(God-Wrestler)

So when do you know when something is true? How do you know when something is true? What is the truth?
Wordnet says that truth is:

a fact that has been verified

conformity to reality or actuality

Sometimes things are just true and you don't have to question it because they just conform to reality, like my car has four wheels. I know this is the truth because when I see my car in reality there are four wheels. I can also verify this truth by using math to count the number of wheels on my car. This truth can't be argued. My car has four wheels.

Now this seems simple, but we can look at our history to realize that truth is more complicated than that. For instance, there was a time when the world was convinced the earth was flat. You can see the land in front of you and behind, sometimes there are hills but overall the world was flat. That argument was never really settled until we were able to see earth from space and the round earth then became reality and our truth was forced to conform.

So from this I find that it is easy to discover the truth when you can take an objective look into what is being debated over as true or false. When trying to decide if the earth was round or flat no one could really prove it. There was evidence of the earth being round and flat but it was hard to really confirm that. Then when we were able to take a look from the outside in, it was like a big DUH moment because you could plainly see the earth was round.

What about deciding if our feelings and emotions are true. For some this isn't an issue, if I feel this then it is reality and it is truth. Others second guess their emotions and believe that they can have false emotions or feelings, because they are there does not necessarily make them true. This internal struggle I believe comes from the fact that we are in our emotions and feelings, like we are in the earth. Until we can come out of our selves and look into our emotions we can not really know the truth behind them.

So how can we truly understand if our feelings are the truth or a false emotion that we are projecting? For myself, I turn to God to help discern the truth of my feelings.
James 1:5
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
I know that God will give the wisdom I need to discern the truth behind my feelings.

I have been really digging through this book by Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, and I have read some interesting things about what God claims and how we know its true. Rob talks about the writings of Paul in 1 Corinthians, particularly this verse;
1 Corinthians 3:21-23
So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Rob says that Paul is making the claim that truth is every where. God has everything, Christ has God, and we have Christ, therefore we have it all too. The truth of life is all around us and we should recognize that when we see it because we have what God has, and what God has is true.
Rob Bell puts it this way.
"Claim it. "
"If it is true, if it is beautiful, it is is honorable, if it is right, then claim it. Because its is from God. And you belong to God." (Velvet Elvis, pg 79)

This rang true to me. It made sense to me. This is how I want to look at things around me, in me, and that are apart of me. I do not believe it is an exact science, but I agree with how these elements can help me decide if they are of God for me to have.

So I ask myself now. Are these feelings true, beautiful, honorable, or right then I work my way from there to claim.

I say now, that I am claiming these feelings for I find they true, beautiful, honorable, right and of God.