How Important Is Your Worldview To Solve Everyday Problems?

"The only worldview that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point."--Athanasius
"Christ is the centre of Christianity; all else is circumference."--John Stott
"If I want to know how to live in reality, I must know what God is really like."--Plato

Theology has been called the Queen of sciences, and Christianity is the Mother of modern science because its worldview has shaped Western Civilization; the point is that if there is a God who judges, creates, rules, legislates, and loves, then this is the most important study, but if there is no God, all religion and theology is a waste of time and irrelevant. Thus, the first major question of whether there is a God is posed by A. W. Tozer, who says, "What we think about God is the most important thing about us."

We are all on a great quest for certainty, dignity, purpose, fulfillment, and meaning in life, and this is where our worldview comes into play. But note: Only in Christianity is man's diagnosis sin, and solved (salvation) via God's grace through an act of faith in Christ--Christianity is unique in contrast to all religions in this perspective of man. We must be forewarned that today's society has become highly pluralistic and isn't a melting pot anymore, but multicultural, many believe no religion can be true, but all are equally valid, contradictions are fully acceptable, and therefore we must tolerate every faith, and live and let live.

There are a plethora of worldviews or "isms" out there in academia and religious establishments, and one eventually must fly the colors of one or the other, choosing one that suits his fancy, as it were--they cannot be avoided! But one should never choose a worldview that just makes him feel at ease and comfortable, that he has no objections to or cannot be controversial--the truth can be stranger than fiction and our imagination. Sometimes the truth hurts and causes a sword to be drawn, even dividing families because of their convictions.

Our ethics and morals are determined by our worldview too, and what we think we can get away with. If you don't believe in ultimate justice, you might tend to desire to take the law into your own hands, and won't limit your revenge to the eye-for-an-eye principle. To get more concrete, believing in hell is an uncomfortable proposition, but Christians affirm this, despite the rejection by other worldviews. We don't just believe to be safe and not to offend people, sometimes we must be willing to pay the price for what we believe, even willing to die for our convictions (not opinions, though). If you aren't willing to die for your faith, you probably don't have one worth believing or living.

The chief reason academics affirm the theory of evolution is fear of rejection by their peers and possibly losing the tenure of their professorship. Evolution offers answers without God in the metric!  They say evolution is a "time-honored, scientific tenet of faith," yes faith! Peer pressure is a prime motivator for some people. We all, including scientists, make decisions based on reason (it seems rational); emotions (it feels right); culture (everyone is doing it); and even tradition (we've always done it).

We don't necessarily discount these factors, but must put them in their place and perspective: Tradition must bow to conviction and be concordant with Scripture; culture must be Christ-centered and have values consistent with it; our reason must be valid and defensible in the public marketplace of ideas, and our emotions must not rule our thinking, but the result of our faith and will, not its slave. We must stand up for the truth and fly our Christian colors!

The major worldviews, mostly Secularism, Islam, Marxism, Postmodernism, New Age, and, of course, Christianity are all in contradistinction, except that they all (except Christianity) agree that Christianity is dangerous and evil and must be debunked and not even tolerated. Marxists say, "God does not, cannot, and must not exist"--Secularists will not let a Divine Foot in the door! Their goal is to kick Christ out of the open square, the classroom, and all of academia! The reason for all this is that Satan is the author of them all except the true one of Christianity, for he is the author of confusion and no truth is in him.

The most dangerous factor is that there is just enough truth to deceive and allure the weak and naive and to inoculate them from the real thing (knowing Jesus). The prevalent idea of truth is that it's only relative and there is no absolute and universal truth to aspire to.

Most secular worldviews dodge the no-truth bullet and take values, morals, ethics, creation, and all this entails as a given, without any plausible explanation! Only those of the truth hear the truth and Christ's voice of reason (cf. John 18:37) and those who "reject the truth" are the unredeemed (cf. Rom. 2:8). They tell you in school that you can know nothing for certain, and they are certain of that--this has no truth value!

We must experience Jesus personally to know He is good and will guide us into all truth through the Holy Spirit's ministry (cf. John 16:13; 1 Pet. 1:2). Many people rule out the Christian worldview without a fair appraisal and have presumed there is no God from the get-go, and have therefore concluded that evolution (the building-block of Secularism) is a valid theory, despite that fact that evidence is hard to come by and there is no fossil evidence of missing and transitional links to prove it. It is unproven and cannot be proved, since one-time historical events, such as creation, are outside the province of scientific empiricism. History and therefore creation are unrepeatable events.

We can thank the Founding Fathers for having a Christian worldview, even though most weren't professing believers, and we should be concerned that other worldviews are ascending the stage in our nation, even forcing out the God-oriented-and-focused one. For instance, be glad, that we have rights because we are in the image of God, as foreseen by our Forefathers, and human life has dignity. We have inherited these views, but they are under assault and must be defended.

The Christian worldview outshines all others and provides answers that others are at a loss to solve. But secularists are prejudiced and will believe anything as long as God is not in the picture and they can make up their moral code and compass and live by their own rule of faith, being free from the constraints and limits of the Christian faith, which might be too high a price to pay.

Christ promised that the truth will set us free (cf. John 8:32) and it turns out that He is the Answerer and we are illuminated by the Holy Spirit as we accept Christ by faith and God shows us the way to live (hence the faith was referred to originally as The Way). If someone doesn't know Christ or is naive, he is susceptible to erroneous worldviews and becomes drawn into their net, because he doesn't have the answers, is ill-prepared to defend his faith, and may not even know what he believes!

It is not necessary to examine every worldview, or find a guru, to choose the correct one! Christ can open a person's eyes and show the way, the truth, and the life to set him free. All religions are basically the same and man essentially believes he is good and can work his way to heaven or God, and can please or ingratiate God on his own; if one assesses the depravity of man in the Bible, it teaches contrariwise and shows us depraved, inherently and evil--only able to sin, or unable not to sin, needing redemption and salvation (for sin is the problem, not being unenlightened).

Only Christianity speaks of a Savior and a God who rescues us from ourselves, sin, Satan, death, and hell. In contradistinction to all religions, Christianity says, "Tetelestai," "Done," or fait accompli ("it is finished," or "Paid in Full" or it's a Done Deal); religion all says, "Do." The whole point of religion is lifting ourselves by our bootstraps and it's all a "do-it-yourself" proposition, while Christianity is what God does for us.

Thus there is a common thread throughout all "isms" except Christianity, and for this reason, we can eliminate all the competition as being fallacious and a lie from Satan. There's a caveat: There's a war of "isms" out in the real world or the secular world that doesn't know Christ, and ideas have consequences--it does matter what we believe!

Each worldview tends to answer the ultimate questions and dilemmas of mankind: Why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? Is there such a thing as right and wrong and are we responsible and culpable? Is there a God? Each worldview attempts to "save" mankind in some manner of religious activity, (you don't have to be a member of a religion to be religious or exhibit religiosity). The most perplexing problems are whether life is worth living and whether there is meaning to life, besides basic hormones and instincts.

Religions are wholly inadequate in their solutions and come up short in explaining reality--they escape from it and avoid it. People want to believe they can be good without God, thus justifying themselves (the basis of Secular-Humanism) and that God is irrelevant, if He does exist, and cannot help us--we must save ourselves!

However, man will not admit he needs God and is a sinner by nature, by choice, and by birth without intervening wooing and conviction of the Holy Spirit--this is what's wrong with man! The all-encompassing question that must be answered is this: How then shall we live? Man is a religious being and "will worship something" (Dostoevsky), if not God, for man is hard-wired for worship, thus denying God is the epitome of wrong living and all of society suffers the result.

