How do You know a truthful statement from a lie?

Question

Does the truth ring out, or are You at the mercy of trust?

Answer 1

You are only at the mercy of trust if you know little to nothing about what the statement has to do with.

You can examine everything that you possibly know that is related to the statement in question- think thru your memory to see if the statement matches what else you know to be true. Include every person, what they've said to you, everything you've ever read, thought about, pondered, etc.

Answer 2

1. It makes a difference who said it.
2. The tone and look of the person might make it seem more or less likely to be true.
3. If it is at all important to know if it is true or not, I compare it to other facts that I know to be true, I compare the trustwortyness of the source as well..... It is possible to get a good idea of the truth if you really want to know. Just don't automatically trust your first judgement.
4. I have learned through the years that when someone tells me their side of a story (about personal conflict) and the other person has not told me, there is a lot of information missing! And very often the first person to complain about a situation is in the wrong (although I do not take that for granted).

Answer 3

I generally trust everyone until they hurt me. Then that trust is hard to regain once it is betrayed. How do I know the difference? I have to see the outcome...