by Roman Del Bosque

Created on: June 06, 2008   Last Updated: December 25, 2010

Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you a king?" Jesus answered, "I came into the world to bear witness to the truth." Pilate quickly countered, "What is truth?" Jesus did not answer. Evidently, he had no desire to engage Pilate in such dialogue. But why not?

Why did Jesus refuse to engage Pilate in a discussion about truth? Had not Jesus just moments before proclaimed to Pilate that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth? Was that not a perfect moment for Jesus to bear witness to such truth, not only to Pilate but also to those within hearing distance in Pilate's court? Did Jesus have a reason for not speaking to Pilate about truth on that occasion? And if he did, what was that reason?

On the surface, truth appears about as illusive as a desert mirage - perhaps even more. Philosophers across history, in their attempts to define truth, encountered this illusive quality of truth in their attempts to explain what truth is. Apparently, however, not one of these philosophers was ever fully satisfied with their explanations and findings about what is truth. Why is truth so illusive? Can it be that truth remains as illusive and mysterious as ever because it is tied directly with the divine nature we call God? Is this a case of God keeping secrets from the human race? Or, could this be a matter of us not asking the right questions, or looking at truth from the right perspective.

I had a friend who once said something to me that I never forgot. She was a friend who knew of my deep interest and research into the mysteries of God and life. One day, while complaining to her about my frustrations with getting to the bottom of life's mysteries, she nonchalantly replied, "The answers to the mysteries of life are probably easier than you think. They're probably all around us. We just don't see them, because we are too busy looking for them in the wrong places."

I heeded my friend's advice, and started looking for the answers to such mysteries from a different perspective. In addition, along the way, I also asked God to give me the wisdom to recognize, and identify, the definition of truth when and if I ever found it. And this is what I discovered.

Truth, from an individual perspective, is whatever we "believe" it to be in life. Jesus himself emphasized the importance of belief during his ministry. To paraphrase Jesus, he was often quoted in the bible as saying, "Believe and you shall be saved." Or, "Believe and you shall be healed." Or still, "Believe and it shall be so." The bible is replete with such examples demonstrating the mysterious power of belief. It is a power capable of creating a certain reality in life. We create whatever we believe in. This demonstrates that "belief" reflects a powerful and mysterious spiritual truth.

Belief has the power to create whatever reality we choose to believe in. What is reality? Whatever we believe and want it to be! "Truth," then, in the end, is whatever we believe in. And even whatever we do not "believe" in — that, too, is "truth" to us. Thus, it is we — both individually and collectively — who create the "truth" of our lives, and our world. Change what we believe in — change the way we think - and we create a new reality, and a new truth.

God gave us the ability to believe, and to create our own reality and truth. Let us then use this ability wisely, and change the condition of our lives, and our world, for the better.

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