In Defense Of Truth

"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne." --James Russell Lowell
By definition, truth corresponds with reality (Correspondence theory of truth), or more directly that which God decrees or is concordant with Him.

"I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth" (1 John 2:21, NIV).

There comes a time in our testimony that we must stand up for the truth and be counted as a test of our faithfulness. Jesus is the epitome of truth and all truth is God's truth, Jesus revealed Himself as its ultimate source. The trouble with truth is that no one person has a monopoly on it and we all need each other to arrive at truth per se (not abstract, but personified in Christ)--no one's cornered the market. What's wrong with cults is that they have just enough truth to be dangerous; they have an element of truth and inoculate people from the real thing, because of having error mixed with the truth to deceive. There's no such thing as pure evil--it's just a perversion or distortion of truth and good.

People go by what rings true for them personally for basically four reasons: it's true because it's believable or they believe it; it's true because their fellowship or group believes it; it's true because they want to believe it, and it's true because they have a vested interest in it. This is due to our bias and everyone has a bias; there's no such thing as perfect objectivity outside God. We all need to examine our motives and check facts because our faith is fact-based and our God is fact-based.

We must not dodge the "no-truth-premise" by insisting that truth is relative. This is a "self-refuting statement" and cannot possibly be true or it contradicts itself--is that statement relative too? To the Postmodern, truth is but a "short-term contract." But Christians are hungry for the truth and love the truth; it's the rejection and hatred of truth that marks the unbeliever (cf. Rom. 2:8; 2 Thess. 2:10). One sure sign of a believer is his devotion to truth. Remember, Jesus promised the truth will set us free from this confusion (cf. John 8:32). There is Truth with a capital T! Truth, according to the Bible, is absolute, universal, and objective, meaning it applies to all, all the time, everywhere, and is true regardless of whether believed or not!

It is said that we cannot know the truth, and this would be true had not Jesus revealed it, the trouble is not in knowing the truth, but that we have rebelled from it and are seeking rationalization to justify ourselves. Differing worldviews all posit certain "truths" and make truth claims that only their truths are true--they are all unified that Christianity is a lie. "No lie is of the truth," according to 1 John 2:21. However, there is a reliable truth that we all can put faith in.

The catchphrase that something "may be true for you but not me" is also fallacious. Some people refuse to accept truth in essence because they think it gives others power over them, and they claim no one's in a position to know what's true for them. People claim that our Christian claims are irrelevant, but God's truth marches on and is vindicated. Why do they all despise our truth? We all act like there's truth because there is truth! All Christians ought to devote themselves to the pursuit of truth with a passion. We all ought to be known as lie detectors and purveyors of truth!

As Christians, we are ambassadors for truth because we belong to the truth" (cf. 1 John 3:19) for Christ came to bear witness of the truth, and grace and truth came through Him, being full of grace and truth (cf. John 1:7), and all who hear Him are of the truth. And the church is known as the "pillar and ground of truth (cf. 1 Tim. 3:15). When they insist that it's merely our interpretation, we insist that truth is absolute and universal and can be communicated. Zechariah 8:19 exhorts us: "... Therefore love truth and peace.'" Soli Deo Gloria!