Moses' Court
And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: Exodus 6:2
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”
Truth and Justice, the two fundamental basics of the American judicial
system. From childhood on we are instilled with the principle to tell the truth. As small kids we are taught that honesty is the best policy and to live by the golden rule.
But what is the truth? In my chosen career of Law Enforcement, I was taught the truth is a fact that is supported by evidence. Sounds simple enough but in reality, the truth oftentimes is almost impossible to establish. As a Police Officer for the City of Paducah, Kentucky and then an administrator with the Kentucky Department of Corrections I have had several classes and or seminars on collecting evidence, establishing the facts, investigating an incident…etc. In other words, establishing the
truth.
I could give you many examples or so called “war stories”. One comes to mind of when I received a call about some vandalism on a garage behind a house next to the alley on Paducah‘s north side of town. A group of teenagers reported that they saw another group of teenagers spray painting graffiti on their neighbors garage. Just so happened that the graffiti written was slurs against the Police. Mostly using the street term, PIG or PIGS. These young boys looked and sounded so sincere and honest. They almost seemed ashamed that someone could do such a thing and personally expressed their support and admiration for me as a Police Officer. Then I looked down at the spokesman for the group and noticed the blue spray paint on his finger tips (of course the graffiti was written in blue spray paint). When I asked him how he got the paint on
his hands, everything changed. He couldn’t look me in the eyes and one of the other boys took off running. Needless to say, within minutes they
admitted to committing the act of vandalism and the truth was established.
Usually in law enforcement the truth isn’t that easy to come by. Often time we must turn to more scientific avenues of establishing the truth such as finger prints, DNA, blood alcohol test or breath test, video surveillance…etc. Of course in Police 101 you are taught the basic techniques of kinesics and mannerism (body language). Does a person look you in the eye when they talk to you? Do they stutter or repeat themselves? Are they trembling or shaking, are they sweating? And the list goes on. Of course these are only indicators. An experienced liar or con man can look you straight in the eyes and without blinking lie to your face.
In recent history there has been at least two major court cases where our
society as a whole was greatly divided with the results. Of course, I’m talking about the O.J. Simpson and the Casey Anthony cases. With all the non stop media coverage, we the American society were pretty sure we knew what the out come of both these cases was going to be only to be shell shocked with the verdicts rendered by the jury’s.
As a born again Christian and believer in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I found myself wanting to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
I want to think the best in everyone and that they will do the right thing and be truthful and honest in their dealings. But this isn’t the case. We are told in the Bible that God instructed Moses to set up a court system to judge the people of Israel. God even gave Moses the punishment to be administered on the offenders. Throughout the Bible there are many stories of people violating not only the laws against God but also the laws against man.
We are also told in the Bible that Jesus is the way, the TRUTH and the
life! In a recent Bible Study class called “Experiencing God” that my wife and I participated in, we were taught that nothing is really discovered but the truth is revealed! The truth is out there, waiting to be revealed. With the advancement in technology, more than ever, we are unveiling new
facts, truths and artifacts from the past. Many of these newly revealed items either support or shine new light on many stories from the Bible and the time period of the life of Jesus Christ. I believe the biggest source of knowledge is the Word of God itself, being the Bible. What is done in
the dark, will be made known in the light.
With related evidence from several non connected sources the truth is
more than ever being established. And the truth is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. That three days later He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven with the Father. And with that supporting evidence, the fact can only be, that someday He will return as He has promised.
The only closing for this short article can be John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life.
Michael J Felker
Truth and Justice, the two fundamental basics of the American judicial
system. From childhood on we are instilled with the principle to tell the truth. As small kids we are taught that honesty is the best policy and to live by the golden rule.
But what is the truth? In my chosen career of Law Enforcement, I was taught the truth is a fact that is supported by evidence. Sounds simple enough but in reality, the truth oftentimes is almost impossible to establish. As a Police Officer for the City of Paducah, Kentucky and then an administrator with the Kentucky Department of Corrections I have had several classes and or seminars on collecting evidence, establishing the facts, investigating an incident…etc. In other words, establishing the
truth.
I could give you many examples or so called “war stories”. One comes to mind of when I received a call about some vandalism on a garage behind a house next to the alley on Paducah‘s north side of town. A group of teenagers reported that they saw another group of teenagers spray painting graffiti on their neighbors garage. Just so happened that the graffiti written was slurs against the Police. Mostly using the street term, PIG or PIGS. These young boys looked and sounded so sincere and honest. They almost seemed ashamed that someone could do such a thing and personally expressed their support and admiration for me as a Police Officer. Then I looked down at the spokesman for the group and noticed the blue spray paint on his finger tips (of course the graffiti was written in blue spray paint). When I asked him how he got the paint on
his hands, everything changed. He couldn’t look me in the eyes and one of the other boys took off running. Needless to say, within minutes they
admitted to committing the act of vandalism and the truth was established.
Usually in law enforcement the truth isn’t that easy to come by. Often time we must turn to more scientific avenues of establishing the truth such as finger prints, DNA, blood alcohol test or breath test, video surveillance…etc. Of course in Police 101 you are taught the basic techniques of kinesics and mannerism (body language). Does a person look you in the eye when they talk to you? Do they stutter or repeat themselves? Are they trembling or shaking, are they sweating? And the list goes on. Of course these are only indicators. An experienced liar or con man can look you straight in the eyes and without blinking lie to your face.
In recent history there has been at least two major court cases where our
society as a whole was greatly divided with the results. Of course, I’m talking about the O.J. Simpson and the Casey Anthony cases. With all the non stop media coverage, we the American society were pretty sure we knew what the out come of both these cases was going to be only to be shell shocked with the verdicts rendered by the jury’s.
As a born again Christian and believer in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ I found myself wanting to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
I want to think the best in everyone and that they will do the right thing and be truthful and honest in their dealings. But this isn’t the case. We are told in the Bible that God instructed Moses to set up a court system to judge the people of Israel. God even gave Moses the punishment to be administered on the offenders. Throughout the Bible there are many stories of people violating not only the laws against God but also the laws against man.
We are also told in the Bible that Jesus is the way, the TRUTH and the
life! In a recent Bible Study class called “Experiencing God” that my wife and I participated in, we were taught that nothing is really discovered but the truth is revealed! The truth is out there, waiting to be revealed. With the advancement in technology, more than ever, we are unveiling new
facts, truths and artifacts from the past. Many of these newly revealed items either support or shine new light on many stories from the Bible and the time period of the life of Jesus Christ. I believe the biggest source of knowledge is the Word of God itself, being the Bible. What is done in
the dark, will be made known in the light.
With related evidence from several non connected sources the truth is
more than ever being established. And the truth is that Jesus Christ died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. That three days later He rose from the dead and ascended to heaven with the Father. And with that supporting evidence, the fact can only be, that someday He will return as He has promised.
The only closing for this short article can be John 3:16, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever lasting life.
Michael J Felker