We don't have to be able to prove everything we believe to believe in Christ or accept Him by faith, and being a believer doesn't mean one has all the answers, because faith is a continuum of doubt from skepticism to certitude, but experience in Christ is designed to satisfy the soul's hunger for the truth and gives true peace with God, others, and ourselves. We just go ahead and believe and become Christians despite our doubts and questions can believe anyway, and are rewarded by the experience of Christ in our hearts, which cannot be denied, but can only be known first-hand, not second-hand (but we must take the leap of faith).

The error we must avoid is to cast only Christians as people of faith because Secular-Humanism is a faith and a declared religion too--they place their faith, even betting the farm on it, that science has the answer and will solve our problems eventually. Faith in science is still faith! It's not a matter of faith versus reason, but which set of presuppositions you accept as your starting point, i.e., is there a God? There are consequences of living in the here and now and not in light of eternity, to live for pleasure and self--and only Christianity rescues man from this plight.

We must realize our Christian faith is relevant to all of life, and every major academic discipline is rooted in the Bible there is no such thing as a secular versus a sacred area of academics, but Christ is the basis for all truth, for all truth is God's truth (Augustine) and meets at the top (Aquinas). God wants us to get our thinking in line with Scripture and to cast down every imagination of man that opposes the truth (cf. 2 Cor. 10:4-5). Romans 12:2 exhorts us to "renew our minds" in the image of Christ (think clearly with a divine viewpoint); get your thinking straightened out!

The building block of Secularism is evolution, and we deny that it changes the narrative. The Bible sheds light on the truth that we are created in God's image by a loving Creator who has provided redemption through Christ. In the final analysis, we must wonder whether our faith is not only valid, and supplies the appropriate answers, but whether it's worthy of our faith, not just that it works, for even yoga works--just being rational is no reason per se either--Christianity has a rationale, is defensible, a rational, but it's not rationalism. Soli Deo Gloria!

"To Thine Own Self Be True!" (Shakespeare)

Did you know that God is true to Himself?  His holiness assures no conflict of interest or will and that He abides by His own nature and is true to character or always acts in character.  The Hebrew words for true, faith, and faithfulness are all related and sometimes used interchangeably. For example, in Hab. 2:4, it says, "The just shall live by his faithfulness [or faith]."   In  Psalm 31:5 is says God is a God of truth [faithfulness].  We must not divorce faith and faithfulness in our conduct and lives for God surely doesn't and we must not divide what He has joined together.  Are you true to your word? and faithful to promises?  We must feed on His faithfulness! (cf. Psalm 37:3). 

Great is God's faithfulness toward us and this even applies when we are faithless. Even when we are wayward, He cannot deny Himself and go against His nature.  God's Word is faithful and is as sure as God Himself, He exalts above all things His name and His Word (cf. Psalm 138:2).  If God went back on His Word, He'd cease being God! Not one word of all His promise He have to Moses has failed (cf. 1 Kings 8:56). He is faithful to us and even believes in us! 

God can be seen as the great Promise Keeper who abounds in faithfulness. He exercises this by believing in us that we are justified though we sin (cf. Gal. 2:17). God's faithfulness can be seen in His discipline and correction when we go astray and even in our afflictions to show us the Way and even test our faith. He doesn't intend to punish us as our sins deserve but to sanctify us and make us more Christlike. He wants us to show faithfulness to Him and even in our calling: he that is faithful in little, shall be faithful in much!  As Mother Teresa said, "God doesn't call us to success but to faithfulness!" We will be rewarded by our works done in the Lord, not those done in the flesh or for wrong motives. 

You are true (faithful) to yourself when you fulfill your mission God gave you and judge yourself so God need not do it.  Also, when we confess our sins and keep short accounts (cf. 1 John 1:9) of them so we can walk in the light or in fellowship with the Spirit of Christ and also with other believers. God will not let sin slide and we should not grow lax on our attitude towards sin and show no tolerance.  We must not just dislike sins but denounce them and vow to live life with Jesus at the helm as Captain of our soul and Master of our fate.  We must keep our promises just like God is the Promise Keeper and value our integrity and not lie to one another, for it is impossible for God to do these things (cf. Heb. 6:18). 

Paul said that his aim is to "finish the race and complete the task God gave him" (cf. Acts 20:24). We don't want to leave behind half-built, derelict towers as unfinished business for our legacy when we die but to be assured we have done all God's will for us and complete the mission to say: "Mission accomplished!"   "See to it that you complete the ministry God gave you in the Lord," (cf. Col. 4:17).  Just like when King David had done all God's purpose, he died. (cf. Acts 13:36). We must realize as David did, that God's faithfulness surrounds Him and we can count on it as Jeremiah realized when he said, "Great is thy faithfulness," even while in captivity.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

In Defense Of Truth...

 "Truth forever on the scaffold; wrong forever on the throne."  (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis). 

PART I

Notice what kind of Savior we have.  Jesus didn't just say that He would tell the truth, or that He had discovered it, or that He knew it, but that He was the truth itself.  This is important because He also said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."  He's speaking of Himself and the fact that truth is not unknowable but can be found in Him, all we need to know of it.  Jesus never footnoted His sayings or appealed to some authority figure as one would say, "So and so Rabbi says....." But He said, audaciously: "But I say unto you...." No man ever spoke like this man! (cf. Mark 1:22: Matt. 7:29).  He didn't speak like the scribes and Pharisees! 

We believe in the God of truth and Jesus as the epitome, personification, or embodiment of truth itself.  Everything we need to know of truth can be found in Jesus; "For the truth is in Jesus." A sign of a true believer is a love for the truth itself: "... They perish because they did not accept a love of the truth and so be saved," (cf. 2 Thess 2;10).  Sometimes the truth hurts and can be difficult to accept or admit to others.  But we must not only believe it and admit it but be willing to stand up for it at any cost: " They were not valiant for the truth! (cf. Jer. 9:3).  We must be willing to show and declare our Chrisitan colors and not only that but be able to defend the truth and know why we believe it.

It can be defended in the open marketplace of ideas and on the public square if we do not concede this territory to Secularism..... "Lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land ... they do not take Me into account...." (cf. Jer. 9:3, HCSB). We must be willing to acknowledge our God publically and not be ashamed of our Lord even when it costs and when it's risky. This may involve speaking up for the truth and expressing our point of view openly. 

When we realize how much damage lies from the father of lies can do and how destructive they are we will wage war for the truth and be engaged in truth-finding missions and do our homework to make sure of our convictions When we have a foundation of true and orthodox doctrine, we can readily discern truth from error and fiction or theory.  Certain half-truths will not ring true!  We will also grow less tolerant of error, heresy, and discord, especially among brethren.   We must heed the advice of Polonius in Hamlet: "To thy own self be true!"  If we are dishonest with ourselves, we may not even be living in reality and lose touch with society and be in our own world. 

Jesus called His Father the "only true God."  This should be indicative of our relationship with God as one who knows us and the truth about us; we can not hide our clay of feet or flaws from God who sees us for who we really are and even knows us better than we do ourselves.  Lies about others, our world, and God can wreak havoc on the social and spiritual order of things and we have no right to destroy God's foundations. "When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? (cf. Psalm 11:3).

Instead, we are to rejoice in the truth and let honesty be our policy ("Speak nothing but the truth," --2 Chron. 18:15) to discern the spirit of truth and not succumb to the spirit of error.  A true sign of an unbeliever is that he rejects the truth or that he suppresses it (cf. Romans 2;8)  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie (cf. Romans 1:25).  It may be a challenge to speak up and make our voice and opinion count at times.  

But we must have the attitude:   Let the chips fall where they may, I'm on the side of the God of truth.  And similarly, when the chips are down, we are not to give up on the truth and its power to accomplish God's will. If we are not honest with God, who can we expect Him to be on our side and defend us?  We must not become lax in our treatment of truth and in our commitment to it and lacking in nor wavering from its free expression.  

