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The Death of Truth in our Culture

The concept of truth has been dying a slow death for many years and has become more noticeable in the past decade or so. In the early 2000s, comedian Stephen Colbert picked up on this cultural phenomenon by coining the term "truthiness," which went on to become Merriam-Webster's word of the year in 2006. Similarly, in 2016 in the wake of our presidential election, Brexit, and accusations across the political spectrum about "fake news," Oxford Dictionaries named "post-truth" its word of the year. Shortly thereafter, commenting on the presidential inauguration, Kellyanne Conway famously spoke of "alternative facts." In response, Time blazoned the question "Is Truth Dead?" on its April 3, 2017 cover.

Then in 2018, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed "truth isn't truth" during an interview with Chuck Todd on NBC. Of course let's not forget Bill Clinton splitting hairs over the definition of "sexual relations" and existentially pondering what an attorney's definition of "is" is back in 1998. Truthiness has cut both ways across the aisle in our post-truth age.

Possible Preaching Angles: (1) Lying, Honesty, Integrity; (2) God's Faithfulness, God's Truthfulness—Despite the death of truth in our culture, God's Word, promises and character are still true and trustworthy.

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