Definitions and Daisies

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'” ~John 14:6

When I think of the question, “what is truth?”, my first thought is to the verse John 14:6. My second thought is what is the definition of truth? The word truth is familiar to everyone, but difficult to define. In philosophy, there are three main theories of truth: correspondence, coherence, and pragmatism. Some people believe that we make our own truth based on our own reality, while others believe that science is the only truth. Overall, the definition of “truth” has been a topic of the media, a study in philosophy, a hotly debated opinion in our society, and a core theme in the Bible for thousands of years.

I made this daisy quilt for my brother and his wife just over a year ago for their wedding. Happy Anniversary to them! It was challenging because it was a king size quilt and very repetitive, but overall I am thrilled with how it turned out! Half square triangles is a fundamental unit of many quilting blocks. Most of the time, you will need multiple half square triangles for one project. If you are like me, you would want a quicker, less wasteful, and simple way of making multiple half square triangles. This technique took two 8×8” squares, sewn right sides together, with a quarter inch seam allowance on either side of each of the diagonals (as shown in picture one below). Once sewn together, the square is cut in half orthogonally and diagonally (as shown in picture 2 and 3 below). The result is 8- 3.5” half square triangles!

I am not a philosophy teacher or student nor do I subscribe to the “my reality, my truth” mantra, so I will be the first to admit I don’t understand the intricacies of these thought processes. However, I do know what I believe to be true: the Bible. When I go to write my blog posts, I start to think about all the questions and objections some may have to what I say. Starting with, how can you know the Bible is true? (Since we are on the subject of truth and that is my claim.) On that question, I will say there are many people more eloquent and studied on that subject that I would love to refer you to. My quick reason is, the Bible supports itself, archaeology and history support the Bible, and ultimately, I have faith that the Bible is true. For me, some questions don’t need answers because I can’t and won’t understand everything there is to know.

Truth reflects God as eternal, unchanging, and absolute. Psalms 119:160 says, “All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.” John introduces Jesus by saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) If the Word of God is truth and Jesus is the Word of God, then He also must be the truth. Jesus claims the same thing about himself in John 14:6. Biblically, truth is not just a concept to be lived by or a philosophy to be studied; it is Jesus Christ. If we accept the definition of truth is Jesus Christ, then how should that change our perspective of truth? How will we live out truth for others to see? By walking in a right relationship with Christ, being transformed by His words, and seeking to be more like him everyday. Thanks for reading! Happy Quilting!