Thursday, March 13, 2008

truthiness?

In information science, people talk about accuracy. Accuracy is whether or not a quanta of information is factual.

Clearly, there's much in the Bible that isn't accurate. Or, if you want, there's clearly much in universe that isn't accurate... but either way, if you insist on defining the "truth" of the Bible in terms of accuracy, you're going to have to figure out whether the Bible is "literally true", and you're probably in for a tough time of it.

Real truth is much more important than mere accuracy. Creationism? Resurrection? Miracles? These things are true, but you'll be very hard pressed to find factual evidence -- that's because the way that they are most importantly true is above fact, above accuracy. They're true in the way that "rainbows are beautiful" and in the way that "love is the most important thing in the world".

These things are truer than facts. To argue whether they physically happened in these few dimensions of earthly perception rather misses the point.

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Neale Donald Walsch has a good post on this subject [link]:

The Bible also says that, if found to be in an adulterous relationship, both the man and the woman are to be taken to the city gates and also stoned to death. If Monday's allegations are true, that could mean the end for New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He'll have to be stoned.

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