Bob McLellan has written an interesting piece on truth and how we occasionally lie but are upset when lied to. He ascribes this hypocrisy to the idea that truth is relative. But, he says, there "is truth, absolute truth, outside ourselves." Good point and a convincing example. "I can believe what I want about gravity but that does not change the laws and issues relating to gravity."

Rev. McLellan then, however, makes a spectacular leap from a hard, reproducible fact (gravity) to the truth that resides in faith: "If I admit that Jesus Christ is the Way...If I admit that the Bible contains information that relates to absolute truth. Then I must admit that I am accountable to someone beyond myself." The two "ifs" say it all. What if someone doesn't swallow the "Ifs", doesn't believe in the Bibleboth a long way from falling apples (unless the Eden tree bore apples).

For Rev. McLellan and others the great question is: "Who will we place in supreme authority of our life?" I know McLellan's answer. Mine, imperfect and unfortunate though it may be, is that we ourselves, post childhood, must be the arbiters of our own lives. A being who may, or may not, exist, whose existence cannot be demonstrated unlike gravity, rising property taxes and deathcan play little or no part in how many of us make our decisions in life. Besides, I need not believe in a Supreme Being in order to tell the truth to another person.

Geoff. Rytell

Toronto