Veritas

Last week, I said that I wanted to research and better build my own beliefs in a variety of topics this summer. I mentioned a discussion we had in my English class last term about truth and moral relativity, and I realized that, even with moral relativity, my views tended to waffle. So, I figure that the first week should be about that very subject: truth.
I hadn't originally planned to talk about truth this week. I considered it, but it wasn't definite until I was reading in Alma 37 the other day. In this chapter, Alma speaks of the power of truth - God's truth. Verse 9 speaks of the power of this truth, as the truth spoken in the words of the prophets had the power to bring thousands of Lamanites to repentance. Only God could create a book so full of truth that no man can dispute rightly, a book for the convincing of all mankind of Christ, written by ancient prophets with only a basic idea of its destiny. It has become a singular pillar of truth in a world where much truth has become lost.
Many these days would have you believe that there are no moral absolutes, the only true absolutes being in science,  unchangeable natural laws. But are not the laws of God unchangeable natural laws as well? For millenia, there was no question that murder is wrong, that fidelity is right, and that debt should be avoided unless completely necessary. Yet somewhere along the way, we began to decided that many of those things should be left to the individual to decide. Yes, everyone should have their own beliefs, but there are truths that are unchangeable, no matter what you believe.
The other day, I had an interesting conversation with a friend about where the morals of America have come to. He mentioned that it was ironic that the generally held belief is that polygamy, the legal marriage between one man and multiple woman, is wrong, whereas marital infidelity, while not necessarily desired, is ok, understandable, and sometimes, encouraged. What makes it better to cheat and go behind a spouse's back than to have multiple spouses that know about and approve of each other? This is not to say that either I or my friend approve of polygamy - I think that sleeping with any number of people beyond one is wrong. This is just an example of where we've gone a bit off the path. You can't have both be right. It's illogical.
We in America are generally a compassionate people. We try to make everyone happy, or at least as many as possible. We want to help...it's a large part of the foundation of the social side of liberalism. It's what makes the idea of moral relativism so appealing - everyone's happy. The thing is, we can't all be happy all the time. Nobody's life is perfect. And there are truths that we simply cannot change.
The best thing anyone can do for happiness is to learn to accept those truths as absolutes, and realize that we make our own happiness. If someone is unhappy about this, that, or the other thing, it's really their problem. We can serve them and love them, living within the truths of God, and not make everyone happy with our actions, but we cannot change someone's happiness - only they can.
I guess, in the end, I'd rather argue and learn truths with everyone than be a member of the ever changing, do what you want, moral relativist crowd. Some things are right, some things are wrong.
Blue skies.