Is There An Absolute Truth?

Is There An Absolute Truth?

No Truth Means Everything is True, Doesn't It?
For some of us, it might seem ridiculous to say that there is no truth, because we have simply assumed that truth exists since we were very small. But others out there have struggled with the idea that there can be singular truth in all areas of life, and if you ask your friends to talk about issues of faith, you will quickly discover that few of us are able to agree on a singular truth. In fact, many of us have come to the conclusion that there is no one truth about anything. And when you say that nothing is truly right or true, you are actually saying that EVERYTHING is right and true!

Now we may disagree on the nature of truth at the spiritual level, but it’s hard to deny absolute truths at the physical level. Let’s say I want to play a baseball game and I have everything I need to play the game. I have the right field (a baseball field, not a football field) the right equipment (bats, not clubs). But I am short one item. I have no ball. So in a search for the right ball, I examine the possibility of using a TUBA. Sounds ridiculous, right? The tuba is a bad choice because, let’s face it, it is simply NOT a ball. And you know what? It never claimed to be a ball. It never claimed to be something you could use in a baseball game. Only a ball is a ball. There is a singular truth about the baseball. A tuba is not a baseball.

Does It Apply to God?
But when it comes to spiritual issues, many people believe that there are many truths, many ways to the same end, many paths, all of which are supposed to be true! But you’ve got to understand that the world’s greatest (and even not so great) religions don’t make the same claims. Just like the tuba and the baseball, the faith systems themselves make very different claims and they don’t agree with each other! Buddhism claims that there is no personal God, while Christianity argues that there is a personal God. Judaism claims that there is no life after death, while Christianity claims that there is, in fact, life after death, and these notions are very different and very opposed. Islam encourages its followers to eliminate and destroy all infidels, while biblical Christianity encourages its followers to love their enemies.

In spite of this obvious conflict in spiritual truths, the world makes a couple of claims about truth. First, the world tries to tell us that truth cannot be found at all. Second, the world tries to tell us that truth is different for different people. Philosophers are still struggling with the notion of truth:

Andre Gide
“Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.”

Molly Ivins
“I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth”

Albert Einstein
“Truth is what stands the test of experience”

Buddha
“Believe nothing just because a so-called wise person said it. Believe nothing just because a belief is generally held. Believe nothing just because it is said in ancient books, believe nothing just because it is said to be of divine origin. Believe nothing just because someone else believes it. Believe only what you yourself test and judge to be true.”

How Did We Get Here?
So how did we get to this place in our world where we distrust anything that is claimed as truth? How did we get to the point where we trust nothing and, at the same time, embrace everything? Let me tell you about my grandmother. She never had any doubt that there was a singular truth. She grew up in Naples Italy and spent her early life in a world of common dreams, common values, common faith, common enemies, common holidays, common lives. In a place like this, everyone agrees on what is true and what is a lie. But my grandmother eventually migrated to the world’s greatest experiment in multi-culturalism: the United States. There is no other country in the history of mankind that has tried to blend so many different people with so many different backgrounds. Here, my grandmother had to confront the realization that there is more than one way to consider the world. But disagreeing about truth is not the same as believing that there simply is no truth to argue about.

Can We Agree on This At Least?
When we really stop to think about it, we are going to have to agree that there are levels at which we are willing to believe in absolute truth. Simple mathematics are one of those areas. We will agree that 2+2=4 and that 5 would be a wrong answer! But when it comes to spiritual issues, some of us want to move away from the idea of absolute truth.

Some of us want to define the truth for ourselves. One notion of truth is called the pragmatic theory of truth. It argues that the truth is simply what works. How many times have you heard someone say, “Your Christianity may work great for you, but it doesn’t work for me”. It’s a very practical approach! If it doesn’t work, it’s not true. But what about death? It’s definitely not practical, yet it is definitely true! And what about things that are definitely not true, but are practical, like a successful lie? The pragmatic theory does not lead us to truth.

The empiricist theory of truth says that the truth is whatever can be sensed. Experience is the main factor. How many times have you heard someone say, “I know it is true because I experienced it myself!” but this also falls short of the mark. Some of us will taste an orange and say that it is sweet, while others will taste the same orange and say it is bitter. Who is telling the truth? Sensory experience is too personal to be trustworthy!

The emotivist theory of truth says that the truth is based on what we feel! How many times have you leaned on feelings to figure out if something was true? How many times have you struggled to convince yourself that what you are feeling isn’t really true, just the way you feel that day? But we all know someone who holds irrational fears, like a fear of cats or a fear of heights, and these are obviously not based on measurable data! And what if I show you a handful of paperclips? You aren’t really going to feel one way or the other about them, but it will still be true that I am holding paperclips! People have relied on their feelings to follow Jim Jones, to sleep with a sex partner who later dumped them, to make an impulsive purchase. In each and every case, feelings fail to provide an objective measurement for truth!

There is a Lie the World Wants You to Hear
The world will try to tell you the lie that the truth depends on who you are asking and, therefore, there is no absolute truth. But remember that without absolute truth, no statement can even be made about truth. If absolute truth exists in any area of life, it exists in every area of life. Understand that Jesus himself believed in absolute truth and that truth could be found:

John 17:15-19
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

God wants you to realize that people are inclined to question the truth. God is not surprised that we do this, but he rejoices when we finally understand that there is an absolute truth.

