Numbers don't lie, . .

On a basketball fast break the player with the ball will ideally look at who is ahead and beside him or her (some of the more amazing ones seem to see what is behind them), then instantly assess the wisdom of pressing on toward the goal without waiting on the defense to set up, or pulling up and setting up a half court offense. The correct decision creates some of the most spectacular offensive plays on ESPN highlights. The incorrect decision creates some of the most embarassing.

It's all about the numbers on a fast break. If the offensive players outnumber the defensive players as midcourt is crossed, the offensive team should be able to score.

It's all about having the numbers.

We are obsessed with having the numbers. Politicians will lie in order to get the numbers. Actors will get undressed in order to get the numbers. Churches will turn into country clubs in order to get the numbers. News editors will censor content in order to keep the numbers. Baseball players will inject illegal dangerous steroids into their bodies to keep the numbers. CFO's will alter the books in order to keep the numbers.

I often wonder about the first person to think of an idea, or make a discovery that is absolutely contrary to the accepted thought of the day. Galileo expanded on Copernicus' heliocentric cosmology. He offered scientific proof and observation that the sun was the center of the universe, as opposed to the earth, as most good church going folk believed at the time. He was found guilty of suspicion of serious heresy by the Roman Catholic church and placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. He couldn't have felt too badly, as Giordano Bruno, another supporter of Copernicus' theory thirty years earlier, was burned at the stake. The numbers were with the church. The opinion polls overwhelmingly supported the fact that the earth was the center of the universe.

But it was not the truth.

One of the most haunting questions of the original Holy Week was uttered by Pontius Pilate:

"What is truth?"

He said he had found no guilt in Jesus. Then he turned to the crowd and asked what should he do with Jesus. He counted the numbers.

And the survey said, "Crucify him."

He went with the numbers.

Not with the truth.

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