DESIRING TRUTH

“The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.” (Psalm 119:160 ESV)

Postmodern culture is made up of many who believe that there is no truth to absolutely define reality. People believe that everything is relative to something else, and thus there can be no “one truth”. This leads many to think that moral absolutes do not exist and there is no real moral authority to declare what is good and bad. Their ethics become “situational”, therefore, right and wrong are relative to their circumstances. This inevitably leads to believing anything that feels good or seems right, at the time, is right in those circumstances.

Higher education has bowed its knee to the religion of personal pragmatic relativism. These institutions have encouraged our youth to adopt the attitude that, “Whatever seems to work for me is my truth.” Have they forgotten truth’s very definition: “The property of being in accord with fact or reality”? In other words, truth must correspond exactly to existence. The world has forgotten that truth does not change with the winds of public opinion. According to Winston Churchill:

“The truth is incontrovertible.  Malice may attack it.  Ignorance may deride it.  But in the end, there it is.”

Truth is the foundation of all knowledge whether material or spiritual.  Jesus said, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” ((John 18:37) Jesus Christ offers the world a choice between truth and lie.  You can embrace only one, not both.  Whatever your opinion may be, there is only one absolute truth. The denial of absolute truth is self-contradictory, destructive, and evil.  We see the consequences of such worldviews in men like Adolf Hitler who said, “There is no such thing as truth either in the moral or the scientific sense.” Contrary to Hitler’s opinion, and that of many others, the Christian view of right and wrong is neither capricious nor unfounded. It is not capricious because what God wills is in accord with His nature which is absolutely good. It is not unfounded because it is deep-rooted in One who never changes – God. God is the source of all moral duty because He is our Creator.

Why do people waste their lives on false philosophy and fleeting notions that only appeal to vanity? Christians know that absolute truth (moral and intellectual) is found in the God of the Bible. Absolute truth about living is discovered by man in various ways, but primarily through the Bible. Only the Bible can guide us to moral truth on difficult issues. There is nothing more beautiful than absolute moral truth and when we do not defend it, we suppress it. (Romans 1:18) Jesus even referred to himself as the truth, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6 ESV) We must learn truth at the feet of Christ who is Truth. Learn to live your life by way of Jesus Christ, for He says: “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32 ESV)

Lord, help us to more passionately take up this challenge!