What is Truth – is it relative to a point of view or is it objective, independent of the perspective a person may have? This post discusses a frequent response to the truth claims of Christianity. That response is that something can be true for one person but not true for another person. This idea is an outgrowth of the postmodern philosophy of relativism, that absolutely everything is relative to the point of view of the observer. Said differently: absolutely everything is relative, absolutely, even this statement. The statement cannot be both relative and absolute, which points out the fallacy of the idea. As Brian Cosby points out in his book Uncensored “The postmodern man is absolutely sure there are no absolutes. Absolutely.”1 Come along while we explore the idea of truth, truth statements and truth claims. Whatever your view, this discussion should make you think.
One might ask why this post is important. Seek the Narrow Gate makes a truth claim and the very nature of a truth claim means it excludes any contradictory information. This is the first truth we will present here at Seek the Narrow Gate and more will follow. As always here, we suggest you look at the evidence, don’t just take our word for it. Don’t spend more time picking out movies than you do examining the evidence for a truth claim that has changed many millions of lives, given hope to people throughout the world – and if true, reveals not only the purpose for our existence but the path to eternal life. The impact it has had on the world and on many millions of people make it worth a look, just to see what all the fuss is about. You can learn more about that truth claim on our page about salvation. Seek the Narrow Gate will soon begin presenting regular featured posts to give an answer to these questions, to make a case for the beliefs we hold – in short, to defend the faith.
Kinds of Truth
The purpose here is to establish that truth claims are exclusive of other ideas and also discuss the differences between truth claims and other statements which may be true but are not truth claims. Christianity makes a truth claim. If that truth claim is accurate and correct, it is the single most important thing in the world for each and every human being that ever lived. Doesn’t it make sense to carefully examine the evidence and see for yourself? Common claims against Christianity include evolution, geologic time scales and the impossibility of resurrection, among others. Scientists have effectively refuted macro evolution, even though it is still taught; creation may very well provide the best answer for the origins of everything; and Christianity has abundant evidence for its truth while other religions do not. Don’t believe me though, look at the evidence for yourself.
What is truth? Is truth relative or objective? The fact is that neither relativism nor objectivism provides a complete answer to the question. These two philosophical concepts can be used to view and evaluate the evidence and may help us as we try to determine what is truth. There are different kinds of truths and we will break those down somewhat here, in our own terms. For the purposes of this post, and in order to establish definitions (which philosophers and linguists may not agree with), we will categorize these as truth claims, statements of truth, personal truth statements and relative truth positions, then examine each of these in turn. For our purposes here, we will define a factual truth claim as a truth claim that is actually true, not merely a claim.
What is Truth?
What is truth? The answer: Truth is something that is true. That may sound like an obvious overstatement but it is the starting point we will use to look for an answer. Seek the Narrow Gate is here to present answers about theological issues and posts here will often deal with truth claims. We must acknowledge that there are other kinds of truth though, in order for the discussion to be effective. Two opposite viewpoints are commonly heard today, with respect to theological and philosophical subjects.
One view is relativism and people who embrace this idea state that what is true for one person may not be true for another person. Relativists say that a person’s point of view determines what is true for them and go on to say this is absolutely true for all things. I guess that absolutely depends on your point of view (sarcasm intended). Relative truths, or relative truth positions, may not be the same for every person but not all things are relative to a point of view. Objectivists state that some things are absolute truths and are objectively true regardless of the view point a person holds. Objective truths may not appear to be true to someone but these truths are nevertheless factual, true and accurate. Clouds are made up of water vapor, whether or not they appear to children to be made of cotton.
Let’s examine truth claims because this will be important later in other posts as we progress through different beliefs and the truth claims made by theism, naturalism and perhaps other religious views. You can find a basic introduction to theism and naturalism, as used by Seek the Narrow Gate, here on our YouTube channel. A truth claim is an assertion that a particular statement is factual and does not change based on point of view. Any person can make a statement they claim is true or even one they declare as a truth claim about any subject; but just claiming something is true does not make it so.
Truth Claims
Truth claims are those things which can be objectively evaluated by examining evidence and if factually correct are always true without respect to any viewpoint. This does not mean everyone will agree the truth claim is true, merely that it is an objective statement, can be evaluated objectively, and if found to be true is true in all situations for all people. Statements of personal truth are such things as a mother telling her child that she loves them or a child stating that they like ice cream. These are subjective, often an opinion or personal preference and can be different for different people. This literally comes down to whether or not a person is telling the truth or a lie. Positions of relative truth may be more complex in their variety but include such things as whether or not something is heavy. It may seem heavy to a child but not at all to a strong adult. When a person says “classical music is wonderful”, that statement is not true for everyone.