PART II
By definition, truth is that which corresponds with reality (The correspondence theory of truth articulated by John Locke), 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).
"All truth is God's truth." (Augustine) and "All truth meets at the top."(cf. Aquinas).



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 so as 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 truth is only relative either. 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 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 of Postmodernism that something "may be true for you but not me" is also fallacious; is that statement true for everyone? 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!

For The Love Of Truth

"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne."  (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis).  
"Into Your hand I entrust my spirit; You redeem me, LORD, God of truth" (Psalm 31:5, HCSB).

NB:  TRUTH IS WHAT GOD DECREES OR WHAT HE SAYS TO BE TRUTH AS THE FINAL ARBITER AND DELIMTER OF ITS DEFINITION.   

We all know that philosophy is the love of wisdom or knowledge and in antiquity, there was no distinction between science and philosophy, but someone must love the truth to be saved (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10).  But today people twist the truth to fit their narrative theories!  The problem with the infidel is that he won't accept the truth and refuses to submit to it; it's offensive to his lifestyle.  The divine order:  understand it, accept it, put faith in it, obey and submit to it, and then love it!  Paul warns against those who refuse to love the truth and so be saved!  Loving the truth is indeed a sign of salvation or a byproduct of it.  The fact is that God must open our eyes to the truth and the truth will set us free, for all truth meets at the top and is God's truth! God makes sense of everything as our eyes are opened and we see the light!

People avoid the truth with their own relativism; this is indicative of the so-called Truth War or battle of the isms and worldviews.  They deny absolute truth as a consequence, and, therefore, God as the logical outcome.  Unless you assume God in the metric, you have no foundation for truth.   If there is no God, there simply is no truth and vice versa (cf. Prov. 1:7)--this is logical.  No truth implies no ethics either, and no ethics implies no good life to strive for nor ideals to live by (virtues).  We don't say that your truth has no effect on us or that it's of no consequence!  One must own up to the truth revealed, for we are held accountable to what God has given and the amount of light shed.  Willful ignorance is no excuse with God; therefore, ignorance is not bliss!  Modern academics are quick to point out that all truth is relative, which is nonsensical and of no truth value (is that statement also relative?). Because if truth exists, then its corollary, absolute, universal truth must also exist and they refuse to even go there.

The trouble with the infidel is that he has hardened his heart against truth and sets himself up as the arbiter of truth and authority of right and wrong.  But God is the only arbiter of truth and delimits or defines it, not man.  God decrees the truth and no lie is of the truth.  Truth has to do with reality according to the Correspondence Theory of Truth, and not admitting it is a form of escape from reality.  Truth corresponds with reality as portrayed and agrees with God who determines it. In sum, only Christians are properly oriented to reality and know the truth as personified in the person of  Christ personally.

We see the big picture and don't take God out of the equation which can lead to blindness and ignorance.  Where we start determines where we end up and that's why the Bible doesn't start out like a fairy tale, "Once upon a time," but says "In the beginning God."  This is the only logical way to begin reality.  There are only two alternatives:  "In the beginning nothing" (an absurdity since "out of nothing, nothing comes!"; and "In the beginning matter/energy." We know that matter isn't eternal and energy isn't useful in its natural state--the factor of intelligence or organization must be added!  (The theory of an eternal universe has been totally discredited.)  Either matter or God is eternal!  One must have preceded the other. Are you willing to believe that matter arose to contemplate itself and create intelligent life?

The Bible is clear to state propositionally that the Logos was in the beginning, the self-expression of God, or the Word of God.  Logic is necessary to begin any knowledge!  No Logos means no cosmos and only chaos, which would make learning and science impossible!  This is all-important because the very foundation of all truth and knowledge begins with God in the calculus and without Him, all we have is nonsense and confusion. If you don't begin with God in the picture you have no basis of knowing anything!  You must always begin somewhere to learn anything and everyone begins with something they cannot prove, an assumption.  "In the beginning God" is necessary for all learning, logic, knowledge, and values, it's not just the way the Bible begins.      Soli Deo Gloria! 

To See The Truth

This view is not sleazy nor misery,
But you may see no austerity.
And needlessly is missing to me,
The parity that so many see
Elude, because thinkingly, they see
Them unevenly as contumely, or thinkingly
They see amorously--they can't willingly
Give up their debauchery!
Now as I felicitously live lovingly,
As some may never benevolently be;

Only if they could see the blissful tree:

The superseding people have "conqueredly"
Gotten out of the sinewy grasp of the enemy.
To live, you see, is Christ to me;
He isn't pedantic nor astringent, as some see,
Nor "importunely" vigilant as some exaggeratedly
Irk me.  The way we live is not adversity,
Nor calamity but delectably working for unity
Among our Christianity.  I, believingly,
Say it could be foolishly depriving, and dumbly
Stupid not to give the Lord at least a taciturnity.        Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is Truth?

"Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:25, NIV, emphasis mine).

"[A]nd you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32, ESV, emphasis mine).

"... 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, ESV, emphasis mine).

"Pilate said to him, 'What is truth?'" (John 18:38, ESV).

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge..." (Proverbs 1:7, ESV).

"Without the way, there is no going; without the truth there is no knowing; without the life, there is no living." (Thomas a Kempis (Thomas von Kempen in German) medieval author of the classic Imitation of Christ, emphasis mine)

This is the famous question of the notorious, weak-willed, wishy-washy Pontius Pilate addressed to Jesus during one of his so-called trials. Of course, he wasn't interested in waiting around for an answer, but only in being cynical. To him Rome was truth, there was no universal truth that applied everywhere except Rome's truth, because "might made right." To him, there were just too many religions for one to have the gall or audacity to claim exclusivity. He is the example that the Bible defines non-Christians as those "who reject the truth" (cf. Romans 2:8).

But truth is knowable because Jesus claimed to be truth incarnate ("I am the truth"). It isn't all propositional, but something we can have a relationship with and get to know personally. There are statements that are true or false, and there are relationships between them that are either valid or invalid, according to Aristotelian logic. When you make conclusions, you've assumed something beforehand! Conclusions are only as valid as their premise or presuppositions. Logic just defines the relationships between statements or propositions assumed as true. 

The point is that no matter what conclusion you reach or what you claim to know, you have started somewhere with some proposition that you cannot prove. "Faith precedes reason" is the formula. This means all knowledge begins with faith and assuming something you cannot prove, according to Augustine and all truth is God's truth. And Aquinas added that all truth meets at the top. What this also means is that God is the God of truth and "no lie is of the truth"--Satan is the author of deceit and father of lies, and there is no truth in him.

The problem with evil is that it isn't the opposite of good, but infection and distortion of it. There is an element of truth (this is what makes it so enticing and alluring) and this element is in every false religion and cult--that's why they are so dangerous and appealing to people in need or with a vacuum to fill in their desperate lives. New Age people would say that if it feels good it is truth for you. And Postmodernists (and the only truths that are really relative are those relating to Christianity) and Postmodernism would say that it might be true for you, though not for someone else and that all truth is relative (relative to what?). For them the "truth is a "short-term contract." "

You can know nothing for certain," they say. And they are certain! Pragmatists, on the other hand, may posit: "It may work for you, but not for me (confusing something that works as something that's true)." They sincerely believe you cannot know whether something is true, but only whether it works and this is the true test of an idea. New Age thinkers go beyond that in urging you to listen to the "God within." We do have a right to our own opinions, but not our own truths. We must not fabricate our own truth! Being opinionated is no compliment if not based on truth.

