, from our decisions we make in this life. Truth is altered when God, his name, his influence, his presence, is removed from the environment that we listen, where we are influenced, where we are led. If his name is removed from that environment, truth is altered. Attempts to define truth without accounting for God will always render partial results. Something will be missing. We remove the name of God, the influence of God. You and I are left with death. Truth originates with God, comes from God and is what God is the truth. There is no truth without God, because God is absolute truth. Removing God's name, his presence, his influence from our quest for life will result in a summation equal to death. A life without God ultimately leads to death, which is eternal separation from his presence.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining the Truth About podcast today. Tune in for the new Truth About topic on our next episode, so you.