What
is Truth?
(Exhortation - January 2001)
as Bible believers, truth is not just a subject for academic speculation. The Truth as described in the Bible is not only something to be believed, it is also to be obeyed. Truth is an essential part of God’s character and it is embodied in His Son, Jesus. Thus, God’s truth forms the foundation of our faith.
Truth brings stability
The Hebrew concept and usage involves the idea of remaining in one place, established,
certain, faithful, lasting, stable. In Jeremiah 31 and 33, God links the fixed order of
His creation (the regularity of day and night and the seasons) with the certainty of His
covenant with His people and His promise to David. He can do this with absolute authority
since He is both creator of all and author of His covenant.
The serpent’s challenge to
the truth
The serpent was the first to question the Creator’s intent and integrity.
Professing enlightenment far beyond its capacity, the serpent redefined truth and came to
a false conclusion which had deadly consequences. It slandered God by twisting what He
said, ascribing an evil motive to Him. Sowing a spirit of suspicion and distrust, the
serpent set Eve against her Creator. It implied she needed to rely on her own insight to
find the real truth. This enmity between the children of God and the children of the
serpent is a theme that runs throughout the Bible and is confirmed by history and present
experience.
Today’s challenge to the
truth
Many of us have grown up in what is known as the modernist period of human philosophy.
"Modernists" not only question God’s revealed truth, but rejected
the very existence of God and the possibility of divine intervention.
Man, using his limited reasoning and observation alone, sought universal objective truth in the natural order of things. Democratic rule of law was developed to provide stability and justice in society. There was great hope that through education and science, social and economic problems would be eliminated, disease would be eradicated and environmental problems would be solved. Man would, in effect, control his own destiny and become the creator of a better world. This hope is fueled for example by recent advances in biotechnology.
While growing up in a modernist/humanist environment, we nevertheless have enjoyed relative freedom of religion, speech, assembly and tolerance of our beliefs and activities. The Bible, concordances, history books, etc. have been readily available, and with God’s grace, the Truth has been allowed to prosper. However, another major shift in thinking has been developing, again questioning "What is truth?".
Postmodernism’s challenge
to the truth
Reacting against the failures, injustices and arrogance of the modernist
establishment, postmodernism addresses some legitimate concerns and makes some true
observations. These ideas may seem good on the surface (the serpent’s arguments
always do), but the danger is in going too far with partial truths.
Postmodernist thought embraces relativism. This "new" thinking is really just a recycling of old ideas, part of a continuing historical swing between opposing human philosophies rooted in the serpent’s arguments in Eden. Its ultimate goal is liberation, total freedom from all authority and constraints. It has been growing in popularity and power and in some ways is more subtle and more difficult to address than modernism. Postmodernist agendas are promoted with words such as "tolerance," "inclusiveness" and "diversity." Ironically, intolerance, exclusiveness and forced conformity are often the real results.
The chief danger in postmodern thinking is that it rejects the very idea of rational, objective truth, or at least rejects the ability of man to use objective reason and to know objective truth. It sees education, language, literature, history, law and Judeo-Christian religion as biased tools for self-interest to gain and keep dominance and power.
Truth becomes relative
If the postmodernists are right, if we cannot know universal objective truth, then
there can be no universal, objective standard, no universal right and wrong. Truth becomes
what each individual or group makes it to be. Of course, differing "personal
realities" come into conflict in the real world and result inevitably in
confusion, strife and chaos.
Such thinking leads in one of two directions. It may manifest itself in a passive hopelessness, anger, depression and sometimes suicide. We see this reflected in the darker side of some music and entertainment popular with young people. The other manifestation is in activism, attempts to change society by education and political and legal power. In doing so, postmodernists use power and rhetoric rather than reason and truth to promote their causes and to silence any opposition.
