{"id":1044,"date":"2025-10-10T08:35:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T08:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/10\/10\/2025-10-10-on-pursuing-truth\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T23:11:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T23:11:39","slug":"2025-10-10-on-pursuing-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2025\/10\/10\/2025-10-10-on-pursuing-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"On pursuing\u00a0truth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Matthew Purucker<\/a> · News Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When friends texted each other about the pandemonium on Sunday, Sept. 28, they were concerned about the potential threat to Grove City College, trying to find out what was happening that afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While some speculation ran rampant in those texts and on social media, police searched across campus, finding no evidence of a threat to the college. Normal activities resumed the next day, but with the investigation ongoing, the pursuit of the culprit behind the false call continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although that pursuit is important, this event raises a more pertinent issue. How do we, as a society, go about finding truth in a world of deception? Like in most cases, the Bible is a good place to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first half of John 14:6, Jesus said to Thomas that he is the “way,” the “truth” and the “life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without Christ, life is a lie. If you refuse to accept Jesus, the eternal truth, as true, it is impossible to accept Christ’s sacrifice, the greatest truth, for it saves your life. So the way we go about pursuing the greatest truth is by praying, reading God’s word (truth) and enjoying fellowship with others in that truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although that is the way we should pursue the greatest truth, we can go about finding other truths with the greatest truth in mind. Admittedly, the difference between those is significant, but as Christians, we should do all things through a Christian mindset, with the truth having the utmost importance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Returning to Sept. 28, the police officers who arrived on campus believed they were pursuing a man with a gun outside Buhl library, as The Collegian reported last week. They searched across campus for this man, but when, and only when, they knew there was no threat, the college messaged the student body that fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When The Collegian was learning about the “potentially dangerous situation,” as the first email alert from the college said, the editors did not jump to conclusions, despite the texts they received, which assumed the worst. That response framed the way The Collegian framed its pursuit of the truth of that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the college lifted the lockdown, The Collegian received reports from various people having allegedly done various things. To find out what was true, the editors planned and conducted interviews with many people, many of whom The Collegian did not quote in the article from the last issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following conversations with person after person, confirming detail after detail, The Collegian could finally put together a timeline of what happened where. Then, and only then, The Collegian could publish its report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The above example should illustrate a couple of key takeaways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

aways. First, the truth is hard to find. If students knew the call was a hoax, they would not have run or jumped out of windows to safety. If world leaders knew how to solve the world’s problems, they would (hopefully) not wage wars or incite division and hate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, about news, especially about potentially life-changing or societal-altering events, do not say what you think; say what you know. If you say, “The police evacuated students from the library. I don’t know why,” instead of “The police evacuated students from the library because (I think) there’s an active shooter,” you communicate only the truth and omit conjecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you may believe talking like that is absurd, people fall for lies repeatedly, with social media only making telling the truth from lies more difficult. And the malicious lies, far too numerous to name, could put lives on the line and wreak immense havoc, as experienced by students last Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, pursue the (eternal) truth, so you never fall astray to people who, as Michael Caine (Alfred) in The Dark Knight said, “want to watch the world burn.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When friends texted each other about the pandemonium on Sunday, Sept. 28, they were concerned about the potential threat to Grove City College, trying to find out what was happening that afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[27,91,34],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-staff-editorials","tag-editorial","tag-matthew-purucker","tag-issue-2025-10-10"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ian Schartner","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/schartnerij23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"When friends texted each other about the pandemonium on Sunday, Sept. 28, they were concerned about the potential threat to Grove City College, trying to find out what was happening that afternoon.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1944,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions\/1944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}