Seek the Narrow Gate promotes the truth about theology, or the study of GOD. That includes belief in a Creator, the creation of the universe and mankind. Seek the Narrow Gate also promotes the belief that the Bible is the inspired Word of GOD and contains objective truth about those subjects it covers. Some of the truth claims held by Seek the Narrow Gate can be found on our Statement of Belief page. There are other areas of doctrine which the various denominations of the Christian church may disagree on but which are not, in our opinion, things that should divide our primary views. That is the subject of another post though.
Relativism
Examples that fall into one of our three categories would include “the sky is blue”, “stone is soft”, “olive oil is wet”, or “trees need water to grow”. We are going to examine these four claims based on the common knowledge anyone reading this should have.
Relativists frequently try to make the case that there is no objective truth by using the example of two people looking at the same number on the ground. Take a look at the image here, where one person sees a 6 while the other sees a 9. Using this example, we can see that perspective really does matter when evaluating the evidence for any statement. We should be careful however to realize that perspective does not always yield the truth. The person evaluating things may be giving an honest assessment of the information they have and still reach a conclusion that is incorrect, based either on incomplete information or perhaps for some other reason.
Take a second look at the two people looking at a number on the ground. This time the person who drew the number added a line indicating the base of the text. This reveals the number is actually a 6. It was always a 6, it was never a 9. It only appeared to be a 9 because of perspective and incomplete information. Such it is with statements of relative truth. Any situation that involves different perspectives of the observer may lead to a statement of relative truth. This does not carry over to truth claims in the same way though; anyone looking at a red beach ball will see a red beach ball regardless of the position they have in relation to the ball when they view it.
Such it is with truth claims; a thorough and complete evaluation of a factual truth claim will always reveal the same information regardless of view point. Different observers may reach different conclusions about a factual truth claim through incomplete information or for some other reason but if it is a factual truth claim (by our definition) any conclusion that contradicts the claim is incorrect. Remember, each truth claim must stand on its own merits and survive a thorough evaluation of the evidence.
Relative Truth Positions
“The sky is blue” is something we can verify by looking up and seeing the color of the sky. We will note here that the sky is not always blue, such as during a sunrise or sunset or even at night, so this assertion does not always hold to be correct. We see that a statement may be true sometimes but not all the time. The sky is not literally blue but the normal application of language makes this a valid relative truth position, one that may be dependent on the relative times it is viewed or on other things.
“Stone is soft” seems patently false on the surface but if you evaluate this claim with the idea of relativism it could be true in some cases. Soapstone is softer than rose granite but both are stone. Most people would think of stone as always being hard though and never soft. Sometimes statements should be evaluated as they relate to some other piece of information. Soapstone is hard compared to most woods but softer than many other forms of stone. The statement “olive oil is wet” is factual so long as the definition we are accepting for wet is not specific to water but can include other things besides water; in this case oil is wet but not in the same way water is wet. This is a relative truth position and illustrates the point well, although some might consider this stretching the definition.
Statements of Truth
“Trees need water to grow” is a claim that requires good observation over time and measured results in order to evaluate. Trees need water to grow but few people will ask for evidence of this; these sorts of observations and measurements have been done formally and informally for many years. This statement requires detailed examination by an individual in order to verify if it is factual, or to use a different term, incontrovertible. A controlled experiment conducted over time would clearly show trees need water to grow and thrive. There are some statements for which data is limited or not easily accessible though; these therefore require a greater depth of study to prove or disprove. That does not change whether or not the statement is true; it merely indicates examining the evidence may take some time. Keep that thought in mind for future posts about the truth of the Bible.
Saying something is true does not make it so and at the same time saying something is not true does not make it false. We have seen some statements, like “the sky is blue”, which are true some of the time but not all of the time. What we can be certain of with regard to the statement “the sky is blue” is that the same section of sky viewed from the same place cannot be any other color at the same time it is blue. This is the law of non-contradiction, which states that opposite assertions cannot be true at the same time2.
Can You Prove It?
