Truth or Tyranny

              This postmodern world, the world in which Truth is said not to exist, the world in which there is always and only “your truth” and “my truth,” is disintegrating. It must. Truth is foundational. All foundationless structures eventually collapse.

              Truth, as Jesus said, sets us free. So, this world of dissolution, comes apart, not into nothingness, but into the chaos of tyranny. It is truth or tyranny. Always. Truth is freedom. Your truth and my truth only give you a warm fuzzy on the now-defunct O show. Everywhere else it gives you authoritarian oppression. Tolerance and kindness must give way to totalitarianism and cruelty when Truth gives way to stories. Stories necessarily become competing narratives, battling for supremacy, one seeking to crush the other, the truth be damned.

              Now, here we stand on the ash heap of our once-great republic. We kicked out its pillars, dozed its foundations, and are shocked that the soil of postmodernism couldn’t support the weight of its institutions. Fools. We join Pilate in sneering, “What is truth,” while Truth stands silent, pure, and innocent before us. And then with Pilate, we wash our hands, and excuse our complicity while we watch Truth get crucified.

              Narrative is all that matters now. Story, not Truth. Your truth and my truth. And they can’t and won’t peacefully coexist. We won’t let them. It is against the nature of things. So, we enter the battlefield and screech our stories back and forth. The plot varies little. They are wrong and we are right. They are evil and we are good. The important thing is power and control, not truth. Never truth.

              Without truth, we are left only with tyranny. It can be no other way. And it matters not whether it is tyranny of the left or tyranny of the right. Tyranny has a closet full of costumes and the beast cares not which it wears.

              And Truth? Well, we hung him on a cross. We killed him and then laid his corpse in a tomb. But Truth is Life too and you can’t kill life. He cannot and will not stay dead. He rose. If we would lay aside our stories (repent), if we would return to Truth, we could rebuild our lives and nation and know freedom. But until then, it will be tyranny. It must be. It is always and forever only Truth or tyranny.