The Writing on the Wall

This philosophy is not new it is as old as man itself. In the Garden of Eden it was asked by someone for the first time.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" Genesis 3:1 (NIV)

In essence, the Serpent was asking, “What is true?” And we have been asking that question ever since. So let us ask that question, and thoroughly understand the nature of the question, its answer, and how it affects us today.

Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” I have another question to add to it:

Can we know truth?

In order to answer that question we have to know what it is, and we find the answer to that question in the Scripture.

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14: 6 (NASB)

So I ask you, is truth knowable? If it exists, and it is a person then yes it is knowable.
How ironic, Pilate voiced the question, “What is truth?” to Truth. Jesus claimed to be Truth. Not the epitome of it, but it itself! And He was standing before one who asked what He was! Pilate was asking the wrong question, he should have been asking, “Who is truth?” The answer is Jesus, Jesus is truth. Does truth exist? Yes, it does! Can it be known? Yes He can!!

I was once challenged to a debate online by someone who just wanted to argue with me. He posed a question he did not think I would answer. I did not want to get dragged into a debate with someone who was not interested in discovering truth but I also did not want Christianity to be challenged without answer so I kindly answered the question and in the course of debate I made the statement, “I am not afraid of the Truth, I worship Him.”

Because we know that Truth is a person, and people are knowable then we can know Truth by knowing Christ. So, how can we understand truth in light of this? What I mean by that is this: can we define truth in light of that understanding? I believe that we can.

Truth: 1. Jesus Christ (Jn. 14:6); 2. Something that is in agreement with Jesus Christ.

All of this begs the question, “Does Truth matter?” If the answer is yes, then it naturally begs the next question ”Why does Truth matter?”

Our society is being subverted by a philosophy that says that truth is subjective in its very nature, that it cannot be known because it is different to each person. Some even claim there is no form of absolute truth, and others that there is no truth at all!

Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God above, who created all heaven's lights. Unlike them, he never changes or casts shifting shadows. James 1:17 (NLT)

You see, Truth exists, it is knowable, and it is absolute (i.e.: unchanging) and it does matter because without truth we cannot determine right and wrong. If truth is subjective, or non-existent, then it is unknowable. If it is unknowable then it is a pointless pursuit. If it is unknowable then it is of no consequence, it does not matter. If that is true then there is no moral law and if no moral law then there is no wrong and right.

If we accept this philosophy of relativism then we have to conclude some things.

Relativism says that there is no absolute truth, which means that we have to throw out logic because logic is the pursuit of truth based on the assumption that it can be known and that if A is true and B is true and the relationship is valid then C must be true. That is an absolute truth. Relativists do not challenge the assumption of absolute truth in science or logic, why challenge it in morality? If we throw out logic then we have to throw out science also. Because science is the use of logic to discover truth and if logic goes then so does science. So what does that leave? Confusion. It leads people to a society based on might not right. Because nothing is right or wrong on an absolute level, your opinion of right and wrong is just as valid as mine, then it is just as ok to say that if you believe that it is ok to steal paperclips from work that is ok, but if I believe it is ok to murder people then that is ok too.

I have a question, if my truth is true and your truth is true, what happens when your truth and my truth have a head on collision? Your truth says you should live, my truth says you should die. We both act on our truths, and I murder you, what right does anyone have to tell me that that is wrong? Obviously we have attributed authority to something to determine right from wrong, the question is what and why. Relativism leads to this thinking process and we can see it being played out before our very eyes:

Dear God: Why didn't you save the school children at the following schools? Moses Lake, Washington 2/2/96 Bethel, Alaska 2/19/97! Pearl, Mississippi 10/1/97 West Paducah, Kentucky 12/1/97 Stam P, Arkansas 12/15/97 Jonesboro, Arkansas 3/24/98 Edinboro, Pennsylvania 4/24/98 Fayetteville, Tennessee 5/19/98 Springfield, Oregon 5/21/98 Richmond, Virginia 6/15/98 Littleton, Colorado 4/20/99 Taber, Alberta, Canada 5/28/99 Conyers, Georgia 5/20/99 Deming, New Mexico 11/19/99 Fort Gibson, Oklahoma 12/6/99 Santee, California 3/ 5/01 and El Cajon, California 3/22/01?

Columbine High School

Amish Country, PA

Virginia Tech

Sincerely,

Concerned Student

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Reply:

Dear Concerned Student:

I am not allowed in schools.

Sincerely,

God

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How did this get started?

-----------------

Let's see,

I think it started when Madeline Murray O'Hare complained

She didn't want any prayer in our schools.

And we said, OK...

------------------

Then,

Someone said you better not read the Bible in school,

The Bible that says

"Thou shalt! Not kill,

Thou shalt not steal,

And love your neighbors as yourself,"

And we said, OK...

-----------------

Dr. Benjamin Spock said

We shouldn't spank our children

when they misbehaved

because their little personalities

would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem.

And we said,

An expert should know what he's talking about.

So we won't spank them anymore...

------------------

Then someone said

Teachers and principals better not

Discipline our children when they misbehave.

And the school administrators said

No faculty member in this school

Better touch a student when they misbehave

Because we don't want any bad publicity,

And we surely don't want to be sued.

And we accepted their
Reasoning...
------------------

And the entertainment industry said,

let's make TV shows and movies that promote

Profanity, violence and illicit sex...

And let's record music that encourages

Rape, drugs, murder, suicide, and satanic themes...

And we said,

it's just entertainment

And it has no adverse effect

And nobody takes it seriously anyway,

So go right ahead.

------------------

Now we're asking ourselves

Why our children have no conscience,

Why they don't know right from wrong,

And why it doesn't bother them to

Kill strangers, classmates or even themselves.

------------------

Undoubtedly,

If we thought about it long and hard enough,

We could figure it out.

I'm sure it has a great deal to do with...

"WE REAP WHAT WE SOW,"

Do you see how this gets started? Without absolute truth we have no boundaries, no fence posts to provide us a context. In olden days, while crossing the Great Plains people would occasionally get lost forever and some even died because they would get so confused about where they were and where they needed to go. People reject truth because they do not want to be fenced in, but those pioneers would have loved to have run across a fence, because it would have told them where they were.

It comes down to this: Who has authority to determine right from wrong? Is it you? Is it me? I think that it should be the person who in the end has the final decision, and that person is God. Only His opinion matters. That is why truth matters.