Truth Must Exist

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:32

Does Truth exist?  This question is fundamental to all of life.  Our lives tell us pragmatically that truth must exist.  No one actually lives as if truth does not exist.  In order to think meaningfully, we must believe that it is possible to think properly.  That is to say, we can think in accordance with reality.  In order to define reality, truth must exist.  Remember truth is that which defines reality. ¹   When we define something, we are telling what is true of that thing.  Once we define it, we can begin to manipulate the object in our thoughts.  However, imagine if everyone defined everything randomly.  Consider even a state where the same person defined the same thing differently each time they thought about it.  Or consider a state where every time you thought of something you found it did not reflect reality, but then you would not know what reality was because that would assume truth existed.  In such a state, we could never come to meaningful communication. 

In order to communicate with each other, truth must exist.  To communicate, we must believe that there are words and words mean something (the words are true to their meaning and true in defining their object).  Imagine trying to communicate when the words have a different meaning every time (not just to separate people, but the same person using the same word yet meaning something completely random each time).  Meaningful communication would be impossible.  So fundamentally truth must exist for meaning to exist.  Truth must reflect reality.  Truth allows us the privilege of putting things in order and relating them to each other.  Without truth all is meaningless chaos.

So if truth must exist, then what should we expect truth to be like?  Truth must be universal.  It must be everywhere and it must mean the same thing.  Truth must not be influenced or forced to change by any power.  Truth must understand and know all that is so that it can define all that is and make judgments and comparisons between all that is.  It must understand the origin of all things.  It must have a single source so as not to conflict with itself.  It must be able to judge properly between certain courses of action to determine if they are good or bad.  It must acknowledge pain, evil, and suffering to exist – as we find these in our experience (what we would call reality).  It must have an answer for why they exist (remember truth is responsible for defining all things).

Now let’s consider what life would be like if truth did not exist.  All would be meaningless, including us and our existence.  Communication would be impossible.  Right and wrong would categorically cease to exist.  We should expect to find meaningless chaos everywhere.  Do these observations line up with what we experience daily?  Can you live with these parameters?  A resounding “NO” is the answer.  People may claim truth does not exist to meet their purposes, but no one actually lives out the ramifications of truth not existing.  They do not want you to steal from them or hurt their loved ones.  They want to communicate (even if it is to try to convince you that truth does not exist). 

C. S. Lewis points out that men cannot argue or convince each other their point is right with out assuming there is right and wrong.²  How could there be right and wrong unless the truth exists?  What does truth have to say about our actions?  Where does truth come from?  If we look back at what we expect truth to look like, we find that it looks exactly like the Scripture tells us God looks like.  God is universally present.  God does not change.  God has all power and is sovereign.  God knows all there is to know.  God knows why all things exist (He created them).  God is able to judge properly all actions.  God acknowledges evil exists (and gives remedy for it – both in creation and in mankind).

Now if we assume God does not exist, we have a problem of gigantic proportions to solve in the question, what is the proper source of truth?  Some suggest truth is relative that each man or woman makes their own truth, but then how do we define truth where these ideas clash?  Does might make right (Hitler, Stalin, etc)?  Does majority make right (if the majority decides you should be killed and that is right – are you OK with that)?  It makes sense that there must be some absolutes, some rules, some truth that must govern they way we act.  Where do we find such absolutes?  The Christian finds them in God and in His Word, by which a sustainable society can be formed.  If we assume God does not exist and truth is relative then how do we arrive at a meaningful discussion of ethics (what should be right and wrong)?  Aren’t all things acceptable?  Can’t someone just kill you because it is survival of the fittest?  Or can’t someone just kill you because they want to and it seems to them to be the right thing to do?  C. S. Lewis again points out that no society is known where the ultimate goal is to deceive everyone you can. ³  How could friendships and meaningful relationships thrive if one is always in fear of deception or worse, physical harm, just because someone else thought it was the right thing to do?  Clearly ethics must be founded on some absolute truth.

Philosophy calls the answers to these kind of questions the universals.   Universals tackle the big questions of life.  Why are we here? What is the meaning of life?  What is right and wrong?  We cannot clearly answer what is right or wrong unless we understand the meaning of life.  Once we understand the meaning of life we can then define what kind of actions are right or wrong.  If we are just here by some accident of genetic mutation (evolution), then life has no meaning and right and wrong cannot be meaningfully established.  If God exists and created us then He defines meaning of life and what is right and wrong.

