What is truth and is it important?

The famous words of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate were “what is truth?” Jesus Christ, God in the flesh and the only person in the whole world who could have told Pilate what “truth” was told him that he had the truth but Pilate didn’t care and this was the greatest crime of all—because the one person who could have given him the truth was standing right before him. And like Pilate most people do not care about the truth but more importantly we have lost a sense of the absolute truth. Everyone believes what “they believe” is the truth but most do not use coherent arguments to understand if what they believe is logical.

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”  Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?”  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” – John 18:33-38

When Jesus says “My kingdom is not of this world” He was showing Pilate that his kingdom and the people who would be in his kingdom do not belong to this world, because this world is going to die, along with everything in it. When Jesus comes back to this world, he will burn it and destroy it and there will be no America, Europe or nation left; because this world will pass away and be replaced with a new heaven and a new earth--which will never pass away, because it will be eternal. Pilate is confused by this statement because he is thinking in human terms; as if Jesus will rule as a political kingdom would.  Jesus then tells him that he was born to give witness to the truth and Pilate says “What is truth?” Jesus says everyone who listens to him knows the truth. What is truth? According to Webster’s Dictionary, truth is “conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.” Truth is the most important question that anyone can ask, because without it you have only lies and the father of lies is the Devil.  Everyone who does not believe the truth belongs to the father of lies.

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. – John 8:34

Today we don’t like talking about the truth. In fact we came up with a way to completely disregard the truth in order not to offend anyone. This new way to disregard the truth and replace it with a lie which isn’t so offensive is called political correctness or PC. It is politically incorrect to suggest that Jesus ever said anything like:

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. – John 14:6 

This is an absolute statement, that is, it makes a claim that if you do not follow “the way” of Jesus (Jesus is truth itself) than you will not go where Jesus is going but go to the place which was made for the “Devil and his angels.” Jesus is saying that he is the representation of truth itself and Buddha can’t save you, Krishna can’t save you, Allah can’t save you, not even your own good works can save you—only Jesus can save from people going to hell. Do you think that might be offensive? Yes to those who do not believe it, this is certainly offensive. The bible makes no claim to be politically correct, in fact it is the very opposite. The bible even says that its message is foolishness to those who do not believe the Truth. 

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:18

The Truth of Christianity is both inclusive and exclusive; it is exclusive because it claims to be the only Truth and that there is no other “way” and it is inclusive because no matter whom you are and what you have done, you will be accepted as equal in the body of Christ. Truth by definition excludes something, because something cannot be and not be in same sense and in the same relationship but I will come back to that in a moment. The reason why political correctness was invented was to muddle the truth.

What did the serpent say to Eve in the Garden of Eden? “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” The serpent (Devil) wants to confuse us and by failing to trust the Truth which is God, we make God out to be a liar. Jesus was found without sin; God does not lie.

He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. – 1 Peter 2:22

Political Correctness was started by a group of Marxists around World War 2. The Communists discovered that in order for their ideology to flourish, they needed a better strategy and so they invented a way to go around the truth. Instead of using economics as Karl Marx had envisioned, they would use the culture. The Communists understood that their beliefs would never be accepted in society if they said what they believed outright—so they hid their beliefs behind a façade of lies and half-truths. Take for instance the feminist movement; they could attack western culture for its oppression against women but they would never mention how women were treated in ancient China or any other society—because the attack was never meant to bring out the truth (although for some people It was), it was to criticize western culture and ultimately destabilize society as a whole.

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. – Romans 1:25

Truth is embodied in a person (Jesus) and people have the ability to think and it is this ability which is least used. As an example, let’s say someone says “how can God be truth and why can’t their be multiple ways to God?” The reason God is truth is because there is no other being which we can rationally think about which is “higher” than God. When I say “higher,” I mean more omnipotent and all-knowing as well as omnipresent. The reason is that God is God and there is nothing and no one which has his point of view; clarity, truth and understanding.  Whether you look to science, logic or morality, there is an absolute truth claim to ideas which can be known. Logical absolutes exist in science and we can understand logical absolutes in the coherence of an argument itself by looking to the three laws of logic. The three laws of logic are:

1. The Law of Identity
2. The Law of Non-Contradiction
3. The Law of Excluded Middle

The law of identity states that A is A. An Apple is an Apple. In other words, something is what it is. If something exists, it has a nature, an essence. For example, a book has a front and back cover with pages. A car has four wheels, seats, doors, windows, etc. A tree has branches, leaves, a trunk, and roots.  This also means that anything that exists has characteristics.  We recognize what something is by observing its characteristics.  You know that a tree is a tree because you see its branches, leaves, a trunk, etc. 
     Furthermore, if something has an identity, it has a single identity. It does not have more than one identity.  In other words, if something exists it has a set of attributes that are consistent with its own existence.  It does not have a set of attributes that are inconsistent with itself.  Therefore we can easily conclude that a cat is not a parachute. An Apple is not a race car. A tree is not a movie.
     The law of non-contradiction tells us that A cannot be both A and not A at the same time and in the same sense. In other words, something (a statement) cannot be both true and false at the same time and in the same way. We use the law of non-contradiction constantly in discussions and debates because we are naturally able to recognize when someone is contradicting himself.  If I were to tell you that yesterday I went shopping and then later I told you that yesterday I did not go shopping, you would be correct in saying there was a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when one statement excludes the possibility of another and yet both are claimed to be true. Since we know that both cannot be true, we see a contradiction.  From this principle we can conclude that truth is not self-contradictory. This is a very important concept. Let me repeat it. Truth is not self-contradictory.  
     The law of excluded middle says that a statement is either true or false. For example, my hair is brown. It is either true or false that my hair is brown. Another example: I am pregnant. The statement is either true or false. Since I am a male, it is not possible for me to be pregnant.  Therefore, the statement is false. If I were a female, it would be possible for me to be pregnant (given normal bodily conditions). A woman is not "kind-of" pregnant. She either is or is not pregnant - there is no middle position.  The law of excluded middle is important because it helps us deal in absolutes. This is particularly important in a society where relativism is promoted and truth statements are denied.

As people who have studied most religions know, they are not just different but fundamentally different and most claim to be the one “truth.” Therefore there is no such thing as all roads leading to God. It says in Acts that:

 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. – Acts 4:12 

That is an absolute claim and people who think morality can exist apart from God commit the same error. Morality must come from somewhere; otherwise it would only be someone’s opinion. C.S Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity “Isn't it amazing that even young children have a sense of right and wrong, even at an early age? This inherent morality seems to be already present at the earliest stages of childhood. Just watch any children play together and you'll hear, "That's not fair!", "You cheated". There is an innate sense of justice that adults also have. This internal morality is universal and is found in all cultures and nations and peoples groups. For example, most cultures universally believe it is wrong to kill innocent people. This is found in agnostics, atheist and all of the world's major religions, including Christianity. Where did this in-built sense of morality come from?” Lewis understood that without a moral absolute, such as “Thou shall not steal” than we are simply giving our own opinions. Now-a-days, most people think that tolerance is a far better road to drive on than truth. Tolerance is the cherished word today. Thou shall not judge is the most known bible verse in America today and for good reason. Yet we fail to realize that without judging, we wouldn’t even be able to understand that judging is wrong! When the Bible says do not judge, it means that you should not judge without first judging yourself and in another sense it means do not ever condemn someone—like saying “you are going to hell and there is nothing you can do about it!” This is evil, because it assumes that you know without a shadow of a doubt where that person is going after death but I digress, tolerance is made to be more important than truth and justice. However the truth is intolerant because it assumes something that is and something that isn’t. For instance murder is always wrong and that is intolerant towards murderers. Likewise God is intolerant of only one thing, sin. This is why absolute morality must take precedence over tolerance, because without it there can never truly be any authoritative good or evil, because morality would be left to individual people’s opinions. Some of the most famous philosophers and atheists understood this and our founding fathers understood that without Christianity, there could be no absolute morality or truth, because truth and morality depend upon something other than what individual people think; otherwise it is just mere opinion. Morality must have a moral lawgiver/God and so does truth.

In order to have a rational discussion there must be a coherent reality of truth and no illusion. There is no illusion which can sustain itself, because there must be something which gives life to the illusion. So what is truth? Truth is a person, who is called Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be “one” with the Father God. C.S. Lewis once made the argument that Jesus is either a liar, lunatic or Lord. Jesus made some incredible claims about himself; he claimed to be one with God, able to forgive sins, etc. Jesus is Lord and he is the way the Truth and the Life. The Truth is important, because without Him, nothing will ever make sense.

References -

Carm.org – Critical thinking school

Webster’s 1828 dictionary

Reformation Study Bible ESV

Bill Whittle – After burn

Ravi Zacharias

C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity