Truth is Absolute Regardless of Time

We already discussed truth as being absolute in every field. When we are confronted with the literature presented in our English courses, we will find that the material exists for more than just our entertainment. Literature gives us a perspective of what cultures of different times found important and how the ideas of those times shaped their perspectives. We can see this now with movies. Personally, I love literature from the past. I found Of Mice and Men, The Count of Monte Cristo, Oliver Twist, The Odyssey, and even some of the works you will read to have been magnificent entertaining adventures and eyesights into worlds we have moved from; however, we should not see these works as representing ‘truths.’ It would be wrong and harmful to look to these for truth or value.

We will see atrocities like slavery, murder, rape, and disregard for one another painted as normal occurrence in some of these books. While in most capacities, as a society we will agree that these ideas are wrong today. We should not see slavery or these other issues as right in that time and wrong in ours as sometimes presented. Slavery was wrong then just as it is wrong now. As a Christian we can make such a statement and know it to be true. We should not think otherwise. Christian doctrine has always taught of divinely given rights for individuals. One of my favorite recurring themes in works from the civil war era is how true Christians are presented on these issues. In many classical works by non-Christians that write on civil war era times, they paint the ‘love for one another’ that should so often define the church really well, at least when it comes to the issue of slavery. You will repeatedly see characters disregard or disagree with joining the abolitionists (those who wanted slavery made illegal) because those ‘Bible thumpers’ were taking their religion too far! Unfortunately it was never these classic works that showed Christianity in a positive and accurate light that we read in school.

While we may be quick to agree on these large issues like slavery being wrong, some of the texts will put it in less clear areas that are made to make us question Christ and what he says. Now we will look at those questions.

Is It Okay to Ever Tell a Lie?

A couple years ago I was attending a training for an evangelism rally. At the end of these evangelism events, there would be an alter call for any who felt Christ call them to come forward. We were counselors being trained to talk to these individuals who wanted to learn more and come to Christ. At the end of this training, the leaders offered a Q&A. This older gentle raised his hand and a conversation similar to as follows took place:

The older gentleman asked, “What if I am asked a question I could not answer?”

The leader quickly responds, “We will have different pastors walking around to help you all if you can’t answer a question or are in a situation you cannot handle. Simply raise your hand and we will join the conversation.”

The older gentleman did not seem to be satisfied with this answer and asked, “What if they are atheist and ask a question I cannot answer?”

Once again, he was told, “Just raise your hand.”

This continued back and forth a few more times until the question had grown to being as preposterous as, “What if they are bhuddist islamic atheists who hate Jesus and are asking a question I cannot answer?”

And yes, the question was something ridiculously extreme like the above, but what matters is how the leader replied, he said, “God is not going to put you into a situation like that.” For a lot of what we read and the questions we are asked in these literature courses, we can look at it with the knowledge that we will not be in the predicaments that the imagination of the writers place us in. We will not be in the majority of the impossible conundrums we will read about.

We will read stories about impossible circumstances in unrealistic situations, and we should remember its implausibility and keep that in mind. I remember reading a short story in 9th grade about having to be the last to survive on this murder mystery island. Many of those short stories would ask us to write about how we would react in such an event. We should realize as we look as these morally ambiguous situations that we are put in, that we will never confront these situations in the real world. These stories try to make our morals not seem absolute, by putting us in a highly emotional situation that could absolutely not happen.

One objection that may be brought up are on historical short stories that you or your youth may read, such as with the Nazi’s and their ideology of hate and supposed evolutionary superiority and how they tried to purge any they saw as less desirable. You may be given the scenario of hiding someone of jewish faith while a guard is present and trying to search your home. While many scenarios that try to get us to view truth as subjective are not possibly going to happen, this one is something many actually lived and suffered through. The idea pushed is that it would be right to lie, defend, and possibly harm the nazi to stop his quest of hate. As Christians, we know we are saved not for doing good deeds, but by grace. As we are saved by grace, in a situation like this, that may be a good thought to remember. We can see this as such, but I want us to see the manipulation of such questions directed towards our youth, and possibly you, our reader.

