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"All Truth is God's Truth"

Friday, July 4th, 2008

I came across two statements about truth recently in the book Trick or Treatment?: alternative medicine on trial by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst.

Statement 1: “Truth exists – only lies are invented” (Georges Braque).

Christian apologetics is primarily the defence of the truth of the Christian faith against criticism and misunderstanding. Jesus Christ said “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Whatever is true is in some way connected to the one who is the Truth, Jesus Christ. So we can celebrate the expression of the truth, wherever we find it.

Statement 2: “Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day, like a football, and it will be round and full at evening” (Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr).

Truths can be hidden amongst misunderstanding, falsehood and even lies, but it remains truth nevertheless. Today’s culture often reflects the truth about human nature, about the quest for meaning and value, about the search for the ‘spiritual’, even though that culture often fails to realise where these truths are properly to be found – in God.

“What is truth?”, asked Pilate: Ministries such as Damaris’ Culturewatch aim to identify the truths incorporated in films, books, music, art, and, just as importantly, they also point out where their errors lie. One Keith Green song has Satan saying: “I put some truth in every lie, to tickle itching ears”. Even though we can celebrate truth wherever we find it, we must not ignore the falsehood that exists alongside it.

As Jesus sent his disciples into the world to preach, he warned them to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). We need to defend the truth and expose the false with “gentleness and respect”, and we should be able and willing to give an answer to everyone who asks us about the reason for our hope (1 Peter 3:15). Peter’s emphasis on both the medium and the message challenges us today. May his words be true of each one of us as we aim to present to those around us the one who is the Truth:

“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:14-16)

Posted by Chris Knight at 12:00

7 Comments

Eric Sawyer (Mon 14 Jul)

Personally I think a lie is more like a CD with faulty sectors played on a player that reconstructs the faulty sectors. The only solution is to get a brand new CD that does not have any skip. Spiritually speaking there is only one CD that has no skips.

Tom (Thu 17 Jul)

Truth has been split into pieces. We have personal, private truths, and these can be completely unrelated to public, universal truths. Only certain people and authorities can talk about truth publicly: journalists with video cameras, judicial systems with wigs, policemen with notebooks. We're cynical about what people do with truth too. Are they twisting it to get their own way? We're not communicating with the same world of 10 years ago, where you could say to someone, that God is true. Now you are a nutter or a fundamentalist if you say stuff like that to people. Sometimes they tell you that, that's what they think, other I think they think it quietly.

John W. Loftus (Wed 30 Jul)

A third thing Dr. Strauss drilled into us is that “all truth is God’s truth,” and by this he meant that if something is true, it’s of God, no matter where we find it, whether through science, philosophy, psychology, history or experience itself. There is no secular/sacred dichotomy when it comes to truth. There is no such thing as secular “knowledge” at all, if by this we mean beliefs that are justifiably true. Neither sinful, nor carnal, nor secular “knowledge” exists as a category because such “knowledge” isn’t true. All truth is sacred and it comes from God alone. Since not all truth is to be found in the Bible, it follows that the Christian thinker must try to harmonize all knowledge wherever she finds it. According to Strauss, the Christian thinker must view all knowledge gained outside of the Bible through the lens of the Christian worldview and reject anything that does not conform to it. He argued “from above” that the Christian worldview is what best interprets these other truths, something I now deny. My claim will be that the truths learned outside of the Bible in other areas of learning debunks the Bible. That which we learn outside the Bible continually forces us to reinterpret the Bible over and over until there is no longer any basis for believing in the Christian worldview. We cannot harmonize what we find in the Bible with that which we find outside the Bible.

Smootherprince (Sat 2 Aug)

I tend to think that truth works a little like Einsteins Beam of light, in that it is always truth, wherever it is seen from the observer, As Tom aluded to, it appears that there are different truths, but truth is also never in isolation, it is always relative to the veiwer, just as light is always moving at the same speed. Biblical Christianity could calll this interplay relationship, because it is relational, an intersubjectivity of relational beings, on of whom Christians believe is truth personified.

Jonathan (Sun 3 Aug)

This is all way to simplistic. If I make the statement " 'God is an ass', said Richard Dakins" (not Dawkins - no libel intended). I'd be most likely quoted in the press as saying "God is an ass" - its true that I said that, but doesn't represent the truth (of what I said). There's a lot of interpretation and digging to be done to find the truth.

Tom (Wed 6 Aug)

Dear Mr Loftus, I might be misunderstanding your comment, I'm sorry if I am. If I'm not then your suggestion that the Christian argues 'from above' and rejects anything that doesn't conform to the Christian worldview is a little bit sneaky. Are you suggesting that there are no Christians who would argue for the Christian worldview from the same sorts of evidences and data that you do, and who would not reject (without due consideration) elements of other worldviews without serious consideration? Certainly, it seems that you do agree with the Christian that Christian faith is either true of false and we can investigate that together, in a rational conversation that makes sense. That's a good place to start our conversations. I have in fact misunderstood you, haven't I? And you're not trying to paint a picture of all Christians rejecting opposing ideas/truths, seemingly arbitrarily as they argue (condescendingly?) 'from above'.

Eija Mich (Wed 27 Aug)

Does this scripture (1 Peter 3:14-16) mean we need to defend what we consider truth, or as you said vs 15 to give an answer about the reason for the hope that we have? Are there other scriptures that call us to defend the truth?

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