The Lie Within the Truth

I've always been puzzled by a stranger side of truth. In the scriptures, it is clear that "truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come," (D&C 93:24), but when answering the Pharisees, Sadducees and even simple men and women, it says that "without a parable spake [Jesus] not unto them" (Mark 4:34). Another scripture in Alma tells us that men of God may give the truth "only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men," (Alma 12:9). Somehow, truth is not defined in the sense of the dramatic courtroom oath "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth," like I once thought.

Even today I have to fight the tendency to spout everything I know or feel on a subject. It just eats at my brain leaving a piece out. For instance, in the Garden of Eden, when God is confronting Adam, Eve and Lucifer for their sins, God asks Adam what happened. While some mock his response as a blaming of all things on women, I see it as an admission of guilt with an explanation of events, not an excuse. Listen to his words, "The woman thou gavest me, and commandest that she should remain with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree and I did eat," (Moses 4:18). His final words to God were "I did eat." Not, "It's all her fault!"

But at the same time, he didn't go over the whole story in detail. He told what was important - Eve gave him fruit and he ate it. No mentioning of Eve's listening to the serpent or how horrid she was. He simply said the main event and his part. Sometimes I feel that I am missing the point here.

See, while I desire for the truth to be blasted out into the open for me and others to hear, I never remember that for each of us "truth is in the eye of the beholder." We have our own interpretations of the world and filter events and conversations accordingly. I know I have mishandled multiple moments in life with my own personal interpretation of truth clashing with others'.

It is falsehood to assume that divulging everything at once constitutes the truth. "Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come," (D&C 93:24) means that we must not only acknowledge what is true, but the state of those receiving it from us. For example, a parent does not explain the innermost details of sex with a little child, nor really even when they reach adulthood. Somethings cannot be shared in full during this life. We must learn how to share what is appropriate and guard ourselves from having loose lips.

Communication is hard enough already, but adding difficult truths to the mix can make a train wreck of it. We cannot continue to bring up the past and throw it in the face of our friends and family (see Jeffrey R. Holland's talk - Remember Lot's Wife). We must learn to control the truth that leaves our mouths in a way that benefits others. "For of him unto whom much is given much is required," (D&C 82:3) and only when we use the truth we have correctly will the Savior's words "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," (St John 8:32) be fulfilled. 


I hope I do better at this in the future. I have tended to throw out "truths" of things in the past to prove points or whatever and it only offends and wounds. I'm deeply sorry if that was any of you (especially if I haven't told you personally). Know I am working on speaking and being better, but it will take time. Not all of us are King Lamoni who gets transformed in a day, you know.