In America today, we are bombarded from every direction with countless sources of competing claims of “truth.” These competing claims clash and oppose each other, yet all claim to be truth. So let’s take a few minutes to ask the questions: What is truth? Why is it important? And how is truth determined?
Perhaps truth is best defined as that which conforms with fact or reality. Real truth is not subjective. Truth is not determined by personal feelings, desires, or popular opinion. When we call these things “truth,” we are wrong, and we open the door to the conflicts and chaos we see in the world today. This is because truth forms our basis of determining right and wrong, good and evil, and thus much hangs on what we declare as truth.
Truth is reality because God declared it so, and made it so. Therefore God is the author, source, and determiner of all truth. Christians believe that the Bible was written by men, but authored by God, and is therefore flawless truth, because God is flawless. The Bible proclaims its flawless nature in a number of verses, but perhaps none as straightforward as John 17:17, which states, “your word (the Bible) is truth.” This is why you see Christians stand firm on what the Bible says - God’s truth, which He gave to mankind. One of the main purposes of the Bible is to provide us guidance in knowing right from wrong, and truth from falsehood.
In modern times, our society has come to embrace a philosophy of “relativism” as regards to truth. This philosophy asserts that the truth value of something is relative to a particular standpoint, such as a person’s perspective. This implies no absolute truth or oneness of truth. Another way to say this is what you believe is truth for you, and what I believe is truth for me. Both such subjective positions are really opinions, feelings, and preferences, and may or may not be “real truth.”
Truth, real truth, God established truth, is the only solid foundation for a society and individuals to build on. Such real truth leads to trust, logic consistency, and thus order and unity…which are sorely lacking today. Relative truth (human derived truth) leads to the opposite - division, inconsistency, and chaos…which is very prevalent today.
My point is that there is absolute truth, and it comes from God. And He has shared much truth with mankind in His word, the Bible. I encourage you to spend time reflecting on the three questions regarding truth that I posed at the beginning of this article.And I hope you conclude that God is our source of truth, and His Bible is the measure to judge the truthfulness of the various competing ideologies and claims of right, wrong, good, and bad.
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