We are given an example that is full of emotion to push the idea that truth is subjective. What this scenario we have been given shows however, is that subjective truth is dangerous and has created this situation. Our evil nazi soldier is actually at your door because he does not in fact believe truth is absolute. He believes it is defined by the power of his gun and the power of his party. Survival of the Fittest. He does not believe in a creator who has made all men and women equal and of immeasurable value. He believes in ‘might makes right.’ He believes that he is of the evolutionary superior race. The nazis in their ideology of hate made their own truths. They put themselves in place of God, and said they were the best and fittest. Unfortunately, when we say truth is subjective, we allow this kind of view and have no basis other than a larger gun to disagree. When we are confronted with these questions, we need to see that these questions and situations are biased.

I hope this chapter helps you to realize this, and see that others want to confront you with their agendas and conform you to their views. Romans chapter 1 tells us that people are aware of God and His law and that they have this law on their heart. One of the ways God punishes us for sin is not to stop our sins, but to give us over to them. His punishment is to allow us to pursue these sins. One response to the gospel would lead us to repent and see the destruction and hopelessness of sin. Jesus in Luke 15 tells of a parable of that happening. A son runs into squalor in sin and ends up fighting pigs for food to eat, in that moment his heart is broken and he repents and returns home to his loving father. Not everyone who is turned over to their sin comes to repent of it though, instead as Romans 1 goes on to show, they not only indulge in their sin and refuse to turn from it, but encourage and push others to agree and join in their sin. They do not want you to pull them our of squalor. They want you to swim in it too. Many books that school will have you read and movies that friends will want you to watch will push this macabre.

Absolute Truth

Twice now, we have discussed absolute truth without giving application or definition. According to the dictionary, truth is defined as ‘in accordance with fact or reality.’ Already we see that truth is not abstract, but concrete and nonsubjective. When we say absolute truth we are further highlighting this understanding. Absolute truth is simply stating that truth is true. A now controversial statement. Absolute truth is something that is true at all times, to all people, in all places. Absolute truth is not subject to opinion, time, culture, or context. Our current thinking and social world is often called ‘postmodern’ and one of the ideas it has is that truth is relative. You may have heard phrases like “Well that is your truth” or “You do you.” These are ideas that are birthed from the idea that truth is relative. When we reject having a higher power who can define and give meaning and value, this is a result.

As Christians we find morals like gravity (please refer to chapter 1) are definable by a truth that is not limited to one group of people but that is applicable to all. We understand that what is true for one is true for all. We know that truth is not only knowable, but it is personal. Jesus calls Himself Truth. Truth is embraceable. We also do not see truth as the mysterious unknown, but as something that has practical application and use. Truth provides value and meaning. For Christians truth is considered the foundation of our spiritual lives, and Jesus says that for us to worship Him, we must worship in ‘Spirit and Truth.’ This stands in stark contrast to the world which cannot define truth but often portrays Christians as ones who are ignorant of fact and reality (the definition of truth). The world likely claims Christians do not know truth because when they see us living in truth, it is like a poor mirror for them to look into too: it leaves a reflection they do not like.

Relative Truth has led to so much sin and hurt. It can be easily refuted, but we should be careful on how we do it. For some who say they do not believe in absolute truth, we may want to give a limited snarky answer of “Are you absolutely sure of that?” While this does give an answer, there is far more that can be said. For further evidence of absolute truth, we can look to our consciences. While “what is true for me may not be true for you” sounds appealing on the surface, most will realize that they do not want that statement to be true. Deep down we see that robbery, murder, peadophilia, and so many other sins are in fact wrong. We do not want those things to happen, especially to us or our families.

Ravi Zacharias at an event was once asked why Christians so desperately wanted absolute truth to be true, and he responded by asking, “Did you lock your doors before coming here?”