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News 36
Detours
KTRM
Go ahead and tell the truth
Zach Vicars is a senior philosophy/religion and linguistics major from St. Charles, Mo.
Throughout the last four years, I have written nearly 60 columns for this newspaper. The subject matter I’ve chosen to tackle has varied widely — from Super Bowl ads to Planned Parenthood and back again. Every now and then, I’ll have someone ask me, “What’s your column about?” or “What’s the purpose of your column?” For a long time, I didn’t know how to respond. But now, for my final column, I think I’ve finally come up with an answer.
The purpose of this column is to tell the truth.
That focus might not be very descriptive — and it’s certainly not original — but that’s been my goal all along. I haven’t always done the best job, and many times I’ve been heavy with truth and short with love.
Still, I’d like to thank all of you who have read my columns. However you feel about me or my opinions, I’d ask you all to continue to seek the truth.
If my time at this paper has taught me anything, it’s that telling the truth isn’t always easy or popular. Our post-modern context is fundamentally opposed to any idea of absolute truth. Nevertheless, I’m going to take one last attempt at telling the truth — whatever the backlash might be.
The truth is this: for a few thousand years, human beings have been trying to carve out their existence on their own. Whether by military might or scientific discovery, we have been trying to become little kings of this planet and lords of the universe. After millennia of trial and error, you would think that we would have figured out how to save ourselves – especially since the Enlightenment, which taught us that humans are the pinnacle of all wisdom, knowledge and rationality.
But today, we humans have managed to make a bigger mess of ourselves than ever before. Our 3-pound “Enlightened” brains haven’t managed to figure out how to live at peace with one another. During the 20th century alone, some 160 million people were killed during wars and genocides, according to historian Piero Scaruffi. That would be the equivalent of wiping out half of the current U.S. population. Today, a deadly virus called HIV is literally tearing apart an entire continent. Famine plagues large portions of the globe – not because we don’t produce enough food to feed this planet, but because we can’t get along well enough to distribute it to our neighbors.
And if you think these consequences of human failings only affect faraway places, think again. I visited with a man today who was in a platoon of 37 men in Vietnam. After a brutal tour, he was the only one that came home. Today he lives alone, deeply wounded by the tragedies he witnessed. Throughout the United States, 22 percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) are aborted, according to the Guttmacher Institute. More children in America grow up fatherless than ever before. As I mentioned in my last column, 1 in 3 girls are sexually abused by the age of 18, according to advocacycenter.org. Tragically, more readers were upset that I called those women “innocent” than by the fact that they had been so brutally mistreated.
The truth is the human experiment has failed. If we were left to ourselves, our selfishness would lead to more war, more disease, more famine, more divorce, more abortion and more isolation and more death. The truth is: we can’t do this on our own. We need a Savior.
And the truth is that a Savior has come. That’s the good news. I’ve spent much of my four years here telling bad news – going on a tirade here and a rant there about the sorry state of our culture. But I’ve dedicated very little time to telling the Good News, which is that a man named Jesus Christ came to save the world of humans from themselves. When we needed a Savior most, God himself came to our rescue. Because of what he has done, we can overcome evil and turn away from our selfish desires which have led to so much heartache and suffering throughout the centuries.
That is the truth. That’s what I hope this column has been about. And that’s the truth I’m going to spend the rest of my life telling. Thank you all, once again. Go and tell the truth.
Hey Zach, I just wanted to clarify something real quick. You write for the opinion column, correct? So it is your “opinion” and not the “truth” that Jesus is our lord and savior…right? I mean, your faith guides your opinion on the matter, so it may as well be the truth for you, but not for everyone. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not trying to cast a negative light on your faith, but the Truman Index is a newspaper, not a pulpit.
I completely agree with this comment. This is a university publication, not a sermon from Brother Jed on the quad.
hey, no one is forcing you to read the articles are they? no one is forcing you to stand by brother jed and get yelled at are they? you dont have to listen if you dont want. and brother jed isnt a true man of god by any means. dont compair a true christian to him. its incredibly insulting.
You could fill this newspaper with Cathy comics, and not force people to read them, but that would make this publication terrible and useless as a publication of intelligent thought and debate, as would filling it with columns from Zach.
its an opinion piece in the opinion section. you dont have to take it for truth. you can appreciate that he wants to help the world and make a diference. or we could all just point out how wrong he is and make jokes about how his opinion is of no value because he is a christian and writes through that world view. the news paper has a lot of stuff other than the opinions section. try checking those out since you only read for the articles and all.