Ravi Zacharius proves this point in his Foundations of Apologics: God, Evil, and Suffering video:

“When you say there’s such a thing as evil, you’re assuming there’s such a thing as good.  When you say there’s such a thing as good, you’re assuming there’s such a thing as a moral law on the basis of which to differentiate between good and evil.  But when you say there’s such a thing as a moral law, you must posit a moral lawgiver.  Objective moral values only exist if God exists.  Objective moral values exist, hence God exists.  Objective moral values hold true at all times, for all people, in all circumstances.  Just like gravity is true whether you believe in it or not, so moral law is true whether you believe in it or not.  This delivers us from subjectivity.  Objective moral values transcend us.  They affect us whether we believe in them or not.  They exist independently of our agreement.  How can there be incontrovertible values of worth, if you yourself are worthless?  Questions of evil and good [right and wrong] come from a person.  Personhood is essential to the raising of the question.  You cannot raise this question apart from personal worth and personal value.  You assume in the question that the questioner is worthy of raising the question.  People are of essential worth and that’s what makes the question of good and evil worth asking.  If values are intrinsic to personhood, how can there be an ultimate objective moral value without a person from whom that value comes?  It is not possible to raise the question of value and worth, without finding implicit in that question the value of personhood itself, and if the personhood has come from time plus matter plus chance [evolution], there is no essential value and worth of that person.  It [the person] has to be the created entity of a valuable person himself or an entity that is intrinsically valuable.” ⁴

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6

“By claiming to be the truth, Jesus implies that all He affirms is true and that nothing He says is false.  If it is true that the foundational pursuit of life is meaning, then that meaning must be within the confines of truth, and that truth cannot be found apart from Jesus.” ⁵

“In the beginning God…” – Genesis 1:1

Lord Jesus Christ, we know You are the answer to all of life’s questions on meaning, truth, origins, morality, and destiny.  Help us to trust fully in You.  Help us understand the logical consistency, empirical adequacy, and experiential relevance we have in You as the object of our faith.  Help us to know You better and experience the truth in our relationship with You.  Transform us into Your likeness.  We love You, Lord!  Amen!

Footnotes

1 Webster, Noah. American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 ed.

2 Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity (1952).

3 Lewis.

4 Zacharias, Ravi. Foundations of Apologetics: God, Evil, and Suffering (Norcross, GA: RZIM), 1 DVD.

5 Zacharias, Ravi. Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994), 103.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from the NIV. New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003.

God is Truth

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.

  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6

Truth is one of the great questions of our day.  What is truth?  Can truth be known?  How do we define truth?  Is it absolute or relative?  How can we know?  First, let’s answer the question, “What is truth?”  Truth means, “Conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been or shall be.”¹   This definition assumes a couple of things: reality exists and it can be known.  Most reasonable people would agree with these assumptions. 

“For anyone to take seriously the statement that there is no truth that corresponds to reality defeats the statement itself by implying that it is not reflective of reality.  If a statement is not reflective of reality, why take it seriously?  Truth as a category must exist even while one is denying its existence and must also afford the possibility of being known.”²

If truth cannot be known then reality cannot be defined and all is meaningless chaos.  So to say “Absolute truth does not exist,” (and all truth is absolute or it is not truth), is to assume the statement that “there is no absolute truth” is a truth.  You cannot even deny that truth exists without assuming that it does exist.  So our question becomes “How do we define truth?”  Stuart McAllister points us in the right direction with the following statements about truth.

Truth by nature is:

Non-contradictory – It does not violate the laws of logic (it cannot be sometimes the truth).

Absolute – It does not depend on any time, place or conditions (it cannot be relative).

Discovered – It exists independently of our minds (it cannot exist only for one person).

Descriptive – It is the agreement of the mind with reality (coherence).

Inescapable – To deny its existence is to affirm it (we are bound by it).

Unchanging – It is the firm standard by which truth claims are measured. ³

To sum up, truth cannot contradict itself.  It exists completely independent of what we think of it.  We can know the truth.  The truth agrees with reality.  Truth cannot be moved away from or escaped from.  It is constant and cannot change.  It does not depend on anything: time, place or any other condition. 

C. S. Lewis also points out that truth cannot have multiple sources.⁴  This makes sense in light of the point McAllister makes that truth cannot be contradictory.  If truth has more than one source, how can it not at some point be contradictory?  Duplicitous sources for truth break down as, at some point, these sources of truth conflict with each other.  Truth can ultimately only have one source. 

