Is there Truth? Is there Hope?

According to the World Health Organization(WHO), one suicide happens every 40 seconds globally. 266 cases of suicide were reported in 226 days (18.03.2020-31.10.2020) in Malaysia. Why is suicide so prevalent these days? Is it because of a lack of mental health awareness or a lack of social connections amidst the lock-downs or lack of financial resources, loss of jobs? The list of possibilities could go on and on and while all of these could hold some forms of truth, I would like to argue that one of the root causes of the spike in suicide cases is an existential crisis brought to us by Moral Relativism which means a lacking sense of absolute truth in peoples lives that ultimately takes the sense of meaning out of peoples lives.

" What is truth? " We see Pontius Pilate asking Jesus this question in John 18:38.

A dictionary would say that truth is a thought or a statement that conforms to reality or rather, conforms to something beyond ourselves. Moral Relativism says that there is no absolute truth, nothing to conform to beyond ourselves, all truths are relative. What is true for person A may or may not be true for person B. The problem that comes with this is that we lose sense of that which is beyond ourselves. If there are no absolute truths, there is nothing bigger beyond ourselves. For those who hold such a view, there is no inherent meaning in life, no grasp of the reality that we are made by God and pursued by Him and that we each have a specific purpose ordained by Him and we have our entire lives to respond to Him and discover His great plans. When we lose sight of this bigger picture, the current problems we face can be overwhelming.

According to BFM News, the 266 reported suicide cases in Malaysia stemmed from debt issues, family issues, marriage issues, relationship breakups, work pressure, hallucinations, mental problems, mass media & drugs. What this people saw was a magnified version of their actual problems facing them. They could not see a way around this huge problem. They told God and themselves that they have big problem. Let's change the attitude. Let us rediscover who God is, who we are in His eyes so that we can confidently tell our problems that we have a big God! Run to the Father, there is HOPE!

" What is truth? " We see Pontius Pilate asking Jesus this question in John 18:38.

I believe the answer can be found in John 14:6 where Jesus says, "I am the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life!". Jesus is the Truth! HE IS that reality beyond ourselves that we conform to. When Jesus dictates the meaning of our lives, there is hope, love, joy and peace, meaningfulness. When Moral Relativism dictates the meaning of our lives(or lack of), there is despair, doubt, hatred, darkness, meaninglessness. C.S Lewis sums it up perfectly, "Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in." Look for Christ and you will find Him, meaning in life, hope for the future amidst the seemingly overwhelming current situation and the strength to press on one day at a time! Run to Jesus, there is HOPE!

Moral Relativism is the new dictatorship, suicide is the new&hidden epidemic and the only way to combat this is for us to turn to the source of HOPE, Jesus and to introduce those that we know who are struggling with existential crisis, depression, suicidal tendencies to this source of HOPE that we've found, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Catholics, rise up and be beacons of HOPE in these trying times!

Come, Lord Jesus, dispel the darkness of night, the darkness in our lives, Amen!