Postmodern relativism is in direct conflict with God’s claim to absolute authority and thus in direct conflict with any who claim to know the truth. Any claims to truth are considered to be intolerant and dangerous to society. This thinking has been increasingly reflected in the media, entertainment industry and in the very basic institutions of learning and law.
In the area of education, the teacher is seen less as a transmitter of objective knowledge and more as a facilitator to help students develop their own knowledge and personal truths and values. Since postmodernists believe self-esteem is a necessary prerequisite to learning and accomplishment, there is a reluctance to correct or criticize student’s efforts. If virtually all ideas are valid and there is no objective way to evaluate, authority over knowledge shifts from the teacher to the student.
In the postmodernist approach to language and literature (including the Bible), the object is not so much to learn what the author intended to communicate, but rather to seek one’s own personal interpretation and meaning. This is just how the serpent thought. Each reader uses his or her own perspective (ethnic, feminist, gay/lesbian, etc.) as the point of reference, resulting in vastly different conclusions. And so authority over meaning and intent shifts from the author to the reader.
Postmodernists argue that history reflects the biased view of the dominant class. Thus many feel free to change the emphasis and even the facts of history to suit their own agenda. The re-writers of history include those who diminish or even deny the Holocaust. The historian is no longer a student of history, but a creator of it.
Postmodernism rejects the modernist democratic rule of law as biased. Therefore the law can be used (if convenient), or violated (if inconvenient) in order to promote one’s cause. Authority shifts from the law to the individual.
Postmodernism rejects the Bible as an expression of God’s universal truth and authority, preferring instead many paths to more impersonal concepts of deity. Doctrine is seen as unimportant or even divisive. Objective knowledge is rejected in favor of mystical, personal experience. Morality is considered "oppressive," claims to truth are seen as dangerous and "evil." Thus, truth (reality) is turned upside down. Good is called evil and evil is called good. Man places himself at the center of religion rather than God, and ultimate authority shifts from the Creator to the creature.
Revelation, reason and faith
There is one truth, revealed in God’s word and manifest in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation, reason and faith are all needed to perceive God’s truth and total
reality. Modernism rejects God’s revelation and relies on man’s reason alone.
Postmodernism rejects both God’s revelation and man’s ability to reason
objectively. Thus the necessary foundation for faith is effectively destroyed.
God’s revealed Truth and purpose regarding Israel, His Land, His Kingdom and all aspects of the Gospel—including man’s need for faith, moral change and obedience to Christ—all directly clash with both modernism and postmodernism. This poses both serious problems and critical opportunities in educating our children as well as in our preaching efforts.
Modernism and postmodernism are based on the same fundamental errors—rejection of God’s revealed truth and placing man as the highest authority. The inevitable result is described in II Timothy 3. "For men will become lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient...holding the form of religion, but denying the power of it."
Paul continues by showing man’s need for God’s teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. In the fourth chapter, Paul told Timothy to "preach the word... convince, rebuke and exhort..." and that the time would come when "people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own liking, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander into myths." As for self esteem, we all are in need of change, we are not okay as we are. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are in need of His forgiveness and salvation.
The truth of God is both inclusive and exclusive. The memorials we share each Sunday are symbols of our participation in Jesus. The body of Christ exhibits a wonderful unity in diversity. Male, female, Jew, Gentile, bond, free — individuals from all social, economic and ethnic origins — are all one in Christ.
There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We are either a child of God or a child of the Serpent. We are either in Christ or in the world. Ironically, when we avoid or deny the truth and seek liberty to do anything we please, we become slaves to sin. Jesus said "The truth will make you free." God sent His son to destroy the works of the devil, that old Serpent, and to liberate His creation from the power of sin and death (Hebrews 2 & 4; Revelation 20).
"For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens...who formed the earth and made it...I the Lord speak the truth, I declare what is right...Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other" (Isa. 45:18-22).
This is the truth God has revealed to us in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what binds us together and provides stability, direction and hope in an increasingly unstable and hopeless world.
Art Kirsch