When we stray from "absolute truth" and God as its source, all things are permissible according to Dostoevsky. Would anyone argue that rape or incest isn't wrong under all circumstances, at all times, and for all people [unless you are forced to do it]? They're never right! That's because it is an example of absolute truth that exists and we don't argue about it, but accept it as a universal standard, just as much as a mathematical table. We all have a sense of right and wrong, or sense of "ought" and things like fair play, good faith, truthfulness, sportsmanship, integrity, altruism, courage, honor, duty, and unselfishness. This is a sense and a sense implies a person or personality, not a thing; which implies a "Higher Mind and/or Sense" or God behind the cosmos that keeps things going so orderly.

We all appeal to an ultimate standard of behavior all the time, even when someone buds in line, steals a parking spot, or cheats at golf. Life would be chaos without some standard of decency to expose lewdness and without principles to live by. We don't just make up our own rules as we go along and we don't live and do according to what is right in our own eyes. Even in prison, convicts have a "code" and a conscience that if you steal their cigarettes you will pay dearly. Man is a "moral" creature in that he has an inner sense of right and wrong, even if he ignores it at his peril.

"Absolute truth" is true everywhere and all the time and applies to everyone. Objective truth is true regardless of whether we believe it or not. There is absolute, universal truth, but there is no absolute, universal belief. There is no belief that is regarded as true by everyone, and just because we don't believe something doesn't make it untrue. What people erroneously do is think that belief and truth are identical. And they are right in saying there is nothing that everyone universally believes in the way of religion, for instance, but principles of right and wrong apply to everyone. There is an invisible moral code we all appeal to and it is just as real as the laws of logic or a musical scale or math table.

In a court of law, your opinions don't matter as evidence, except as expert testimony if you are one; however, people will believe what they choose to believe and will always have prejudicial and irrational opinions. By and large, it only matters what is truth, not what is an opinion. It's just like in the TV show Dragnet, when Sgt. Friday said, "Just gimme the facts, ma'am!"

Truth is defined by God (it's "true truth," according to Francis Schaeffer), and this truth is what God says it is because He is the God of truth--i.e., "the only true God" (cf. John 17:2). Things we believe may be true, but God's Word is truth and the difference is that truth doesn't just inform or reform, but transforms and sanctifies (cf. John 17:17). It is so true despite the fact that "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie" (cf. Romans 1:25, ESV). As Paul Little has said, "Believing something doesn't make it true; refusing to believe it doesn't make it false." Don't equate belief with truth! The Bible is objectively true; true regardless of who says what or who told us! It is self-attesting, appealing to no one or nothing for verification of its truth but itself as the highest authority. Only Scripture can objectively be called "truth," since total objectivity doesn't exist--except with God!

In the final analysis, truth is what God decrees as truth--you cannot dispute God! (it has been wisely said). And truth is what conforms to God's divine nature and is immutable, not subject to our criticism or scrutiny--it is often too profound for us to fathom ("Canst thou by searching find out God?" Job is asked). You cannot label it, put it in a box, confine it, nor define it because it is infinite and the "finite cannot grasp the infinite" according to the Greek maxim of antiquity. Soli Deo Gloria!

Transcendent Truth...

"If we are not governed by God, we will be ruled by tyrants." (William Penn)

NB: TRANSCENDENT TRUTH IS ABSOLUTE AND OBJECTIVE, NOT DEPENDING UPON OPINION OR POPULARITY, TRUE WHETHER BELIEVED OR NOT.


Morality is based upon transcendent truth and is not subject to debate.--it's not based on private opinion or feelings, but on God's inner law that we all have in our conscience. God's truth is objective truth and is true regardless of whether believed or not! All the foundations of society come apart by destroying the basis of truth based upon the facts, whether they like them or not, and whether they support their worldview and opinions or not. In denying truth, like Oliver Wendel Holmes did, "law is the majority vote that can lick all others--[how bleak an outlook!]."

Christians believe in a supreme entity of truth that is personified or incarnated in Christ as its exemplar. All we need to know is in Him and revealed by knowing Him. Every academic discipline is fulfilled in Him. Some things are true, but not truth; all truth meets at the top and is God's truth, which has the almighty power to transform, not just inform. In our day politics is leaning toward pragmatism, in which belief system truth is irrelevant and is not the test of an idea--whether it works is the litmus test (known as pragmatism)! Does it work for you? New Age believers think truth is whatever they "feel" is right for them. Postmodernism denies any Truth with a capital T and sees it all as relevant--that may be true for you, but not for me!

Is is any wonder that the governmental spin disregards truth and that it's absolute? Now we have to deal the post-factual world and the alternative fact, which is something related to an opinion, not substantiated--unfounded allegations and truth claims. When you destroy the validity of truth, as Pilate cynically asked Jesus: "What is truth?" you destroy the very foundation of all knowledge. We have nothing to have agreement on and cannot even compromise because we cannot agree as to what the facts are and how to arrive at truth.

Science is only one way to ascertain truth, divine revelation is another; for the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. It is fallacious to believe that only religious people have taken a leap of faith; all worldviews start with some assertion they cannot prove--even nihilists have faith and scientists believe irrationally in science and have made a religion out of it. Faith in science is still faith--it's not a matter of faith versus reason, then, but faith in which set of presuppositions you wish to make your starting point and an axis of learning or foundation.

It is a sad commentary on our culture that truth is being filtered and downgraded to such ideas as "fake news." If the facts don't fit their opinions they automatically reject them as fake news. We don't accept or reject evidence according to whim or our worldview but make our opinions up according to the facts. Some facts may seem like a hard pill to swallow, but we must align our faith and worldview according to reality, and not a parallel universe in a fact-free bubble or reality.

Journalists must keep each other honest and seek the truth behind the story--just the facts without putting a spin on it like an administration does for damage control. The truth will eventually be known so why not be on the side of the truth? You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but not all the people all the time, they say!

There are two kinds of law: natural law or God's law (according to His nature) and legal positivism (that which the powers that be make up as they go along and force on the masses). Just because some power elites decide to make a law and enforce it doesn't make it right in God's eyes. Some laws are unjust and Christians ought to oppose them with civil disobedience because they violate transcendent law from God, which we all know in our conscience.

The ancient Greeks sought for truth, beauty, and goodness. You can make any truth claim you desire; however, it must be substantiated to be true. Many conclusions are possible from truth claims and conclusions are not true or false, but valid or invalid, depending upon the line of reasoning and the premise or foundation facts. Truth is not elusive, but God-given and we can personally know it by virtue of an encounter with the living God, via believing in Jesus and enjoying that relationship.
Since Jesus claimed to be "the Way," He is the gateway and starting point in our pilgrimage seeking truth--it all begins by knowing Him!
Soli Deo Gloria!

A Primer On Epistemology

"The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17, NIV).
"Eliminate the impossible, and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is true." (unknown).
"Tell me your certainties, I have enough doubts of my own." (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe).
"We have found all the questions, now let's find the answers." (G. K. Chesterton).
"... and a people without understanding shall come to ruin" (Hos. 4:14, ESV).
"Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge..." (Isaiah 5:13, ESV).
NOTE THIS PHILOSOPHICAL AXIOM: ALL KNOWLEDGE BEGINS IN FAITH (FAITH PRECEDES REASON!). REMEMBER: A CHRISTIAN WITH FAITH HAS NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THE FACTS AND SCRUTINY.

They were "always learning and never coming to a knowledge of the truth" (cf. 2 Tim. 3:7)! That's probably why Socrates said that you must "admit your ignorance" to begin to learn. Sophomores in college think they know so much, but they have only begun to learn. Education is going from an unconscious to a conscious awareness of one's ignorance. Augustine said that he believes in order to understand; indeed faith comes before reason! We all have faith, whether in God, mankind, nature, science, logic, or religion, because everyone starts out with some presupposition they cannot prove. Faith in science is not inherently superior knowledge--it's still faith.

