God is Truth

“Let no one deceive you in any way.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3

There is so much news about fake news these days. I often wonder why people take so much time, effort and even money, to deceive others. Some do it out of plain mischievousness, some do it for money, and some are just stupid, I guess. It is just too easy to spread distorted stories because of social media and because we are too lazy to verify what we are sharing. But we should be wary and careful for we should not want to be fooled. 

Today is the Feast Day of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and one of the four great doctors of the Latin Church. He was so dismayed that he was fooled by the Manichaeans for 9 years, that he spent his life writing and speaking against it, and other false teachings of his time. His writings and sermons are the foundation of much of our Catholic teaching and theology, and are still very much relevant today. 

During his time, Augustine fought against the false doctrines of Manicheanism, Arianism, Pelagianism and Donatism. Today we cannot count how many isms there are but perhaps the most prevalent is the new atheism, whose proponents are very active in advancing the belief that religion is mere superstition. 

Then there are the two heresies from early Christian times continuing to deceive us today. The new Gnosticism is intellectualism which exalts knowledge, claiming that the sciences and the human mind can answer every question. The new Pelagianist trusts in his own power and effort even if he professes to believe in God. 

If we do not want to be deceived by anyone, we have to go to the source of truth like Saint Augustine. “Behold and see, if thou canst, O soul pressed down by the corruptible body, and weighed down by earthly thoughts, many and various; behold and see, if thou canst, that God is truth.”