Those who object to truth claims will often ask for proof. They will then frequently try to restrict the discussion to scientific evidence. Proof requires evidence but not all evidence is found in the laboratory. We can’t directly observe or measure everything that exists but this is not the only means we have to gather evidence. Consider the five senses as an example of ways we can observe things we may not be able to measure. I can look out a window in a quiet building on a windy day and know the wind is blowing by looking at the grass, trees and dust blowing. There is no need to see the air moving (which I can never see), feel the wind on my skin or hear it blowing by. It isn’t possible to directly perceive the wind blowing in this situation; I can only see its effects. Evidence to support or refute some truth claims may be available by seeing the effects (indirect observation) or in some cases the results, not necessarily by direct observation.
As pointed out above, a common viewpoint about truth claims is they must be provable by empirical or scientific means. Some things can be proven in this way but there are also things which defy standard measurable forms of proof and are just as true. Ask most people if their mother loves them and they will say yes; ask them to prove it empirically and they may stumble over that a little (sarcasm intended). They may claim indirect evidence but a counterpoint could be that their mother just does those things to meet social conventions for the sake of her own reputation. This argument can be used for and against a variety of indirect evidence for many statements of truth, whether they are truth claims, statements of truth, personal truth statements or relative truth positions. That doesn’t mean the argument is effective, merely that it has been presented as evidence. Indirect evidence may provide a high level of proof in some situations though. When information is presented that can be verified but the only reasonable or sometimes the only possible explanations point to a truth claim being factual, that is valid evidence for the truth of the claim, whether or not a person chooses to accept it.
Truth Claims and Evidence
Seek the Narrow Gate holds the position that Christianity is the true and correct world view but at no time will you find a suggestion here that this should be accepted on blind faith. Dr. Frank Turek, in his book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist (2004) points out that as mortal, finite humans trying to understand an infinite universe and an infinite GOD we will never be able to reach 100% certainty3. Dr. Turek also points out that the level of faith needed for atheism, which has very little evidence, is a far higher level of faith than what is needed to believe in Christianity which has an abundance of verifiable evidence to support it3. There will always be some unattainable level of evidence or proof that leaves any person short of absolute certainty. Faith is belief in things unseen and there will always be some shred of faith required for any of the truth claims in the world, even for atheism. Dr. Turek estimates the level of available proof for the best arguments to be perhaps around 95% at best3. Gödel’s incompleteness theorem (see the link below) shows this is not even possible in math, quite a surprise to lower level math students but not something I would try to argue with my professor4.
This level of uncertainty is the same for all religious truth claims though. Buddhism, Hindusim, Islam, Mormonism, even agnosticism and atheism; each of these requires its own level of faith. An important question is how much evidence do any of these views have for their validity. We will address the different denominations of Christianity, at least from the point of view held by Seek the Narrow Gate, in a different post but that will not be today. The point to this however, is that all of the various religious views, including atheism, are exclusive; if they are true the other claims are by default false and therefore excluded.
The Christian Truth Claim
The Bible teaches us that GOD (the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob from the Holy Bible, not another being, real or imaginary, who claims to be GOD) created all things and that Jesus Christ said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6. That is either true or false. It is exclusive in its claim and if true, no claim which contradicts this can be true. Much like the sky cannot be blue and another color at the same time, if Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life”, then GOD is real and did make the universe and mankind too. No claim which contradicts this in any way can be true. Truth is, by its very nature, exclusive. We will begin to present the arguments here, for your review, that we believe prove Christianity is true.
For further reading on this subject I recommend the book by Dr. Frank Turek and Dr. Norman Geisler: I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist3. Dr. Turek makes a valid point in this statement: “Contrary to what is being taught in many public schools, truth is not relative but absolute. If something is true, it’s true for all people, at all times, in all places. All truth claims are absolute, narrow, and exclusive. Just think about the claim ‘everything is true.’ That’s an absolute, narrow, and exclusive claim. It excludes its opposite (i.e., it claims that the statement ‘everything is not true’ is wrong). In fact, all truths exclude their opposites. Even religious truths.”
Seek the Narrow Gate for that way lies truth . . . . .
[1] Cosby, B., & George, T. (2015). Uncensored: daring to embrace the entire bible. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook. [Kindle Edition].https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0135GGMXO/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
2Gottlieb, P. (2019, March 06). Aristotle on Non-contradiction. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-noncontradiction/
3 Turek, F.March 12, 2004. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Foreword by David Limbaugh) (p. 37). Crossway. [Kindle Edition]. https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Have-Enough-Faith-Atheist/dp/1581345615/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1612839453&sr=8-4
4Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (Nov 11, 2013, Apr 2, 2020). Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/goedel-incompleteness/