People erroneously have blind faith that science has disproved creationism or Christianity, and this is dangerous to all of us. We erroneously assume that believing something makes it true and not believing something makes it false; there is no universal belief, but there is universal truth. We must always be ready to back up our allegations and assertions with facts.

By the way, science is becoming "scientism," thinking it is the only true source of truth, and consequently, it's becoming a religion according to Carl Sagan, a professor at Cornell Univ. in astronomy. Science is not meant to answer philosophical, historical, legal, ethical, or religious issues, but restrict itself to the logical, observable, measurable, and repeatable. The scientific method, as invented by Sir Francis Bacon, is only one way to find truth. You can't have your minds made up so that you don't want to be confused with the facts! If you are a know-it-all that is unwilling to admit you could be wrong, you will never know the truth of the matter at hand.

There are facts that have evidence and can be proved by various means, then there are allegations and accusations that are unsubstantiated. When someone disseminates unsubstantiated so-called facts, it is slander, not news! Journalists know what sources are and their credibility factors. Unreliable sources are ignored and so are those that have lost credibility. Anonymous "leaks" are not good sources to publish as gospel truth and are fake news services that are the tabloids of the internet and unworthy, unreliable sources.

We don't have faith in faith for its own sake, but the object of our faith makes all the difference. We must be willing to admit we could be wrong to find the truth and also be willing to go wherever the evidence may lead, no matter how unpalatable. Sometimes truth is something we couldn't have guessed and is stranger than fiction--who wouldn't have thought the Godhead or Deity was triune. In examining the evidence we fit the theory to match the facts, we don't fit the facts to fit our theory! In short, there is Truth with a capital T and all truth meets at the top because it's God's truth according to Augustine and Aquinas. Remember that Jesus announced: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life..." (cf. John 14:).

Jesus, being the incarnation of truth itself proves we can know it and that it doesn't change--truth is timeless and always relevant. Truth is nonnegotiable and isn't a short-term contract and we have a right to our own opinions, but not our own truth or fact (there are no "alternative facts" as Kellyanne Conway and Trump say). We all have the right to our own opinion but not to fabricate our own facts. The thing about truth is that Jesus promised us we'd find it if we searched for it with the right attitude. "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free" (cf. John 8:32). Jesus also said that if we are willing to do His will we shall know whether it is of God (cf. John 7:17).

Unbelievers are those who "reject the truth" (cf. Rom. 2:8) and repentance will be granted to some that they may "come to a knowledge of the truth." A sign of a true believer is that he is thirsty for and loves the truth: "... because they refused to love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thess. 1:10, ESV) they were judged and condemned.

Pseudo faith: Some people would say something is true because it works for them or feels right, these are fallacious presuppositions; John Dewey actually thought you couldn't evaluate the truth of an idea, only its usefulness (if it works!); the biggest misunderstanding is that all truth is relative and this would have to be a relative statement, making it meaningless! Ever since Pilate asked Jesus what truth is man has wondered if there is some absolute, universal truth for everyone everywhere--in antiquity "might made right!" There is truth in Christ who came to "bear witness of the truth" (cf. John 18:37). We must avoid the fallacious assertion that something may be true for one person, but not another and that everyone has their own truths that are only relative--we don't the right to fabricate our own truths! The Bible is truth and has the power to change or transform (cf. John 17:17) lives by virtue of that power.

In sum, Jesus said (cf. John 18:37) that everyone who is of the truth hears His voice--His sheep hear and recognize His voice and follow Him (John 10:27). In the final analysis, we need to be workers approved by God, who are "rightly handling the Word of truth" per 2 Tim. 2:15. Caveat: Beware of academia teaching the so-called theory of evolution as unquestioned scientific fact, when it's only a time-honored scientific tenet of faith!

"The Christian position is not that the truth is unknowable or that we are confused; it is that truth is knowable and we have rebelled," according to David Noebel. In application consider George Lucas' faith: "The conclusion that I've come to is that all religions are true." This is nonsensical and has no truth value, period; I rest my case! Soli Deo Gloria!

What Good Is History?...

"Of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred..." (1 Chron. 12:32, NASB).
"What experience and history teach is this--that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it." (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Philosophy of History).

We must realize that history is God's redemption story told in real time and God involves itself in history that is called interventionism and he is in control of history as he orchestrates it to the very detail determining the boundaries of the nations in the rise and fall kings. History goes in a direction that is not circular but linear it is headed towards a culmination and a climax when Christ comes and it can be interpreted we must learn from history.  The Bible says history can repeat itself. 

It does in a sense rhyme it comes back in different ways to learn and teach us new lessons and we don't learn them. Like what happens in Germany could happen here we must realize that we are not above being judged by God.  We must hope that history has a turning point and we can change directions we can still redeem ourselves and reclaim ourselves for God's sake in the world and be a light to the world as we once were as America. We can find meaning and history and learn our lessons even to apply to a person alive not just a story and it's not meant to entertain or be entertaining but to teach us wisdom and make us realize that God is in control of history it is his story.

Henry Ford said, "I don't know much about history, and I wouldn't give a nickel for all the history in the world." Businessmen have little use for academic subjects since their line of work is largely practical and commonsensical. It matters little whether Ford knew about the Civil War, except that he mistakenly named one of his cars the Lincoln! (I'll say tongue in cheek!) It has been said (by Georg W. F. Hegel, et al.) that the one thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from it! Christianity is a religion of historical significance and is based on history and is dependent upon it as God's redemptive narrative that is headed in a direction at the culmination of Christ's Second Coming and Judgment Day to end all history.

Some erroneous views of history include uniformitarianism (God doesn't intervene miraculously, such as in the Deluge) and cyclical conceptions or views, whereby it's repeated in cycles---we hold it's going in a direction towards a consummation or is linear in conception. History is not the judge, as Communists believe, but a lesson to be studied and learned. We're not doomed to repeat our mistakes! We dare not discard our common heritage and legacy! Why? Our men in uniform have given the ultimate sacrifice to secure a place in the world's stage of nations. Marx thought the point of history was to change it, not just study it! 

However, the world is not as simple as a business transaction or the bottom line--diplomacy is a skill to be sought out and valued. We have a heritage of relationships in our nation with other nations that have taken decades, and many administrations to mold. To throw away and start from scratch every administration would be ill-advised, as well as disastrous. To be specific, we have made treaties and trade pacts that need to be honored, to keep the good faith and integrity of our nation intact. The president really has no right to start from scratch and issue all new treaties unilaterally, just because he disagrees with them. The honorable thing for one president to do is to honor the commitments made by his predecessors. We are finding out too late that George Washington may have been right to warn us of foreign entanglements and treaties, and even of political parties, that tend to divide.

The point of continuity in our foreign policy is to keep credibility and our friends from becoming our competitors and potential enemies or even adversaries by virtue of their alliances. What they say is that a friend of our enemy is our enemy! Don't even flirt with danger! Don't create the vacuum to make this possible! This is no time to be sucking up to our adversaries and trying to mold breakthrough relationships and alliances that are revolutionary and even upset the world order. It is vital that we recognize the world order and the balance of power in the world and not upset the apple cart. America doesn't have to remain the world's police, but we are without a doubt the leader of the free world and this comes with the territory. When America speaks the world listens!

What we have is a failure to learn from history: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," according to George Santayana. The U.S. is not a business venture run by corporate CEOs and is not immune to the lessons of history. Instead of making friends of our enemies, we seem to be making enemies of our allies in one sense of the word. 

Be that as it may, I am mainly concerned that we don't dissolve treaties, and end up going to war because of a lack of foresight or wisdom through good counsel. Do we have to end up in war before we learn our lesson that diplomats and statesmen know something and that it's not all about the bottom line or the pulse of the people, as a populist president seems to think? Soli Deo Gloria!

