What is Truth?
By Jack Kinsella
Pilate saith unto Him, “What is truth?…” (John 18:38) This is the question that has bedeviled philosophers since the dawn of time. It is a subjective question; one person’s truth is another person’s untruth, yet truth itself is neither subjective nor objective; that is to say, truth is true whether anyone believes it or not.
If there is such a thing as truth then, we ought to be able to find it. If truth cannot be known, then truth cannot exist. Truth can sometimes be known by the power of logic and deductive reasoning, yet it can still be known absolutely.
Allow me to prove it to you. I know, absolutely, and without being told by anybody else — that you are presently reading this particular line of text. That is a truth born out of logic.
Then there are those truths that are not necessarily logical, but rather are reflections of reality.
There is no way to logically ‘prove’ it, no benchmark against which to measure the truth of the statement, “I love my wife,” but it is true nonetheless. And so truth is also a logical affirmation of reality.
But not all truth is absolute — as noted previously, one person’s truth is often another person’s untruth, relatively speaking. Certain truths are relative to one’s culture, preferences and history — but relative truths are no less true.
If I were to ask which side of the road you drive your car on, most of you would say you drive on the right– and you’d be telling the truth. But Anton in South Africa and Alf in Australia would say they drive their cars on the left– and they’d ALSO be telling the truth.
What is true in this case is what is true relative to individual reality. So truth is not always objective — sometimes it is subjective, but still true, nevertheless.
So truth can be objective, subjective, logical and/or relative, and yet remain the truth.
That means that there is no way to determine such a thing as absolute truth apart from our cultural and personal reality without acknowledging the existence of a truth greater than ourselves, one that transcends culture and experience and individual preference.
That is why the quest for truth ultimately leads to God. Even the CERN Large Hadron Conductor experiment aimed at discovering the “Higgs boson” ultimately proves itself to be a search for God.
Indeed, the “Higgs boson” is nicknamed “the God Particle” since it is believed to be the explanation for how “quarks” — the invisible, extra-dimensional particles of which all matter is comprised, acquire mass.
We learn from the Higgs bosun experiments that quarks exist outside of time and space and have no mass, but that all mass that exists inside of time and space is made up of quarks.
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void…” (Genesis 1:1)
“For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” (Romans 1:20)
“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him:” (Colossians 1:6)
Since quarks aren’t merely invisible but actually exist outside of the dimension of space and time, then the Bible’s account of creation is not just subjectively true, but also objectively true.
Assessment
Generally speaking, when debating with a skeptic or an atheist, Christians tacitly agree to allow science to be the standard against which we judge truth.
So we prepare for our debates by searching out the best scientific evidence possible to support our positions, without realizing that what we are doing is making science the judge. But if science is the judge of truth, we cannot win.
Scientific ‘truth’ is ever-changing. Appealing to science in order to validate Scripture is getting the equation exactly backwards.
The Scriptures say that “Thy Word is truth” (John 17:17).
God says of Himself, “For I am the Lord, I change not…” (Malachi 3:6)
We’ve already discussed the unbeliever’s attempts to disprove the Bible using logic and reason, both of which are dependent upon the existence of God for their validity. The next fallback position is that of science. For the skeptic, however, this position suffers from the same fatal flaw.
Science depends on the laws of nature — if they were not uniform and unchanging, then there would be no way to experiment and study and arrive at truthful conclusions. If the force of gravity changed randomly from one day to the next, scientific measurement would be impossible.
The laws of nature were set in motion by God, Who then promised that they will not pass away.
“While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)
The skeptic has to operate within the same understanding of natural uniformity as believers do — although he has no explanation for it. The unbeliever’s worldview dictates that nature and natural law evolved into what they are today through an ever-changing random series of processes.
So arguing against God from the perspective of science is like arguing against the existence of air while taking a deep breath. It is a self-defeating argument.
The unbeliever has no way to account for the uniformity of nature, or the laws of science and logic apart from the God of the Bible. The Bible never contradicts itself, is unchanging and provides an explanation for all that is and all that is in doubt.
The problem with evolution is that there is no way to measure or test the theory. Any observable experiment demonstrates the 2nd law of Thermodynamics which postulates that all things, natural or created, eventually break down with time.
Evolution argues that, by adding an unknowable and unverifiable periods of millions of years, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics reverses itself and uncreated things create themselves, and having thus accomplished this miracle of creation without intelligence, began to improve itself.
But the evolutionist cannot explain how it works, let alone why. And to accept its claims requires a temporary suspension of the laws of both science and mathematics.
In 1932 when my mother-in-law was 10 years old, the earth’s population stood at 2 billion people. In 2012, when she turns 90, the earth’s population is expected to top 7 billion. From 2 billion to 7 billion in a single lifetime!
Now, to the Big Question. What if the earth’s population had reached 2 billion a thousand years ago? What would the population be today? Eight hundred billion? A trillion?
Now, add a million years, like the evolutionists do, and what you’d end up with isn’t science, but foolishness. We wouldn’t have room for anything except cemeteries, and we’d be re-using them by now.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.”
“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:22,25,28)
The skeptic or the atheist who wants to debate the Bible isn’t interested in learning the truth, but seeking justification for perpetuating his own delusion.
Reason and logic cannot exist without God. The laws of science and nature cannot exist without God. And if either could exist apart from God, we would have no way to explain them, let alone understand them.
Don’t let the enemy use clever debating tricks to steal away your assurance. The foundational question that logic, reason and science all fail to address in their various alternative scenarios is the question of “why”?
Why are we here? What IS the meaning of life? Science doesn’t know — it has no answers, just more questions. Logic and reason cannot provide an explanation.
No humanistic religion or philosophy can adequately explain the purpose for your existence — but the Bible can.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Because that IS why we are here. To trust the Lord. To learn to lean on Him. To learn to allow Him to direct our lives. And to spread the good news that the Bible is true, our salvation has been assured and that our Savior is coming back for us.
All the skeptics and the atheists and the scientists know is what. We know why. We know how. Most importantly of all, we know Who.
And as we witness the increasing signs of His soon Return, we also have a pretty good idea of when.
Soon. Very soon. Maranatha!
This Letter was written by Jack Kinsella on March 5, 2010.