If you had to pick a source of truth, wouldn’t you want it to know everything, have all power, and be everywhere?  Wouldn’t you want it to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, good, kind, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled?  Wouldn’t you want this source to be unchangeable?  Wouldn’t you want this source to never be wrong?  Wouldn’t you want this truth to be self-existent, self-sufficient, and sovereign?  Wouldn’t you want it to be humble?  Wouldn’t you want it to be gracious and merciful?  Wouldn’t you want it to have always existed and be eternal?  In short, wouldn’t you want it to look exactly like the Scripture describes Jesus?

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.’” – John 14:6 (emphasis mine)

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14 (emphasis mine)

“‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate.  Jesus answered, ‘You are right in saying I am a king.  In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’” – John 18:37 (emphasis mine)

“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.” John 16:13-15 (emphasis mine)

Jesus claims to be the truth.  The Spirit is truth and the Spirit makes known the things of the Father so the Father is truth. The triune Godhead is the truth.  What one personality of the Godhead is all must be.  “God is the fountain-head of all truth.”⁵  He cannot lie (John 1:3, Heb 6:18; Titus 1:2 and 2 Tim 2:13).   God is at the center of all that is (Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:3).  His Word is truth (John  17:7; Col 1:5, John 1:14).  How can we know this definition of truth is the true one?

Truth can be tested in the following ways:

Logical Consistency – Does it not violate the laws of logic?  Does it contradict itself?

Empirical Adequacy – Does our experience line up with what is presented as truth?  Does it fit the facts?

Experiential Relevance – Does it apply meaningfully to my life?  Can I live it?

Undeniability – Can this fact be denied in anyway?  (I.E. I cannot deny my existence without affirming it at the same time.) ⁶

Does God make sense?  Is what the Bible reveals of God consistent?  Do the attributes of God make for a good source of truth?  I believe they do.  They make a source equal to no other.  Does your experience line up with what is presented in the Bible?  Does the Bible fit the facts?  It arrives on the scene of history as a unique document: historically accurate, scientifically stable, and logically consistent.  Can I apply the truths of God, the commands of the Bible, meaningfully to my life?  I can, and not only that, they seem to be the only meaningful explanation for all of life.  They create a sustainable society with complete freedom once I obey the 10 commandments and rest of Scripture.  They answer questions of Origin, Meaning, Morality, Destiny, Ethics (Good vs Evil), Significance, Hope, Security, Love, Wonder, Unity and Diversity.

If one believes in God and His Word then he has an answer for the Origin question (Gen 1-2, Col 1:15-17, Heb 1:3).  God gives us meaning through His love and letting us know we are significant (Rom 8:15-16, 26-28, 31-39; Eph 3:16-21), giving us the truth (John 16:13-15; 2 Tim 3:16-17) , giving us something to wonder over (Job 38-41; Isa 40-42), and by giving us security and hope both now and for the ever after (Matt 6:25-34; Phil 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:7, Ps 23; Rom 10:9; John 17:3).   He gives us an answer for unity and diversity in the Godhead itself.  The hard questions of life are answered here, within the confines of Christianity.  For the believer, all things are measured to be true in relationship to the nature of God, who IS the truth.  How wonderful that we can have a living vibrant relationship with the truth.  We can get to know it by knowing Him.  No doubt some will argue that this is exclusive.  However, truth by definition is exclusive⁷, it cannot contain what is false or it would not be the truth.

Truth is at the root of all that is.  A proper understanding of truth as laid out in the Scriptures gives us a rock solid foundation, indeed the only solid foundation, upon which to build our lives, live our lives, and live eternally with Him.

Oh, Mighty Truthful One, you are the Truth.  You alone are perfect and know all things as the truth must.  You alone are the source of all things as the truth must be.  We are grateful truth is embodied in You, that You are full of grace and truth.  Teach us to rely upon Your truth.  When all else fails, You remain, You stand alone on the side of truth – You are the truth. Let us be found in You.  Oh Lord be the tea bag in the middle of our lives, flavoring all we do with Your nature and guiding us into all truth.  We have all our answers in You!  In Christ’s perfect name, Amen!

Footnotes

¹ Noah Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 ed.

² Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994), 125.

³ Stuart McAllister, Foundations of Apologetics (Norcross, GA: RZIM), 1 DVD

⁴ C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (1952)

⁵ R. C. Sproul, The Truth Project  (Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family) Lesson 1: Veritology: What is Truth?, 1 DVD.

⁶ Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994),  123-125.

⁷ Ravi Zacharias, Can Man Live Without God (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group, 1994),  126.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.