The Closing Of The American MInd...

"The wicked are too proud to seek God. They seem to think that God is dead" (Ps. 10:4, NLT).


Allan Bloom wrote a book by the same title, decrying the fact that profs nowadays teach that truth is relative--this is a completely useless proposition and has no truth value: relative to what or to whom? Is that premise only relative? Postmodernism arose out of the aftermath of modernism when scholars thought science had all the answers, now they are part of the problem (WMD), among other things--scientists have problems too!


Postmodernism is then a skeptical mood that has an anti-worldview worldview! They see no metanarrative (having a disdain for them), as they refer to it as--they have a hermeneutic of suspicion. They are doubtful as to whether any universal/absolute truth exists, and, if it does, whether we can know it: nothing exists; if it does, we can not know it; if we can know it, we cannot communicate it; if we can communicate it, we cannot understand it (according to David Noebel's estimation). I've heard that one prof told freshmen that they can know nothing for certain; one student asked if he was sure; he was certain! Student beware of this new governing epistemology that is highly irrational and anti-intellectual, as I shall expound.


The reason they deny worldviews is because they deny we can see anything from God's point of view or viewpoint, and they are suspicious of God too. They deny objectivity or a God's-eye view. If there is no God, it follows that truth is also up for grabs! But they dodge the no-truth bullet and see truth as a short-term contract. There is, therefore, no reliable truth and no one can judge your truth or what you believe--your claims have no power over another. It is possible that we refer to truth because it exists? You may have heard the common claim that someone says: that may be true for you, but not for me; they are confusing something: it may work for you and what works isn't necessarily true, though what's true does work!


To Postmodernists there is no Truth with a capital T, while Jesus claimed to be the personification or embodiment of absolute truth: "I am the Truth!" But these skeptics don't want to let a Divine Foot in the door, because then they would have to admit to absolute truth; they go hand in hand! Truth not only exists but God has made a revelation of it and we can know it; we have only rebelled from it! Shirley Maclaine said "you aren't in a position to know what's true for another." But Postmodernism patron saint is Friedrich Nietzsche, who said that God is dead! But God refuses to die and is alive today while Nietzsche is dead. What he meant in saying God is dead is that they have killed Him and that He was no longer necessary to explain reality or even no longer relative!


We see Postmodernism in SCOTUS as they see the U.S. Constitution as a living document open to be interpreted by today's understanding and not what the framers intended. Therefore it may have multiple meanings and changes in meaning to suit the times (polysemy). Just like a Shakespearean play may imply something different that he never intended when performed today. Confucius said, "When words lose their meaning, people lose their freedom." Truth is not open to many interpretations and is absolute and universal, not variable and personal.



All knowledge begins in faith, it's been postulated, and Augustine said that he believes in order to understand: faith precedes reason and all knowledge is based on some premise he cannot prove and must accept by faith. All absolute truth begins with God as premise and starting point of reference just like Proverbs 1:7, says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...." If we deny God, we have no basis of knowing anything metaphysical for certain. There are only four ways to know something: faith, revelation, reason, experience or observation!


We all have to start believing something we cannot prove, even in mathematics and science! We never could've known for sure of God's existence had He not taken the initiative and revealed Himself to us in the person of Jesus Christ, who entered history and changed it in the process. Socrates said that to gain knowledge, we must admit our ignorance! You will never find the truth unless you're willing to admit you could be wrong and are willing to go where the evidence leads, having an open mind.


This explains why we have modern skeptics like Pontius Pilate, who asked what truth was because people assume they know it all and aren't willing to go where it may lead. Truth conflicts with their principles and ethics or morality, not intellect; no truth equals no virtue, according to Socrates! Postmodernism is a sign of moral rebellion and of stubborn hearts who conveniently deny any Supreme Being declaring Truth with a capital T, that they have to submit to and obey and be accountable to!


There is danger and threat from within the church as some theologians and pastors become taken in by this philosophy and don't think we have "arrived at the truth of the gospel" yet, but everything is still up for grabs and personal interpretation. The church has taken hundreds of years to arrive at its doctrines, and we are to profit from this, not start over each generation, as if it's all up for grabs all over again--deja vu! This is the ultimate result and consequence when man leaves God out of the reckoning or the equation of reason!


In sum, per David Noebel, Postmodernism is theologically atheist, philosophically skeptical, ethically relative, biologically evolutionist, psychologically materialist, politically leftist, and legally pragmatic. This is why it's the primary threat to Christianity and absolute, universal truth as we know it and has been revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ's person.


["They traded the truth of God for a lie" (Romans 1:25, NLT). "...because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them" (2 Thessalonians 1:10, NLT). Unbelievers are those who reject the truth, according to Romans 2:8!] Raise the war cry: there's a Truth War that we cannot afford to lose by default; we must not make any concessions to evil. Soli Deo Gloria!

Defending Christian Worldview

"O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called "knowledge," for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you." (1 Tim. 6:20-21, ESV).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:2, ESV).

"My people perish for lack of knowledge" (cf. Hosea 4:14).

"For lack of knowledge My people go into exile" (cf. Isa. 5:13).

Our worldview, which outshines all others, the terminology taken from the German Weltanschauung, is our outlook or worldview (i.e., the sum total of convictions [e.g., is there such a concept as sin, a God, life after death?], ideas [philosophy and interpretations], beliefs [religious], values [patriotism?], but not opinions--note: you hold opinions, but convictions hold you!) and our worldview concerns our viewpoint in toto on life, our view of God, man, and the relationships and duties they owe each other--on reality in general. How do we make sense of the world when we encounter ideas whose time has come? It also answers the basic questions of life: Where did we come from or who are we? What is our purpose and meaning in life? What is wrong with mankind and how can we solve his dilemmas? And where are we going, or what is our destiny. Athanasius said that the only worldview that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point! "Christianity is Christ," according to John Stott, "all else is circumference!" If we take God out of the equation, we head into natural catastrophe and disaster--our lives become chaotic with no purpose or aim, busy, but to no avail, going nowhere.

The Bible is basically our Owner's Manual to guide us to do God's will on earth. We are basically here "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" (cf. Isaiah 43:7; and The Westminster Shorter Confession of 1646). The only worldview that gives dignity to man is the Christian one, for we see man as in the image and likeness of God, though tarnished by sin, it's still there and we are not dumb animals (cf. Job 18:3). If you see yourself as a grown-up germ or descended from blue-green pond scum or algae, it will affect your self-esteem and worldview. Teach man he's an animal and he will act like one! We become disoriented from God's design without God in the reckoning, as Alexander Solzhenitsyn said, "Men have forgotten God." The word "purpose" is a dirty word to secularists, who deny that there is meaning and purpose in life, which is true without God in the picture and the end result of futile speculation and a fool's errand searching trying to "find oneself" or one's purpose in life.

We have a purpose in being here to do God's will: rule or subdue the earth; be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth; fulfill the Great Commission, and be lights in the world representing Christ doing good deeds in His name. We don't own anything, but are only stewards of God's blessings. We were designed to know God! However, culture has run amok in its abandonment of God and taking Him out of the reckoning. God sets the agenda and to disobey His will is called sin--of which is the root of the problem.

And so man rebelled against the loving God and chose his own way over God's wisdom and provision--he chose not to trust God; we do the same thing and only duplicate that sin and folly. We are not victims of circumstances or of nature and are not pawns of our genes and we can blame no one but ourselves since we are all born in sin and all have fallen short of God's glory and ideal. This was called the Fall and we all dittoed that sin and are individually responsible to God and it's a cop-out to blame anyone for our own faults and shortcomings or sin. The crux of the problem is that sin has entered the innocent world that God created.