2 Timothy 4:2-5
Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage-with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

3 John 1-4
Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

The Poor Lone Christian
I can remember when I was in school and watched a teacher challenge the lone Christian in the class. The discussion on philosophy and faith systems turned to the issue of Christianity and absolute truth and the teacher began to question the Christian about his beliefs. He accused the young man of being an arrogant, judgmental bigot. How could this young man claim that HIS truth is the only truth? The teacher was claiming that truth is personal and changes according to the holder.

But of course to make this very claim is a complete contradiction. When you say there is no singular absolute truth, you are making a claim of absolutely truth. You are, in essence, saying “I claim absolutely that there is no absolute truth!” of course this teacher is living in a world of absolute truths, whether he wants to admit it or not! He required us to be there on time! For him, there was definitely an absolute truth about the starting time, and if you were just a little late, you would pay for it! And this same teacher required us to read a text book. Not any book, but the true book that he truly assigned! And we had to take tests. Many of these were true and false tests! How can you take those kinds of tests if there is no absolutely true answer? Finally, the very existence of this teacher was the result of a set of absolute truths that can be found in his DNA chain, the color of his eyes, the color of his hair, his sex and an incredible number of other absolute truths were and still are based on absolute truths about his DNA sequencing! If you were to ask this chap if he had ever made a mistake in his entire life, I’ll bet he would say, “of course!” but that presumes that there is a truthful measure stick that can be compared to his behavior! If there is no truth, than no one can make a mistake!

This teacher would tell us that it was impossible to find and know the truth, but that was only because he really didn’t WANT to dig all that hard. See, the truth is not always as easy as 2+2=4. Sometimes it has to be uncovered and considered and discovered like e=mc2. it takes time. It takes desire, but most of all, it takes an understanding that there is a truth and it can be found. If Einstein did not truly believe this, he would have stopped thinking about the theory of relativity long before he ever got started.

Ask the Right Questions
Sometimes the real problem is that we are asking the wrong question to begin with. That’s why we’re not able to realize and demonstrate the absolute truth. An old professor of mine told me about a dispute he was called to settle between a professor friend and a student. In an examination, the professor asked a simple question. “If I led you to a tall tower, and asked you to take a barometer to the top of the tower, how would you use the barometer to tell me how tall the tower is?” The teacher was looking for a specific answer that would utilize the barometer to measure atmospheric pressure at ground level and the top of the tower, and then develop the distance between these two points. But the student was a bit creative (and obstinate) and he gave a variety of answers that did not utilize the barometer as he had hoped. In each solution, the student used the barometer creatively as a pendulum, and object to measure gravity, as a tool for comparing shadow ratios, and as a simple bribe for someone who actually knows the height of the building! All of these ways led to the truth of the building height, but none uncovered the truth that the professor was looking for. Why? Primarily because the professor was asking the right question in the wrong way!

Sometimes we ask the wrong spiritual questions! If the question is simply how can I find happiness, or satisfaction, or purpose, well there are a number of ways I can do that, and most of them are very temporary. But there are also many so called spiritual roads that can take you to this place, if that is all you are seeking. But personally, I am not interested in simple happiness and satisfaction. I am interested in truth, because only truth has long term significance.

A friend of mine recently purchased a new telescope in preparation for the recent location of mars in the northern hemisphere. There was a Wednesday when Mars was closer to earth than it has been or will be for another 550 years. On that one day window, he set up his telescope and discovered that he could not see mars much better than he could a month prior with his old telescope! Why? Because he was wrong about the date of the sighting and was off by exactly one week. Holding true to the wrong information with sincerity, he made a sincere effort to see the red planet but was sincerely wrong about the timing. All truths are not equal. Only one true Wednesday could reveal Mars in its glory. And only one true notion of God will reveal Him to you today.

The reality is that the truth is not a matter of personal choice, and it’s comforting to know that what you discover is true today, will still be true tomorrow. But, there’s a reason why people want to deny there is an absolute truth...

John 3:19-21
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.

Is God Unfair?
Jesus had to deal with people who did not believe there was an absolute truth. These kinds of people have existed from the beginning of time, although there are definitely more of us who embrace this relativism today! How do we answer those among us who are questioning the loving nature of God? How can he be loving yet so narrow minded as to limit us to only one way? Isn’t that judgmental and unfair?

But if you look at the history of our relationship with God, you will see that he has actually given us a huge number of opportunities! Just look at history. We rejected His gracious offer in the Garden, his Covenant agreement through Abraham, his guidance through the laws of Moses, his messages as delivered by the prophets, and then finally his own son. In light of all the ways that we have rejected him, the question should not be, “Why is there just one way?” but instead, “Why is there ANY way?”

One True Way to God
Many of you are still battling with the idea that there could only be one true God and one way to get to him. Why do you think that is so? Is it because it doesn’t seem fair to us, in spite of the truth of our history with God? Or is it because we still want control? Let’s pray about these things and ask God to help us understand his mercy and the fact that He is so patient with us, and ask God to help us learn to trust him for the truth.

Living Above the Lie
Now go out and live your life differently. Accept the reality that there IS a singular truth, so you can truly begin to search for it. Then, earnestly begin the search. If you are unwilling to even accept the premise that there IS an absolute truth, you will never begin the search that will eventually lead you to God.