The Importance of Truth and Love

This evening (February 24, 2016) I heard Ravi Zacharias give a lecture followed by a question and answer session at the University of Kentucky's Memorial Coliseum before what I estimated to be a crowd of about 8,000 people. For me, the highlight was Mr. Zacharias quoting a statement from Martin Luther King, Jr., that we need "unarmed truth and unconditional love."

Zacharias followed that up by adding that "truth is the most powerful weapon in the world," a statement which I found afterward (via an online search) in an editorial in the August 14, 1944 LIFE Magazine, which may have been his source. Then he added that love is the "most supreme ethic in the world." I feel there is a lot of wisdom in the simple but profound words in the three quotes I just cited. 

Zacharias has spoken to many audiences around the world, in addition to writing and editing numerous books. You can read more about him on the website of his organization, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

As I see it (my words, not Zacharias's), if we all sought to find the truth and to implement it in a loving way, we could perhaps eventually attain world peace and unite all the diverse religions in the world. Obviously, when the various religions of the world disagree with one another, at best only one can be right. Even within the Christian faith there are a huge number of denominations with various views about the Trinity, methods of baptism, alcoholic beverage consumption, speaking in tongues, how literally to interpret the Bible, etc.

Far too many who claim to be Christians disobey Jesus' teaching to love even one's enemies, seeking to go to war or fight others for selfish reasons. Furthermore, far too many who claim to be Christians (or Muslims, or followers of another faith, or of no faith) deliberately teach false doctrines to defend their particular denomination, church, some religion other than Christianity, or another group.

If we could just all seek to unselfishly seek what is the best, what is the truth, what is right, in a loving way, I am confident that as a whole we could live happier, healthier, longer lives and make our world a better place. I hope and pray that we will seek to do so.