God's remedy is the cross whereby He paid the price to redeem us and set us free from our sins. We are at the mercy of God because He is a God of justice and will judge all sin. What we need, is not an educator, nor an economist, nor a scientist, but a Savior to stand in the gap and put a hand on both us and God in reconciliation. God has solved the sin problem by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus!

It is a challenge to live up to a Christian worldview because the whole world has become secularized and people want us to privatize our faith. The Bible is not passe or obsolete, but relevant to all our problems! The biggest problem is what Jesus said, "You are wrong because you do not know the Scriptures, nor the power of God," cf.. Matt. 22:29. The Bible has all the answers to man's dilemmas, and his chief enemies are the devil, the sin nature in himself, and the world system. Equipped with Scripture, we will know what God thinks, get our thinking straightened out and have a Christian worldview, so necessary to defeat the devil's world. The world has fallen for Satan's lies and is deceived, and we are to preach the gospel so that they can know the truth and the truth will set them free (cf. John 8:32).

Ideas and worldviews have consequences and affect how we live. "If there is no God," Dostoevsky said, "all things are permissible." Atheist mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless." Hamlet summed it up in Shakespeare's Macbeth: "[Life is a] tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing," This is the bleak outlook and belief system without God in the picture. Will Durant, the famed humanist historian, said the biggest issue of our day is whether man can live without God. George Bernard Shaw said that no nation has survived the loss of its gods. The Bible has something to say about every major academic discipline and they all find their origins in Scripture. Modern man basically believes that science can solve our problems and has given up hope in religion as the solution. It takes faith to believe this! Secular Humanism is the prevalent worldview academically and socially, whereby the theme is "Down with God, up with man!" The deception of this worldview is that it strives for good without God! They see "man [as] the measure of all things" (in Latin homo mensura), and refuse God as the "moral center of the universe" with transcendent laws.

And the Postmodern era has become rather skeptical of the existence of absolute, transcendent truth, and posits all truth as being relative; relative to what? Saying truth is relative, with no Truth with a capital T; we can know nothing for certain, an epistemology of skepticism--it's a contradiction in terms and is itself a truth claim of no truth! Actually, the only truths they are really concerned about as being relative are the ones related to Christianity. This philosophy is in sharp contradistinction to the Bible's claim of propositional, incarnated, and absolute truth with no wiggle room for disagreement. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning point of all knowledge (cf. Prov. 1:7). All knowledge begins in faith, it's not just Christians who have faith, they just don't put faith in science as the sole arbiter of absolute truth.

What Secular Humanism does is deify man and dethrone God-man has wanted to make a name for himself ever since the tower of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4). Their two main presuppositions are that evolution is unquestioned scientific fact and that the supernatural doesn't exist--they believe science has undermined the Bible! Christians are called to show their colors, be "Daniels," stand up and be counted, and be informed and show discernment: Men who "understood [interpret] the times, with knowledge of what to do," as it says in 1 Chronicles 12:32.

C. S. Lewis summed it up for our marching orders: "We must not remain silent and concede everything away [and lose by default]." That means our faith is defensible in the market square and open marketplace of ideas and we need not privatize it. We are in the world, but not of it (cf. John 15:19) and there is a war of "isms" going on, but Sir Francis Bacon said, "Knowledge is power!" (Cf. Prov. 24:5). R. C. Sproul, influential theologian, said it well: "With God we have dignity and without God we have nothing."

In sum, it is written: "In the beginning God..." meaning that we start with God and explain creation, we don't start with creation and explain or explain away God! In sum, Christian worldview outshines all others and had the best explanation of reality. Soli Deo Gloria!

All Truth Is God's Truth...

NB: WHERE YOU BEGIN VIRTUALLY DETERMINES WHERE YOU'LL END UP.

But the truth that Postmodernists just want to maintain is that the truths of Christianity are only relative or that some things may work for them and therefore be true for them (someone's truth has no power over you and you cannot judge another person's truth). They claim that one person's truth doesn't matter to another and their truth has validity for them. Like they say in the catchphrase: "That may be true for you, but not for me!" People often confuse what's true and truth: facts may be true and we speak the truth when we don't lie, but no one can "know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," like they demand in court, except God. Scripture is the fulfillment and revelation of truth and is the only source of divine truth and can be called "Truth." We can know the truth, Jesus is proof! Jesus said that he who is of the truth will listen to Him (cf. John 18:37), and He came to bear witness to the truth (ibid.). Pilate spoke like a typical Postmodernist and asked, "What is truth?" (v. 38), only not waiting for an answer--is it opinion or feeling?

To Rome, "might made right," (the Iron Rule); there was no universal truth. This refers to objective truth, meaning it's true regardless of doubt or affirmation, and no matter who says it or believes it, regardless of culture, context, or time. Postmodernists deny any possibility of knowing this kind of truth in their "hermeneutic of suspicion." They even go on to say that even if it did exist, we wouldn't communicate it adequately and understand it for sure. Don't confuse truth with "scientific fact" and "justified belief" or knowledge: e.g., that the earth was flat or the sun revolved around the earth, was justifiably believed in the past!

Augustine declared: "All truth is God's truth," Thomas Aquinas added, "All truth meets at the top!" Christians are, above all else, seekers of the truth (cf. 2 Thess. 2:10) and have experienced the truth to set them free (cf. John 8:32). We are responsible for the truth that God gives us and "speaking the truth in love" to another (cf. Eph 4:15, NIV), that means we are sensitive in its appropriateness, tactfulness, application, and timeliness. Wherever we encounter truth, it's because God ordained it as being the source of all truth, God Himself--whether in pure science (and this discipline could've only arisen due to the Christian worldview and the first scientists were Christians!) or in applied sciences, such as political science (just governance), sociology (society and groups), psychology (what makes us human? the study of behavior), biology (what is life?), law (what is just law?), ethics (how do we then live?), economics (who do we produce the most?), philosophy (how do we know something?), theology ("queen of sciences"--studying and knowing God), or history (recording the past using research and evidence). We all have a point of view that reflects on our interpretation of reality--not believing in God or that "God is dead" [or irrelevant and unbelievable], as Nietzsche proclaimed, is equated with there being no absolute truth as a consequence.

If we don't believe absolute truth exists, then we will not believe in a God of Truth with a capital T. There is absolute truth because Jesus came to bear witness of it and is the incarnation or personification of it. But there is no absolute belief! If they insist truth is relative, ask relative to what? We don't all agree as to our interpretations of the truth or the facts. And we have a right to our own opinions, but not to fabricate our own truths or make up so-called "alternative facts." Truth can be defined as what corresponds to reality and this is called the Correspondence Theory of Truth, but Postmodernists deny this and that we can even know an objective truth valid for everyone and all the time. They are, therefore, atheists by consequence, because, if there is no universal truth, there can be no God--at least there's no God's eye view of it or metanarrative (grand story of reality). Truth to them is what works for them or suits their fancy. In pragmatism, the test of an idea is not whether it's true, but whether it works--the results! Things that aren't true can work!

We must realize that all knowledge is contingent and it takes a leap of faith to know anything. And exists something besides matter/energy in the cosmos--intelligence! Scientists are people of faith as much as Christians; they have just accepted a different set of presuppositions to put their faith in. Scientists and science have been wrong before, and are not infallible nor inerrant--but limited. But with God there is nothing contingent; He knows all from the most trivial to the most profound and He chooses not to reveal everything to us, but to remain a God of mystery. Just like the first words of Scripture in Gen. 1:1 ("In the beginning God"), we must begin with God to know anything for sure and explain everything from there (just as Prov. 1:7 (NKJV) says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge...").

He knows what lies in the future as well as the past, because everything is present with God, and He also knows all possibilities (past, present, and future), or anything that makes sense at all. Christianity is the only faith based on truth. Our faith is revealed because we could know nothing apart from revelation. This is the God we represent and we are to be dedicated to searching for and knowing the truth.