As an anthropology major I have to completely disagree with your logic on the human race’s “successes and failures” but quite frankly, I don’t even know where to begin.
Zach, thanks for taking a stand and sharing some good news with others–whether they want to hear it or not. You have a Voice and it deserves to be heard. As much as many students joke about the Index, it is a place afforded by our First Amendment to speak freely. If others disagree, that’s fine. Stay strong through His strength. Keep writing and sharing.
The first amendment does allow Zach to speak freely. That’s fine. Talk all you want. But there is a different discussion that needs to be had about what kind of arguments should be held in public discourse, and which things should be left to…church cafeterias and poorly constructed newspapers.
Examples of things that should be argued in public discourse:
Conservative politics vs. liberal politics.
Involvement in foreign countries.
Abortion debate.
Social Welfare.
Scientifically disputed theories.
Examples of things that should NOT be argued (anymore) in public discourse:
Contraception.
Evolution (the “creationism” debate).
Not basing laws on religion.
Here is what I mean to say: that in order to move forward, the majority of humanity cannot keep dealing with senseless discussion. There comes a point where you have to say that evolution is an excepted theory and should be taught in our schools and that creationism should not be. That is progress. Progress is good. Columns like the above are not progress. They are not good. They should be ignored (not removed) from the public debate. No one is advocating censorship. They’re advocating intellectual thought.
You should not thank Zach for sharing the good news with others when they don’t want to hear it. You should tell him to stop being a nuisance to the public.
“that’s almost right” You make a compelling case for what should and should not be argued in public discourse. I agree that involvement in foreign countries, abortion, social welfare, scientifically disputed theories … all fit for public discourse. But the impetus for why millions of people have the views they have on such matters has roots in faith, and religion. Major world religions all tend to have views on how to treat neighbors, when life begins, war, and when the world was created.
The trouble with saying ‘this should be discussed in public’ and ‘this is senseless discussion’ is that it tends to discriminate based on viewpoint. It presupposes that some part of life and debate exists separate from religion and faith. It’s impossible to prove that such boundaries empirically exist. To assert that something is ‘senseless discussion’ isn’t an empirical fact; it’s just a value statement that cannot be proven.
Zach,
Nicely-put, though I disagree with almost everything you said. You’ve given your thoughtful opinion, now I will give you mine, for whatever it’s worth.
For me, truth, absolute Truth, is a very difficult idea, one that should be valued nonetheless. Once we’ve agreed that truth is our goal, we can also agree on successful ways to arrive at truth. Historically, the most successful ways have been through logic, mathematics, reason, science, history, etc. Each of these things has yielded great truths about our species, notwithstanding the impact that these truths have had on us for better or worse.
I submit to you that pure faith, faith unaccompanied by reason or by some mode of evidence-based inquiry, has yielded the least amount of truths. Faith, whatever you see as its definition, is ultimately belief without evidence, and this method of arriving at truth can lead us down some pretty strange paths.
I suppose that the point that arises from this aimless musing is that it’s all good and well that you see the answer to a seemingly fallen world in Jesus Christ and that he offers you some kind of peace of mind. However, this is not what truth entails. Truth doesn’t always make us feel safe and comfortable. In fact, some truths shock us and shake us from our firmest foundations, from our most cherished feelings. And so, for me at least, truth isn’t about what makes us feel good. It’s about what is..well..true, no matter the consequences. This attitude toward truth forces us to make sure our beliefs accord with the way the world actually is and not with the way we think the world should be.
I hope this all makes some sense. I’m glad that you find cause for love and compassion within your chosen faith tradition. The world, as you allude to, could always use a little more love and compassion. But when we talk about truth, I hope we’re all very careful to distinguish it from what makes us feel good. Truth stands apart from such feelings.
All the best in your future endeavors.
Peace.
Amen!!!!
To address each of your points individually:
Abortion.
“Throughout the United States, 22 percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) are aborted, according to the Guttmacher Institute.”
If you looked a little further past your source to the source of your source, you would see that abortion rate per 100 pregnancies has been on a relatively steady decline since 1983, when it was 30.4. That may not fit with your worldview that the world is becoming more and more depraved, but most would argue that education and increased availability of contraception contribute heavily to the reduction in that statistic. Turns out that those are HUMAN efforts reducing something that you consider an absolute moral wrong.
“The truth is this: for a few thousand years, human beings have been trying to carve out their existence on their own.”
