Within the contexts of Latter-day Saint testimony meetings and the congressional hearings now starting regarding the events and planning leading up to and following the January 6th, 2021 demonstrations/insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, it is good to talk about the nature of “truth” and all the factors involved in believing or speaking of something as “true.” In this episode, LDF host Dan Wotherspoon goes solo, sharing a few framings that can help us see claims of truth in greater context, as well as through more graceful eyes, when we are forced to confront the reality that not everyone sees “facts” or values various things differently than we do.
The largest section of Dan’s musings center around the phenomenon that is endemic to many Latter-day Saint meetings and other gatherings in which people say they “know the church is true.” What are some of the possibilities that they might be thinking of when they proclaim that “knowledge”? What is “church” in these contexts? Can imagining in new ways what’s going on internally with others help us enjoy and appreciate their testimonies even if this sort of statement doesn’t come to mind within us as something to testify of?
The other main section focuses on the way that social factors play into the construction of our world views, those things that we consider as “true” or “truer” or “more likely” than other ways of viewing things. In taking a look at that, can we more easily confront the challenges and hangups we have that are keeping us from fully flourishing spiritually?
Listen in!
Links:
Forthcoming
Oh say what is truth? So many ways of knowing. Reality, like beauty, seems to be in the eye of the beholder.