Objective Truth

Objective Truth


Recently in the Life U meeting we discussed what it means to say that something is true and whether we can know objective truths. There is a common modern day revolt against the idea of objective truths about anything except for the natural sciences. When it comes to morality, philosophy and God, we often hear that what is true for one person in those areas may not be true for another. This we found to be an irrational proposition.

First we must define what we mean by the word truth. A working, imperfect definition would be any proposition, thought, event or being that corresponds to reality. For instance if I say that God exists, if there is a God, then his existence corresponds with reality and the statement "God exists" would be a true statement. If I say that a unicorn exists in the material world, and a unicorn does not exist in the material world, then a unicorn's material existence would not correspond to reality and the statement "a unicorn exists in the material world" would therefore be false. This, I believe, is the most common sense way of thinking about truth.

Next we must define whether truth is objective or subjective. By objective, I mean what is true about reality exists independently from our minds. By subjective, I mean the opposite, namely, truth is relative to our minds and perceptions and we create truth rather then discover truth. Ignoring, for the sake of time, Kant’s theory of knowledge, I believe most would accept the idea that what is real, or true, does not depend on our knowledge of it but exists independently in reality. In fact, to try and prove that truth is relative to our subjective minds would assume, or presuppose, that there are certain laws of logic that transcend our subjective minds.

The existence of objective truth is necessary because of the impossibility of the contrary. The statement “there is no objective truth” is a self refuting statement, because the statement itself would be claiming a truth that was objective. It is impossible to think or say anything about the nature of truth unless there is objective truth. Therefore, there is objective truth.

What does the Bible say about truth?

The most important questions to be answered are those that relate to God about his existence, nature, moral commands, His purpose for humanity and our individual lives, to name a few. In the Life U class and on this site we will be exploring reasons to believe that the Triune God-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exists and that the Christian faith is true. But right now I want to give some brief thoughts on how the truths of God are both revealed in the Bible and how they relate to our pursuit of those truths.

In the book of Exodus, Moses encounters a burning bush in the wilderness where the voice of God gives him a command to go to Egypt and demand that Pharaoh free the Children of Israel from slavery. Moses asks God what name he should give Pharaoh if asked who had sent him. God gives the name “I AM” or “I AM THAT AM”. This name that God gave Moses could be unpacked in much greater detail then I will here but one insight I would like to point out, is the name, I AM, identifies God as a person from which all other personhood derives their being. Namely, He is ultimate reality. This would mean that any pursuit of truth, to be productive, would eventually lead to some knowledge of Him.

God also identifies himself in the Bible as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  This was God identifying himself with the covenant he made with Abraham. Our God is not an abstract idea or thought, but a living person that has been active in history from the beginning. He placed himself in covenantal bonds, uniting himself to human persons in the Old Testament. He entered into physical history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, that could be seen and touched, uniting all of humanity, that would believe, under his new and everlasting covenant. Then God sends the Holy Spirit that indwells in those who have faith in Jesus. At all points of history God provided a way that we could know him, not just in our minds, but could see and experience him with our senses.

The Biblical notion of truth is that God is the foundation and cause of all reality and he makes himself known to us by his grace through The Holy Spirit both to our minds through rational thought and our everyday experiences. We must never forget that any pursuit of truth has its end in Jesus  for He proclaims that He is The Truth.

We will continue to discuss this topic as well as explore more as this class continues and we all continue to grow in our understanding of the Christian faith.

Feel free to add any comments, suggestions, or corrections.

Jason Anderson