Actually, for almost the entirety of recorded history, most every human that has ever lived has lived under the shadow of some religion or theocracy.
“You would think that we would have figured out how to save ourselves.”
What do you even mean by this statement? Save ourselves from what? From death? Human lifespans have increased dramatically since our most primitive years. From physical suffering? Modern medicine and medical discoveries are working on that and doing a pretty good job. From tyranny? One could argue that we are in the most representative age in our species’ existence. From ignorance? Knowledge is expanding at exponential rates (we even know about dark matter and dark energy. Those things are crazy!). From apathy for other’s suffering? Compair non-profit and private and public aid spending as a percentage of GDP from 100, 200, 1000 years ago to now. I think you would find that people in today’s day and age care more than any other. All of these things by the way, ALL OF THEM, are progressing in a positive direction due only and entirely to HUMAN efforts. Humans 2, God 0.
And as a side note: our “3 lbs. enlightened brains” have evolved from primitive, non-sentient animals to creating particle accelerators, signing peace treaties, curing diseases, and thinking about colonizing Mars. So we’re not perfect as a species yet. Cut us some slack. We’re working on it. And we’re going in the right direction.
As for hunger: it is an issue in our world. But that doesn’t mean no one is trying to address it, and it doesn’t mean that we can’t get along. Do you know who was the largest recipient of food aid between 2000-2002? North Korea. You think we get along with them? No, but there are innocent, hungry people in their country, and the US cares about that. Another stat? 4.2 million tons. That’s the amount of food that was distributed to North Korea in those 3 years. That’s quite alot of food. Is the problem larger than the solution at the moment? Yes. Are we trying to address it, and moving in the right direction? Yes. Who is doing the good in this? HUMANS. No mana from heaven for the suffering… 3-0.
Hmm…1 in 3 girls are sexually abused by the age of 18? That’s terrible, it really is. Just horrific. But let’s see what advice the Bible has regarding sexual laws:
Taking a quick hop over to Deuteronomy 22:13, and reading for a little while, one can find a few disturbing facts. All of these things warrant the death penalty, according to the Bible:
Adultery
Lying about virginity. Applies to girls who are still in their fathers’ homes, who lie about their virginity, and are presented to their husband as a virgin. The accused is guilty until proved innocent.
Rape of a virgin who is engaged. If she is not engaged you only have to marry her and give her father 50 shekels. No mention is made of the girl’s opinion, and no punishment is specified for raping a single non-virgin female.
Being the victim of rape, if one is an engaged female virgin and the rape occurs in a city. If it takes place in a field, the victim is spared because nobody would have heard her screams.
So, to be sure, sexual abuse is terrible. But religion, obviously, is not the answer for a civilized, educated society of laws and reason. It is the enemy to that. You may say, “Well that is the Old Testament. Jesus came to abolish those things.” But that does not change the fact that God made those laws at one point in time to apply to real people. That is unjustifiable. You cannot convict the human race of sexual injustice when your God made laws promoting it.
The solution to sexual abuse and rape isn’t an antiquated, chauvinistic, sexist religion. It’s laws, and order, and justice, and equality, and all things that are MAN MADE ideals that HUMANS are striving for, and succeeding, if only a little too slowly. Again, moving in the right direction. Again, HUMANS are doing it. 4-0.
Also, fatherless children? How does God welcome those people: “A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.”
“The truth is the human experiment has failed.”? Nothing could be further from the truth. The human experiment is the greatest achievement of our planet. It is progressing and growing and evolving, and we are taking 2 steps forward and 1 step back, but it IS moving. Humanity does not need saving. We are saving ourselves, and discovering what we want that to mean every day. Yes there is greed. Yes there is insanity. But there is no God to save us from those things. There is only reason, and all of the good and kind and loving ideas that can exist within that. And may humanity save itself if it cannot escape the chains of such primitive thinking as exists in your column.
Zach, thanks for writing this truth. The Church needs more boldness like this. Jesus Christ is alive and active at TSU. Psalms 62
I like the fact that you stand up for your beliefs and write with a hopeful attitude in the piece. However, your calling out to deaf people. Truman is a liberal arts school and most of those who attend truman take the liberal part very seriously. Its very acceptable in our society to mock Christians openly. a complete and utter double-standard. but they look at the church when it makes mistakes and not the individuals. Christians are still people. i am still a person, and under that heading i still makes mistakes. that doesn’t mean I’m never going to mess up. but if a christian like myself messes up, we are hypocrites and its a big joke to everyone. but an atheist makes the same mistake they are just living and growing. see what i mean? while atheism says there is no god they actually put themselves in the position and worship themselves. every mocking or attacking comment made is just them proving that they think they are better than us. we are all equal. being a christian or not doesnt make you better in any aspect. at least you stand for something and are trying to do some good, unlike those who comment and nit-pick your article.
