(I signed up
for Frank Turek’s on-line course through Cross Examined.org, so my next few
blogs will summarize the lessons as I go through the 2004 book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist,
by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler.[1])
The recent uproar about “fake news” shows
that our society cares about truth and understands that there cannot be
different versions of a truth. It also
shows that most people think truth actually exists and that it can be known. We
demand truth in politics and in almost every area of our lives, but then
suddenly aren’t interested in truth when it comes to morality or religion. It
is common in our society to believe that everything from adultery to stealing
paper clips at work is only wrong if you think it is wrong. Many people also
think that all religious beliefs are true; your belief about religion is just
as true as my belief about religion. I just heard a podcast in which Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit
Ministries, stated that only 37% of church going Christian teenagers in
this country believe in absolute moral & religious truths.[2]
Truth is true – even if no one knows it
Truth is true – even if no one admits it
Truth is true – even if no one agrees what it is
Truth is true – even if no one follows it
Truth is true – even if no one but God grasps it fully[3]
Truth has been traditionally defined as “telling
it like it is” or “that which corresponds to its object”, or finally, “that
which describes the actual state of affairs” – the correspondence theory of
truth. This seems to be the Biblical
definition, that truth is corresponds to reality, and is also how the majority
defined truth up until the 1800’s. Since
truth is what corresponds to reality, then truth is, by definition, narrow and
exclusive. Either God exists or He
doesn’t. Also, if something is true, it
is true for all people, everywhere, at all times. If God exists, then it is true that God exits
no matter who or where or when you are. Truth
is not the same as belief. Contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not possible.
In terms of religious beliefs, many religions
have teachings that are directly opposite, so they cannot possibly all be true.
Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe in different versions of a theistic
God, while most Hindus and New Agers believe in an impersonal, pantheistic
force they call god. Many Hindus believe
that evil is an illusion, while Christians, Muslims, and Jews believe that evil
is real. Christians believe that Jesus
died on the cross, while Muslims believe that Jesus didn’t die. All religious beliefs could be wrong, but it
is not possible for all of them to be true.
Truth is important for two reasons. First, there can be consequences if you believe
something that is false. Believing adultery is okay can have lifelong
consequences for your family. The consequences of believing in a false religion
can be eternal, so it is important to investigate what is true and find some
way to adjudicate between opposite views. Something is worth believing as true
if it is rational, supported by evidence, and best explains all the available
data. The second reason that truth is important involves liberty and freedom! In
the absence of truth, the one with the most power will rule. If there are no objective standards by which
you operate and no evidence to
advocate for what is good or right, then you can only exert power to legitimize
your views. What is moral, what is good, and what is right is then decided by
the most powerful.
Two of the classical skeptics that have
questioned whether we can know truth are David Hume and Immanuel Kant. Hume’s
principle of empirical verifiability states that there are only two kinds of
meaningful propositions: 1) those that
are true by definition and 2) those that are empirically verifiable. Since the principle of empirical
verifiability itself is neither true by definition nor empirically verifiable,
it cannot be meaningful. Kant’s philosophy that you can’t know anything about
the real world, assumes that you can know this about the real world. Both Hume and Kant contradict their own
premises. The statement, “Truth cannot be known” is self-defeating because the
statement claims to be a known, absolute truth. Any denial of truth presupposes
truth, so the existence of truth is inescapable.
How, then, do we know truth? Discovering truth starts with the laws of
logic. We make observations about the world and draw general conclusions from
them through induction. We then can line
up these inductive premises and argue to a deductive conclusion. Using induction does not always mean that our
premises are 100% certain; instead an inductive premise can be considered true
if it is highly probable. We can use
induction to investigate God the same way we use it to investigate other things
we cannot see – by observing their effects. I wrote about this in a previous
blog here: http://natureandscripture.blogspot.com/2014/01/science-theology-synergetic-relationship.html
“For people of faith whose book is the Bible,
truth can never be mere theory, let alone one that is sterile and
contentious. Truth is the direct
representation of reality – that which throbs with created life, and which is
given and guaranteed by the Creator who is himself the final reality. God is
truth just as God is love. He speaks truly
and he acts truly. Because love of truth is love of God, willful error is
unfaithfulness and apostasy is adultery.
He requires truth in all who approach him, not just in words and deeds
but in their innermost hearts. They -we-
must not just debate the truth, we must know the truth. If we would live free, we must not just know
the truth, we must live in truth and we must become people of truth. As Kierkegaard wrote in Training in Christianity: “The truth consists not of knowing the
truth but in being the truth.” The West and its lead society are at a
crossroads. In a world of lies, hype,
and spin, there is an urgent need for people of truth at all levels of
society. There is quite simply no other
way to live free. The choice is
ours. So also will be the consequences.”[4]
[1]
Frank Turek & Norman Geisler, I Don’t
Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist, Crossway Books, 2004
[2]
Frank Turek, Cross Examined.org
podcast, April 15, 2017
[3]
Paul Copan, “True For You But Not For Me”,
Bethany House Publishers, 1998
[4]
Os Guinness, Time For Truth, pages
123-125, Baker Books, 2000
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