Christians have nothing to fear from the truth because we serve the God of Truth and in Him is no lie, for He cannot lie. Our faith is based on facts, not fable, fiction, myth, legend, or tall tale--but sound historically accurate narrative of eye-witnesses telling the truth with corroboration, and without collusion, and the veracity of their accounts is evidenced by their willingness to die for them, when they were in a position to know if it was the truth or a lie. Many will die for a lie, but they won't die for a known lie. NB: "THE ONLY SYSTEM OF THOUGHT THAT CHRIST WILL FIT INTO IS THE ONE WHERE HE IS THE STARTING POINT." --ATHANASIUS 

In Defense Of Truth...

"Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne." (James Russell Lowell, 1844, The Present Crisis)

By definition, truth is that which corresponds with reality (The correspondence theory of truth articulated by John Locke), or more directly AND BIBLICALLY 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).

"All truth is God's truth." (Augustine) and "All truth meets at the top."(cf. Aquinas). 

"THEY REFUSE TO  STAND UP FOR THE TRUTH." (CF. JER. 9:3). 

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 so as 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 truth is only relative either. 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 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!

What Is Truth?

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth"  (2 Tim. 2:15, ESV).  
"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17, ESV).   
"Truth does not change according to my ability to stomach it."  --Flannery O'Connor"

Pilate asked Jesus what truth was (as the title says) since this was not the reality of Rome--might makes right in their judgment!  Jesus had told him that he who is the truth listens to Him!  Obviously, Pilate wasn't of the truth!  But the essence of truth isn't just a philosophical question to pose, it's a matter of salvation.  Jesus came "to bear witness of the truth (cf. John 5:33)."  He is the very personification of it and claimed to be "the Truth" embodied, in the flesh.  Knowing truth is so vital to salvation that it's equated with being set free from the bondage of lies and the father of lies, Satan.  We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free!  (Cf. John 8:32.)  John 2:21 says no lie is of the truth!  We must divorce truth from falsehood and error.  Searching for truth is linked to searching for God, for Augustine said (reiterated by Aquinas) that all truth is God's truth (and all truth meets at the top at that!).  Salvation is "through belief of the truth" to be saved (cf.  2 Thess. 2:13).

 If we know the truth we are equipped to detect the lie, just like knowing the real thing (money) protects us from being fooled by counterfeits.  Plato said that to live in reality, one must know what God is really like (for Jesus was "full of grace and truth," (cf. John 1:14)   "God is truth" and is also called "the Spirit of truth" in John 16:13 ).  The Dalai Lama is quoted as saying that "truth is the ultimate phenomenon." The classic definition (the correspondence theory of truth) is that truth is what reflects or corresponds to reality.  That is to say, that if we have a disconnect with reality, we don't know the truth, and if we don't know the truth we have a skewed orientation to reality.  The paradox is that if you're not aware of the truth and of reality, you don't know it!  Biblically speaking though, truth agrees with God and whatever He decrees!

As Christians knowing the truth, we are focused on truth and have our antennae sensitized.  We should be able to smell a lie or false doctrine a mile away, so to speak.  Doctrine is the sure foundation upon which our truth is based, and we must be anchored in the basics so as not to be led astray by every wind of doctrine and the lies of Satan. I'm not just admonishing people about telling the truth to one's fellow believer, but to stand up for the truth:  "... They are not valiant [stand up] for the truth on the earth." (Cf. Jer. 9:3, NKJV.)   Today, we have the same phenomenon:  Christians think it's unloving and old-fashioned to stand up for sound doctrine and the truth, and only want preachers that steer clear of all controversy and preach to the lowest common denominator.  Congregants go the path of least resistance and refuse to detect an error, mostly because they have become immune to it by the digestion of so much spiritual junk food as vaccination to the real thing and eat little solid food to sustain spiritual maturity and discernment.

Concerning morality, truth is knowable, absolute, and it's universal!  The teaching that it's relative (relativism) is bogus and a false premise, because that statement is self-defeating and contradicts itself, having no truth value.  The old catchphrase that something may be true for you but not for me is a copout and cannot be held philosophically without contradiction.  Something may work for you but not for me but that is not the measure of truth.  Pragmatists are not concerned with truth but only results--the ends justify the means!  The extreme worldview on truth is New Age or New Spirituality:  if it feels like the truth to you it is and you are in no position to judge someone else's truth!

There is no Truth with a capital T according to the prevalent, common worldview--it's true that there is no universal belief or Belief with a capital B, but there is absolute, universal truth for everyone for all time and everywhere for every situation.  The American mind is becoming a narrow, ignorant and closed mind immune concerning truth.  The only person who has the right and prerogative to proclaim absolute truth is God, who has incarnated Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. All knowledge except God's is contingent-- we must accept His truth to know anything (cf. Prov. 1:7 says knowledge begins in the fear of the LORD).  The suspicious hermeneutic of Postmodernism denies that you can know anything at all for certain--and they're sure!  Postmodern thought dodges the no-truth premise and says it's merely a "short-term contract!"  What they claim is that it's unknowable, personal, and cultural!  And if someone did know it, he couldn't communicate it adequately.

But the fact is that truth is knowable according to Jesus very words and we have rebelled against it, needing to be reoriented to reality and the truth. Finally, we must give our regards to the very assessment of truth itself in his priestly, intercessory prayer of John 17:  "Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth." (Cf. John 17:17, NIV.)  That is to say, truth doesn't just inform but transforms!   We have a right to our own beliefs and opinions, but not our own facts and truth!  Believing anything without evidence or a valid reason is blind faith, whether secular or spiritual.; it's sad that most people just believe what they agree with or fits their prejudices and opinions; note that you hold opinions, but convictions hold you!  Billy Graham tells us to beware lest we mistake our prejudices for our convictions.

Siddhartha Gautama pondered his Four Noble Truths under the bo-tree, but there is no alternative truth that compares with the truth of Christ.  You cannot save yourself no matter how many noble truths you conjure up.  Buddha was called the "Enlightened One" and saw salvation was merely a rescue or deliverance from ignorance and one must become enlightened.  He didn't believe God could help one achieve this state of bliss but must find it on one's own.  Christ opens our eyes and shows us the light of day by grace and we see Him with the eyes of our hearts to behold truth in Him.

Harvard University has the slogan The Truth Shall Set You Free, not differentiating spiritual and academic knowledge and spiritual and mental freedom. Today we see skeptics again (actually this philosophy of sophism originated in Greek antiquity) such as the Postmodernists who say you know nothing for certain.  They say, "I don't know anything!'  How do they know that?  Who told them?  Notice what nonsensical worldviews result from atheism and skepticism!  Scripture says that which is hidden belongs to God and what is revealed (by Him) belongs to us (cf. Deut. 29:29)!  We know something only because of the presupposition of an Ultimate Mind or God behind the cosmos known as the Logos or consciousness, logic, or expressed thought of God.

Those who rebel against the truth are condemned.  The lost hold the truth in unrighteousness, have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and do not obey the truth (cf. Rom. 1:18,25; Gal. 3:1).  As for heretics and those who believe the lie, "perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth" (cf. 2 Tim. 2:25, NIV).  God will send strong delusion to the lost to make them believe the lie because they had pleasure in unrighteousness and refused to love the truth.

In the final analysis, no one will ever find the truth unless they admit they could be wrong and are ignorant; they must also be willing to go wherever the facts lead,--exploring all possibilities, even of the supernatural and miraculous!  (After eliminating the impossible, what's left is quite possible, no matter how implausible or unlikely.)   In sum, this means we need to love the truth without preconceived notions to ever find it and to be saved.         Soli Deo Gloria!