What is truth?

“Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king for this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to THE TRUTH. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, “I find no guilt in Him.”

John 18:33-38

What is truth? This question posed by Pilate is a very valid question; it is one of the most important questions one can ask. Unfortunately, like Pilate, most people do not actually bother to seek the answer. Pilate with his question basically ends the conversation and dismisses Christ and His claim that He came to testify to the truth. Christ would have told Pilate the answer had he actually wanted to know. In John 14:6 before this event, Christ said, “I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” There is a reason Christ used the word “the”, and not the word “a”, and I purposefully emphasized the word “the” in this verse because with that word, Christ is asserting that truth is exclusive and absolute. He is also saying that truth only comes from Him.

We know truth to be exclusive and absolute in every facet of life. For example, in mathematics we know that 2 plus 2 equals 4. 2 plus 2 does not equal 5, and it most certainly does not equal whatever we want it to equal. If a first grader said that 2 plus 2 equaled whatever was good for him then he would get the question wrong. 2 plus 2 equals 4. Truth is exclusive; it is absolute.

In music we know that if you set down to a piano and play the keys to Mary Had a Little Lamb then you will play Mary Had a Little Lamb. You will not play one of Beethoven’s symphonies, and you certainly will not play just whatever song is the perfect song for you (unless that song is Mary Had a Little Lamb), you will play Mary Had a Little Lamb. Truth is exclusive; it is absolute.

In our work lives we know that we better do want the boss tells us to do, we can not just do the exact opposite of what our boss tells us, and we most certainly cannot do just whatever we want to do because that is what is right for us. If we were to do those things then we would not have a job for very long. Truth is exclusive; it is absolute.

And yet for some reason, when it comes to religion and spirituality, a large group of people have fallen into the illogical trap that truth is relative. What is even more alarming is that many so called Christians have fallen into this trap believing things like the Bible is relative, and open for one’s own interpretation. These people are led astray by their own flawed logic, and faulty reasoning, and their views are supported by many popular false teachers such as Brian McLaren. These teachers have absolutely no logic skills, and their reasoning is so faulty that it could not even be considered rudimentary at best. I want to just examine the faulty reasoning of one of Brian McLaren’s quotes. This quote was actually on the last blog I made about McLaren.

“I don't think we've got the gospel right yet. What does it mean to be 'saved'? I don't think the liberals have it right. But I don't think we have it right either. None of us has arrived at orthodoxy."—McLaren

This is a perfect example of the flawed logic of relativism and the postmodern view. Three times in this quote McLaren uses the words, “I don’t think”, so three times he gives his opinion, but then the foolishness of his mind is displayed when he says that, “None of us has arrived at orthodoxy.” So basically McLaren uses three statements of an opinion to support what he believes to be a factual statement, that is, “none of us has arrived at orthodoxy.” This is flawed logic. The problem with McLaren’s last statement is that it is an absolute, exclusive statement. By this statement, McLaren is saying that he knows the truth about the Gospel, yet in his 3 prior statements he said that no one knew the truth about the Gospel. But somehow, though no one knows the truth about the Gospel according to McLaren, McLaren himself knows the truth about the Gospel. This is a direct contradiction of basically everything McLaren says, and yet he himself cannot see his own foolishness.

On a grander scale, let’s look at the statement “truth is relative” (something McLaren very much believes, particularly when it comes to the truth of God’s Word). This too is an inherently contradictory statement. Once again this statement supposes that truth is relative, which if were true would mean that ALL truth is relative, but the problem is that that is an absolute statement; it is not relative. If all truth were relative then the statement “truth is relative” would also have to be relative, but it is not, it is absolute. Why is it that we understand truth to be absolute in every facet of life, and yet when it comes to the most important facet we reject this fact?

Despite these things though, people are still flocking to hear the lies of Brian McLaren, and the gospel according to Brian McLaren and Rob Bell, and others like them. People are still spending millions of dollars to buy their lies in their books, and they are gobbling them up as if they were the actual Word of God. People have given up on the concept of thinking. That simply is not cool anymore. Or as McLaren might say, it is not relevant. It is no longer cool in our society to actually reason, and use logical thinking skills. Well, God gave us the ability to reason, and to think logically, and if people want to abandon their logic than that’s fine, but don’t think that your false logic is Christianity. Because it is not, it certainly is not from the mind of God. God is not a fool. If something is a legitimate Christian belief then EVERY facet of it will match up with God’s word, not just bits and pieces. It is just amazing that people will elevate the words of people like McLaren over the Words of God. Paul, the greatest Christian who ever lived, and author of much of the New Testament, had even his words tested in light of Scripture by the Bereans in Acts 17:10-11, and the Bereans were commended for this. If the Bereans were to test even Paul’s words, then we most certainly are to test the words of people like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell.

Finally, if you think I am being mean, rude, judgmental, harsh, etc, then once again, as I said in my last post, please actually read and STUDY the entirety of God’s word. Jesus died for THE truth. Nice guys generally do not get crucified. If truth were relative then Christ would not have to die. Also if truth were relative then every single one of Jesus disciples would not have faced a martyr’s death. Why would they need to? Peter was crucified upside down because he passionately loved the truth. Paul was imprisoned and beaten ruthlessly countless times, and eventually executed because he stood for the truth. John (Jesus’ closest friend) was exiled to an island of solitude where he died because he proclaimed the truth. McLaren himself has said that he does not understand why Jesus had to die. Of course he doesn’t understand. In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, “If you continue in MY WORD, then you are TRULY disciples of Mine; and you will KNOW THE TRUTH, and the TRUTH will make you free.” Amen. No one but God could have said it any better.