Believe it or not.
Many people cannot tell the difference between facts and opinions. I think that it’s because people feel so strongly about their opinions, they assume they must be a fact.
Let’s give an example of a fact. In a Right Triangle the hypotenuse is the longest side of the triangle and is opposite the right angle. Using the Pythagorean theorem we can find that the sum of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the other sides of the triangle.
What makes this a fact is not that someone believes it to be true; it is that it is true. The way in which we know it is true, we can test it and when we see that it is true every time we test it. Also, it is not only true for one person, its true for all other people conducting the same test. This means that it is objective.
Objectivism
Objectivism is the quality that remains the same for everyone regardless of one’s personal opinion. The Sky is blue, and clouds are white. How do I know the sky is blue and clouds are white? In Lewis Armstrong’s song “What a wonderful world” Lewis says that he sees skies of blue and clouds of white. Come to find that I too see skies of blue and clouds of white. Other observers say that they see skies of blue and clouds of white, so it is safe to say objectively that skies are blue, and clouds are white. Now you may say that some people may be color blind and don’t see blue skies and white clouds, however they are what you would call variables. The majority of observers conclude that skies are blue, and clouds are white. Which brings us to an example of opinion.
What is a variable?
A variable is a characteristic that is subject to change.
Example of Opinion
Someone might say that it’s only one’s opinion that the sky is blue, and the clouds are white. They believe that to some other observers the skies might not be blue, and the clouds might not be white. Some people believe that someone has only convinced humans that the sky is blue, and clouds are white. In a candid poll taken 98% of observers stated that the skies were blue, and the clouds were white. That means that only 2% of observers stated that they observed the sky being a different color and clouds not being white. What does this mean about opinion? Opinion is based upon the individual observers own perspective, denoted by the statement this is what I believe to be true.
Some people may feel strongly that not everyone sees blue skies. Is this a fact, or is this an opinion? Realistically it could go either way, right? Which brings us to Subjectivism.
Subjectivism
Some people could feel strongly that the sky is blue and that is the way that it is. While other people can hold that not everyone sees blue skies. It is an objective fact that the sky is blue. How do we know? It is testable, and retestable and the conclusions remain to be the same. The statement that the sky is not blue for everyone. That is based upon one’s one feeling interpreting their own perspective. Subjectivism is the quality that one’s own perspective and perception is the only absolute objective reality, that no outside fact exists.
Then why do the majority of people say that the sky is blue? If I say I see skies of blue and clouds of white, and Lewis Armstrong says, “I see skies of blue and clouds of white”. I have never met Lewis Armstrong to have influenced him and vice versa, so if we both see skies of blue and clouds of white. The objective reality is outside our perception of it.
Despite what people think
There are some things that are objective facts.
For instance, the average human being cannot leave this planet without hurting oneself, with today’s current technology. Not saying that cannot change in the future, but simply today in this time the average human cannot leave this planet. [definitely not by hurting oneself or others]
Another example: many people believe Jesus Christ’s statement in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus states that “He is the truth”, and many people believe that He is the truth. The fact is, does that mean that to the believer that Jesus couldn’t teach them something new. Does just believing in the truth mean that you know it? Do you still have to learn what the truth is?
Another Example of Objective Fact; Stop lights.
It is a fact that stop lights are red and that stop lights mean stop. The stop lights remain meaning stop whether someone is color blind or not. The variable of color blindness does not change the meaning of the stop light, so we can conclude that stop signs mean stop regardless of what color they appear to be. Although stop lights have been made to appear red, and when someone sees a stop light that is red, it means stop regardless of what someone believes.
Does it all have to do with observation?
Is stopping at a red light just someone’s opinion?
Example
What if someone decides because they don’t believe that stop lights mean stop because they believe that stop lights are not red, but we are just told that they are red. Just because someone doesn’t believe in a stop light does not change the fact that one must stop at a stop light to avoid possible collision. Some people like to stretch the facts because they largely view facts as rules. This is because you can physically drive through a red light. Can’t you? However, whereas facts are not rules, rules largely are based upon facts. The rule that you are encouraged strongly to stop at a red light, because it is not based upon someone’s own opinion [law maker, law enforcement] because they wish to be mean. The rule is to stop at red lights, because it is a fact that the chances of someone making through an intersection safely when the light is red is significantly reduced by almost 0.0000001%. That percentage is subject to change based upon variables such as traffic, time of day, etc…
Are there objective facts in existence as we know it? Are all facts subjective and based upon one’s own observation?
What is a fact?
A fact is something that remains true regardless of one’s own observation, beliefs or perception. Fact, one must stop when the light is red at a traffic light. A fact is testable. One can test a fact over and over again and the results remain the same. It is a fact that the electricity powering your personal devices came from an original source. It is a fact that if you have a weight that weighs 25lbs, the weight weigh 25lbs for each person picking it up. Regardless of if one is stronger and one is less strong, the weight still weighs 25lbs. These are facts that are not based upon someone’s observation, beliefs or perception, but are based upon the fact that they are testable and retestable and remain the same for everyone. If I have a weight of 25lbs and an Angle has a weight of 25lbs, the weight weighs 25lbs for me as it does for the Angle. That is another fact about facts, they do not change. The Pythagorean theorem was true during the time of Pythagoras, and it is still true in our time.
What is an Opinion?
An opinion is something that is based upon one’s own beliefs, observation or perception. It is not that the opinion is wrong, it is that it is true for that observer. That is why I think so many people confuse opinion with facts, it is because people feel so strongly about their opinions, they conclude that it must be a fact. Whereas an opinion can be made of the facts, facts conversely cannot be opinion, as denoted above. There is a lot of confusion around facts vs opinions. Where people have their beliefs, and people feel strongly about their beliefs, it doesn’t mean it is untrue, it simply means that is true for you. Just because one believes something is true, does not make it true for everyone. Conversely just because someone doesn’t believe something is true, does not make it untrue for everyone. I think that some things can be true for someone and not true for others. You may have a doctor’s appointment today, that doesn’t mean that everyone has a doctor’s appointment today. That doesn’t mean that everyone else will know that you have a doctor’s appointment today without you telling them.
I believe it; there for it is true.
This is my opinion:
A lot of people seem to think the statement, I believe it; therefor it is true. Is something true just because you believe it? One person decides that they like apples, and another person decides that they like oranges and not apples. One person believes that apples are better than oranges, whereas that may be true for that person. Does that mean that everyone must like apples, if they prefer oranges? Is the person wrong for liking oranges, just because another person likes apples?
What if there are stripped people living in one region of the world, and there are Pok dotted people living in another region in the world? What if the stripped people believe that the Pok dotted people are bad and don’t have to be alive anymore? Then the Pok dotted people decide that the stripped people are bad and don’t deserve to live in the region anymore. Which one is correct?
It seems absurd but this is what happens in our world today. What is the difference between people on opposite sides of the battle lines during a conflict, when at the end of the day are fighting to keep their own loved ones safe from harm. It has been said, there is no difference between fighters on a battlefield fighting on opposite sides of the battle lines, but the ones that exist in people’s own minds.
Can another person’s beliefs be wrong?
Can your beliefs be wrong?
How can it be said that if one believes it, therefore it is true? When the fact of the matter is that the following is far more accurate, when we learn to say it is true therefore, we believe it? Can someone say that their own beliefs are important, while another’s own beliefs are not important? When one can hold their own personal subjective beliefs turn out to be more important than another human being’s life. How can the words on the pages of a book ever be more important than the life of a human being?
Beliefs are dangerous.
There is nothing in existence that can convince an otherwise rational, reasonable, logical thinking person to commit atrocities more than belief. People have killed, destroyed, tortured other living human beings for nothing more than because they believed that they were right. Just because someone believes something does not make it true. Just because someone does not believe something, doesn’t make it untrue.
In the movie Conan the Barbarian there is a character named the snake king. In the movie the snake king had a cult of devoted followers. The snake king’s followers were so devoted to their beliefs, that with a motion of his hand the snake king becomes them, and they jump to their deaths. This is an example of how dangerous beliefs can be, when they can replace place sound understanding and rational thought and convince people to do things they would not normally do.
There is a story about fighters during World War 2 there was an American soldier fighting a German soldier. Throughout the fighting the 2 of them became locked in battle in a war-torn dwelling where they held each other in a standoff. They fought fiercely but eventually they both ran out of bullets and turned to fighting hand to hand. When neither one of the men could overpower one another, exhausted as they were from the struggle. Then they began to talk to one another and found out that they had more in common than they realized. They talked for hours about their families, their homes, their children and realized that they were not fighting because they were enemies, they were fighting simply because of the beliefs of other men.
Is someone right, just because they believe it?
How can the words on the pages of a book be more important to the life of a human being? How can a belief, no matter how profound, replace the lives of children, destroyed by another’s belief that they were right while others were wrong? When at last we find that our subjective differences of opinion and belief, cannot replace the objective reality of that which is common to all human beings. One’s own beliefs take precedence only in one’s own mind, when we find that our opinions are not shared by all. Conversely what is shared is the objective reality that the basic human needs, such as food, water, shelter, clothing, family, love, are shared by all human beings regardless of what religion, nationality, belief system, creed and culture that they are a part of. This fact, like the stop light, remains true regardless of one’s own personal opinion.
