Jack’s Winning Words 4/9/15
“The truth is more important than the facts.”  (Frank Lloyd Wright)  “Just the facts ma’am,” was a line from the TV series, Dragnet.  But the facts don’t always tell the whole story.  Truth is more than that.  People sometimes tell things in a factual way, while at the same time hiding the real truth.  One of the 10 Commandments says, “You shall not bear false witness.”  Relating the facts, while withholding the truth, is “sin” in terms of God’s Law.    ;-)  Jack

FROM THE FIRST OFFICER:  I think even Sgt. Joe Friday could agree with that. Enjoy your day Jack!====JACK:  I wonder if Joe was ever promoted to lieutenant?

FROM TARMART REV:  understanding the text . . . this will throw a wrench into that smooth running machine so very often... 0;-/====JACK:  Fact: Taking the Bible literally.  Truth: Understanding what the meaning behind the words.====REV:  ...it's the "whose understanding" of the meaning of those words that make life inserting for me...makes for the production of many Bibles, liberties of interpretation and Mar's Hill gatherings...it is remarkable that the Scriptures were even able to be canonized as they were...wouldn't have much of a chance nowadays, I suppose. ====JACK:  Maybe it's a good idea that the tablets of stone did not survive.  It's more important that God's Law be in us rather than in a museum.====REV:  True...I was thinking more on the lines of the Epistles . . . Not sure the apostle Paul would make today's cut.====JACK:  There'd be no need for faith, if we knew all the facts and the whole truth.

ROM EDUCATOR PAUL:  On our way to Québec and I have been thinking of your words today. You touched upon my greatest problem with "data driven" decision making, whether it has to do with schools or in other domains. The numbers may be accurate and measure what they are suppose to measure in terms of validity and reliability. BUT........do they really depict the truth? Sometimes the truth is beyond the numbers!====JACK:  "And that's the truth," as Edith Ann used to say.  I wonder.  Do we really want to hear the truth, or are we content with just massaging the facts? 

FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  This is a very profound WW. I believe facts are limiting but people's hearts are made for eternity. Just yesterday, in fact, read an insight in a book. The places in the Bible where it says "God hardened their hearts", I had been interpreting that that was probably a permanent condition but another person looking at that same scripture and who chooses to read it "further out" looks at it like it's a temporary condition and even more generously that the hardening of hearts can have profound and positive consequences for God's people and that ultimately goodness will prevail for everyone. My heart wanted to read this interpretation and now I'm more peaceful as a result too. Truth is more important than facts.  thanks for these WW!!!!!====JACK:  In studying the Bible, I've found that there are facts and, then, there are different versions of "the truth", depending on the interpreter, or the one who does the "splainin'" (as Ricky would say) of the facts..

FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I remember one of my instructor's comments when I started a sentence with, "is a matter of fact, ..." He wrote the word "fact" with a question mark. It started me thinking about what few "facts" there actually are. Most "facts" are simply opinions -- even in the realm of science!====JACK:  I think my philosophy major in college helped me to put facts and truth into perspective, and to be suspicious of those who have all of the answers.