This comment is so completely ignorant I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll just say that for the record, I’m a Christian, I just don’t think that a university publication is the place to spread one’s personal religious beliefs as “truth.”
so youd like him to be untrue to himself and his God to please you? if it’s on his heart and he wants to write about it, be my guest. its the opinion section so if you dont take it with a grain of salt already then you are a fool. im just saying you dont have to read anything. so if you are offended by it, dont read it anymore.
So, let me see if I understand this:
Zach has the right to produce this article which irritates or offends a fair amount of people, and you believe their criticisms are unwarranted or ridiculous. By criticizing comments, aren’t you just employing the exact same actions?
There are no favorites. Either everyone has the right to say what they believe or no one does.
If you find fault with these comments, don’t read them anymore.
I guess I have to point out how ridiculous it is that you said the attitude of the piece was “hopeful”.
there is hope in christ my friend.
The problem with saying that there is hope in Christ is that Christianity’s principle message thrives on the fact that we are broken, dirty individuals in a broken, dirty world. This necessitates a savior: Jesus. That school of thought is not only wrong, it is dangerous. There exist multitudes of implications from a worldview that says humans are flawed, not to mention the personal detriment of constantly fighting with what one believes to be his “flesh”. You speak of truth Zach. If it turns out that the “truth” is that we are not a soul in a body, but that we are just bodies, than that means Christians live a life based on a false, untruthful premise. If truth matters, than getting that fact right matters.
[[Apparently my comment was deleted? Well, here it is again.]]
I am pretty sure AIDS isn’t literally ripping apart Africa. I’m also pretty sure that your political and religious allies are to be blamed for a ton of these problems you so kindly bring up, so your argument for Jesus Christ Lord of All is a little difficult to take seriously.
Sorry you wasted so many hours writing nearly 60 columns for the Index.
the man is censoring us! we will not be silenced!
Ayyo Zach,
As Alex hinted at above, many would argue that the Catholic Church, the largest Christian institution in the world, should share (at least) some of the blame for the AIDs and hunger epidemics in Africa due to its policies on contraception. Just sayin, dude.
Not to mention sharing in the molestation of innocent children.
Zach:
You are a strong Christian and I applaud you for having the courage to write this article. I was, at first, tempted to argue the logical flaws in each comment in this section, but I will not and should not. Everyone has as much right to believe or argue anything they want to as you do to believe in or argue for Christianity. As a Christian, I just want to let you know that your words have not been wasted. I’m not trying to start an argument, just lend you my support.
God Bless
Actually, Zac, Bobby Henderson (Pasta be upon His plate) has come as our Savior to redeem us of our sins so that we might all find salvation in the great Tentacles of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. If you do not yet believe as I believe, please google the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster” so that you, too, might be wrapped in the love of His Meaty Balls.
Clearly your truth isn’t Truth.
also, while you’re at it google “Radiometric Dating.”
Today, a deadly virus called HIV is literally tearing apart an entire continent.
HIV can’t literally rip a continent apart. That’s what tectonic plates are for. Get your shit together.
Sorry to burst your rhetorical faux-urgency bubble, but we aren’t in a “bigger mess than ever before.” There’s a lot of evidence that human society is actually significantly LESS violent and dysfunctional now than in centuries past. Here’s a summary:
http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence.html
And thanks to science and the principles of the Enlightenment, we now have the tools to address problems like the AIDS crisis or food shortages. I know the Index editorial page isn’t big on acknowledging the work of scientists but people really are working on those things with optimistic results. A lot of people right here at this school are studying to do that work. Public disdain for those efforts isn’t helping anyone.
Oh, and if you’re still confused about why your last column upset people, I suggest that you use your last week at this school to find a women’s studies course reading list and hit up the library.
Uh…the same “science and principles of the Enlightenment” that brought such help as dealing with AIDS or food shortages also made possible Hiroshima, colonialism and mountain top removal mining. Just making the point that while science has brought much good, it hasn’t ALL been good, and shouldn’t be implied as self-evidently so.
:) :)
:):):):):)