Sometimes, when one hears of a poor fellow being scammed, losing his savings to a nonexistent online girlfriend, or wasting thousands on damaging psychobabble seminars, one wonders—how could he have believed such an incredulous thing?
Trust is the bedrock of human society—every time we have a conversation with a friend, conduct business, or worship, we trust that overall, what we are hearing and doing is true. The feeling of betrayal and disillusionment when one finds that one has been duped is the absolute pits.
Yet, one has to accept that others and ourselves have limited vision, and that our weaknesses will more often than not cause us to make bad decisions. Scams play on people’s desire for something good—a relationship, money, or a way to fix their life’s problems. This world is disordered by sin and strife, and it is not always easy to find peace with oneself and one’s circumstances. People grow tired of struggling through painful loneliness or the trials of life and leap at seemingly easy solutions.
However, it is through struggles that we grow in maturity and wisdom. One may have to accept the pain of being scammed—that, too, is an opportunity for self-reflection and a reality check that ultimately we cannot fully trust ourselves or other creatures, but must place our full trust in God alone, Who gives us the peace that the world cannot give, no matter how terrible our tribulations and failures. “Truth Himself speaks truly / Or there’s nothing true,” as St Thomas Aquinas hymned.
How incredible that God trusts us, frail humans, with bearing His Word to others!
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Image: Joy-Sorrow
1 thought on “Trust and Truth”
Hell is rarely spoken of in this part of the world but hell especially awaits those who con the elderly out of their life savings. On tv they recounted about how one con man got most of an elderly person’s money and then returned later to get the rest. God can give that con man mercy at the last second of his life but God can also give him justice….hell. How do we know that God does not decide for total mercy in every single case. From Christ who said in Luke 13:24 about Heaven, ” Many will seek to enter on that day and they will not be able to.” Amazingly several famous Catholic theologians in the 20th century said we could hope for an empty hell. They must not memorize scripture anymore in minute detail. Christ disagreed in Luke 13:24 but we have ignored it in the West.
Christ noted that the good thief on the cross was saved. Christ was totally silent about the other thief. And the epistle, Rom.9:18, says of God: ” He has mercy on whom he has mercy and whom He wills, He hardens.” All these verses fly right past the brains of the new over happy theologians…of the West. Memorize Luke 13:24 and you will be safe from their presumption.