ISSUE #9 // NOVEMBER 2024
MOMENT OF TRUTH
How do we distinguish between truth and lies, right and wrong, in a world which has rejected the very concept of truth?
Your Truth, My Truth?
Let’s kick this newsletter off with a little fantasy. Imagine a distant world which came about – well, actually, no one knows how it came about – filled with 8 billion people hustling and bustling, yet void of any real purpose. There are no laws, no human rights, no scientific discoveries, no education or profound knowledge, no depth of communication but only immensely degraded human identity. Truth and meaning had been exchanged for relativism and acceptance, resulting in chaos.
The cause? An absence of truth. For this is indeed where we would be without it. The truth is not just a ‘nice to have’, but an absolute necessity upon which all meaningful human society is built.
But is there an absolute truth, separating right from wrong, good from evil? Or is everything subjective and relative? And if absolute truth does exist, where do we find it, and how can we be so sure of it?
Let’s proceed with some definitions. Absolute truths are universally valid and unchanging statements or beliefs, that are true for all people at all times and in all situations. In contrast, relative truths are socially or culturally constructed statements or beliefs that are subjective.
‘You have your truth and I’ll have mine’ seems to have become the mantra of this age. ‘Anything goes’ would be another competitor for motto of our generation. Many have rejected the idea of any kind of absolutes, embracing relativism and postmodernism instead.
We can now pretty much be, do, believe and say whatever the heck we like – so long as, of course, we do not contradict someone else’s ‘whatever’. But was this a good move?
Let me ask you this: can you build a solid building without a solid foundation?
Without the truth, there is nothing firm upon which to build our lives, our projects or our institutions. We are left to build upon the shifting sands of popular opinion.
Here’s the funny thing: to claim there is no absolute truth is actually making a claim of absolute truth, and is thus self-refuting. For, is this claim – that there is not the truth, but only my truth – just your truth or the truth? It is logically self-defeating.
We humans – despite our differences – live in a closed system of space, time, energy and matter. As such there are certain things which are absolute, forming the basis for such things as human rights, scientific research and mathematical calculations.
You probably agree that human trafficking, rape and murder are all wrong. Furthermore, you can likely accept that 2+2 equals 4 and that the laws of gravity are unlikely to have changed by this time tomorrow. All these things are absolutes. Otherwise someone could say, in the court of law, that they didn’t think murder was wrong. And who could argue against them ‘if that was really how they felt’? The rejection of the absolute truth is not only illogical but fundamentally detrimental to the health of society.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
‘The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.’
WINSTON CHURCHILL
In spite of these things over half of respondents in CRC’s survey ‘Perceptions of Truth’ said they thought it was up to the individual to decide what is right or moral. And sadly the numbers don’t look much better among those who claim to be Christian, even though the idea of absolute truth is a fundamental tenet of the faith.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (John 14:6). It doesn’t get much clearer than that.
Yet we are told to be ‘tolerant’, a term which I think is misunderstood and misused. Being tolerant of one another should not mean accepting everyone’s ideas and reducing standards to the lowest common denominator. Instead it should mean recognising and respecting people as individuals. For if we, as Christians, in the name of tolerance reject the absolute truth, and say things like ‘all religions point to the same truth’, then we have rejected Christ himself. We should firmly stand on the belief that Christianity is the only true religion, speaking the truth in love. Believing in absolute truth is not intolerance of people, it is intolerance of those ideas which destroy people’s lives.
If you think about it, the very concept of truth actually requires God. Truth is, as I once saw it put, ‘the quality of a proposition that is comprehensible in terms of language, coherent with regard to logic and correspondent to actual reality.’ Each of these three criteria individually require God in order to be meaningful or real: Language presupposes God as it assumes that minds are designed to understand and communicate ideas; logic presupposes God because it assumes that there are true, unchanging, immaterial, good and knowable laws that govern our thoughts and speech – this makes
sense if you believe in the God of the Bible, but not if you believe that the mind evolved by chance when it was merely ‘aimed’ at survival and reproduction; and reality presupposes God because it assumes that there is a state of affairs external to our own minds, and that we are capable of studying and knowing things about this external world.
C.S. Lewis put it this way: ‘A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line.’ Here, he is making the point that to recognise something as wrong or false (‘crooked’), we must first have some idea of what is true or right (‘straight’). This straight line of truth is objective and unchanging and allows us to recognise deviations.
But what is this ‘plumb line’ – the measure for right and wrong, good and evil, truth and deception? Just before his crucifixion, Pontius Pilate asked Jesus ‘What is truth?’ This question is still being asked all these centuries later, and the answer hasn’t changed: Jesus himself is the author and embodiment of the truth.
In closing, I would address those who say it is preposterous and arrogant to claim to be in possession of the absolute truth. Yes, we can never claim to be ourselves in possession of the absolute truth. We can, however, earnestly follow after this truth – and point others to do the same.
As a society we have neglected the truth – to our own detriment. We must make an about turn, and quickly return to the only One who makes sense of the world around us and gives us a foundation of clarity and truth: Jesus. The truth is still calling, the question now is will we answer it?
‘I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.’
ISAIAH 28:17 (NIV)
FACT OF THE WEEK
In the century leading up to Constantine’s ascension, the Roman Empire was in turmoil, with political instability, rampant inflation and social unrest. Under Constantine, however, the conditions transformed dramatically. After his conversion in 312 AD, the emperor issued an edict which decriminalised Christian worship – prior to this, tens of thousands of Christians were martyred for refusing to deny the truth, such was the strength of their convictions – and the empire enjoyed a period of stability.