How can God, command his children to love one another? If the very religion, they follow prevents them from loving another simply because their beliefs are different?
If one’s own religious beliefs prevent the same one from doing what the religious doctrine imparts, how can that person say they are following the religion? Time and time again throughout the Biblical Cannon it impart the truth that God of the Bible requires justice. Then how can justice be based upon belief, when justice by definition must be based upon the facts, or else how can it be justice? Does a law enforcement official enforce a law because he decides by his own beliefs that that is what the law should be, or where the laws decided upon beforehand that says that regardless of the officers or the criminal’s personal beliefs. It is the law.
Law by nature cannot be based upon one’s own beliefs.
No one is above the law. We have been hearing that recently. Is God above the law? Can God give a law and then violate that law and still be just? If a police officer breaks the law, has he not broken the law because he is a police officer. If one is an enforcer of the law, should they not also be an upholder of the law? One would hope that if one is to enforce the law, then they should be expected more than others to be upholders of the law. Otherwise, it does as I say not as I do. In a world of grown-up children, or children with adult clothing on, they will follow example over orders any time.
How can someone say that they are right just because they believe they are right? It is when we make the mistake of replacing fact and objective truth with our own subjective beliefs and opinions, then we find ourselves in a dangerous place. If you can say because you believe you are right about your beliefs, then why can anyone say that they are right about what they believe. In this world today it seems that opinions mean that everyone can be right in their own eyes, and everyone else is wrong in their eyes.
During the Spanish Inquisition or better known as the witch hunts of the European country. There were hundreds of thousands of human beings that were put on trial and destroyed, all over beliefs. This is an example of what can happen when people think that they are right, just because of what they believe. Many of the people executed were innocent and even professed to be Christian, but the opinion of the people was too strong to convince them that the actions of the persecutors was wrong.
How many examples of witch hunts are there in our world today?
Jesus tells us that, God sends the rain upon the good and the bad. Therefor does the rain fall harder upon the Jewish man’s head over the Christian, the Buddhist over the Hindu, The Russian over the Ukrainian. That means that God treats people equally, despite what people think. Does the god who is the great provider, provide for one and not the other? Do you think that God will provide for the Christian, over the Jewish man. Is God just, or unjust? Are God’s own actions governed by peoples subjective, opinion and belief? Does the sunshine on their side of the fence as well as yours?
Does the same God who says thou shall not kill, then say, now kill everyone who doesn’t agree?
People tend to think that there is only one way to think about anything and it’s their way. That one is right or not right because of their own religious beliefs. What if there was a someone who does what is right, does good to others, treats others with kindness, respect and compassion, and is otherwise a good person? Then there is another person that is nasty, unkind, disrespectful, bullies, terrifies, and even kills people, but believes in God/Jesus. How can a just God send a good person to hell? Do you think the person just because they believe they are right will go to ever lasting peace, even though they murder, rape and steal? If you don’t have to be a good person, if all you have to do is believe to get into heaven; then why do you have to go to church?
How can we say there is only one way of thinking? Even about God?
I was a witness to an actual experiment conducted on a bible believing church group. The experiment was a blind study therefore no one was purposefully changing answers in any way. There was a group formed into a circle of about 20 people and everyone one in the group was given the same bible verse to read. Each person was then instructed to read the bible verse and give their own interpretation. This was done on the spot no one was given the opportunity to think and plan their response, so their responses were more genuine. Each and every single person around the circle came up with their own interpretation of the same bible verse. So, how can anyone say there is only one correct interpretation of the bible? When everyone literally comes up with their own interpretation.
I’m not saying that the interpretations were right or wrong, there was no wrong answer. Each answer came from each person’s own heart, soul and mind. The real problem in the world is when people say their own interpretation of the Bible is correct, while others is wrong. And many people like to think that way. Human beings more than anything, I think, are afraid of being wrong. Human beings are terrified of being wrong, so much that we are not allowed to be wrong or make mistakes. It has been proven that people who are allowed to believe they can make mistakes perform better than people who think they are not allowed to make mistakes.
That is the real problem in the world today. It is that people are less important than someone’s beliefs. People will destroy other people for nothing more than believing that they are right, and the other is wrong. The real problem in the world is that people cannot tell the difference between facts and opinions. Many people seem to think that their God sides with their opinions. Or worse is that some have the tendency of treating their own prejudices like they are absolute truth. The only truth that is absolute is the truth that is living inside every single human being. In John 14:6. Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life”. Often times people say because they believe in Jesus and that He is the truth, means that they know what that truth is. Does that mean that Jesus can’t teach something new? Until people recognize that that truth Jesus spoke of is inside of every single human being whether you like them or not, they will realize that is the absolute truth
