Truth, Mistakes & Integrity
To
falsify truth by mistake is not a good thing though it could lead to
something good; a writer/speaker could learn some humility as a result.
But “mistake” need not always mean precisely
the same thing though it will always mean the same thing. To falsify
truth “by mistake” means there is no conscious intent to falsify and,
while the mistake may still be as injurious as if it had been
intentional misleading, we won’t accuse the one in error of sinister
motivation. That would be a distortion of the truth.
Still, while
we might not accuse him of deliberate deceit we might accuse him of
laziness, of shoddy work, of insulting his readers/hearers by thinking
they are as little concerned about truth and accuracy as he is.
Not
all “mistakes” are completely innocent. Arrogance can lead a person to
presume that he knows more than he knows and to rely on his own
“giftedness” to the exclusion of careful study.
Sometimes
we have vested interests, a personal agenda that has such a hold on us
that we work hard to find support for it but understate or avoid or give
little attention to what opposes our interests. I’m not suggesting a deliberate
understating or ignoring but I am saying that what we prefer to believe
or practice (or not practice) can mean so much to us that
subconsciously we don’t want to find contrary truth and that’s what we
don’t find, contrary truth.
In
such cases the lack of innocence I mentioned has to do with the spirit
of the research that can well affect our results. I would suppose that
our working for a pharmaceutical industry that wants to prove that its
drug X is a good thing might
undermine our objectivity. Illustrations are easy to come by. In John 5
:44 Jesus said that some church leaders couldn’t find truth because
they sold themselves to gaining the praise of men—not because they were
intellectually disabled or that the facts weren’t evident.
Still,
mistakes can arise because we’re weary or because we have too many
irons in the fire at once. Mistakes can arise because we’re working in
an area in which we’re not experienced or even adequate for the job.
There are times when we have to venture into areas that are beyond our
expertise and for all our care and good intentions we misunderstand or
overlook material that is plain and well known to others. It makes
sense—especially if the matter at issue is very important—to do or check
our work when we are not
weary or when we are free from numerous jobs that divide our attention.
If we must work in an unfamiliar area it makes sense to move with extra
care, acknowledging our real limitations and asking for help where we
can get it. All this makes sense but in the pressure of life good sense
is often pushed into the corner.
Mistakes
always matter but while they always matter and need to be corrected,
they’re not all of equal importance; that’s a truth too obvious to need
developed. Grant that the mistake is one “worth bothering about” (and
that will mean different things in different areas—history, science,
medicine, grammar and so forth) it needs to be corrected without malice
even though it was unintentional. To dismiss lower level
misrepresentations of truth as of no account shouldn’t be practiced or
encouraged. It’s not for people of integrity to pick and choose which
truths they will submit themselves to.
To
ignore truth when it is misrepresented by mistake as if it didn't
matter is less than truth deserves. If we willingly give truth less than
it deserves by choosing to ignore mistakes or by refusing to own up to
them or to dismiss them with a wave of the hand—if we do that we weaken
its claim on us and that opens the door to deliberate abuse of truth.
Speaking
as a Christian I’d say we aren’t to worship “Truth” but we are to
worship the one true God who has revealed himself in and as Jesus
Christ. The distinction is real and vital but we’re not to sever love of
truth from being a lover and follower of him who said, “I am Truth!”
I
know scientists are sinners and capable of being jealous, devious,
overly-ambitious, arrogant and tailoring the facts to suit their vested
interests—in short, just like the rest of us. When they get it wrong,
when drugs prove to be dangerous or theories prove to be unfounded we
expect them to own up. When the evidence is against them we expect them
to swallow their pride and subject themselves to that truth though they
don’t always do that. What Christian people expect from others they
should come up with themselves. If the majority of scientists had
been as shoddy in their approach and their research as a mass of
Christian communicators are I don’t see how we would ever have got out
of the Stone Age.
It’s
a real lift to the heart to hear of scientists and researchers who swim
against the current to correct mistakes, expose lies and bring truth to
light and it’s make the heart surge to read biblical and theological
work that opens our eyes to a richer gospel and a more grounded hope.
So here’s to all those who teach us to be careful and courageous lovers of truth.