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The Nature of Truth
Episode 63 – The Nature of Truth Part 1
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the New American Standard Bible)
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.”
The Gospel of John, Chapter 18, verses 37 and 38, New American Standard Bible
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
The Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 5 and 6, New American Standard Bible
********
VK: Hi! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time health consultant. He checks the expiration date of the ibuprofen in the cabinet. Sometimes we need it for some of the concepts he foists upon the staff. Like today. RD, I think that you said that today that you want to start a new series where we’re going to talk about a couple of very simple and noncontroversial topics: the nature of truth and the nature of faith.
RD: Exactly. How hard can that be? All we’re going to be doing is talking about two five-letter words: truth and faith. I’ll bet most people use one or both of those words every day. I just want to talk about what those words actually mean. Piece of cake.
VK: Yeah. Sounds like the real potential for head scratching … or headaches today. Well, before we start talking about the topics that have had philosophers and theologians wrangling for thousands of years maybe we should start on the lighter side. How about if we listen to how all the debates got started in the first place with a Life Lesson with a Laugh on the very first verse of the Bible?
---- Life Lessons – Genesis 1 – Let There Be Light
VK: Hmmm. Hard to know where to go from there. I suppose you want to connect the fact that light and truth are pretty much inseparable?
RD: Well, that’s not a bad start and it’s actually a very relevant observation. In the Bible light and truth are connected so frequently that they are almost synonymous. But let’s start out with the question that Pilate asked when he was interviewing Jesus before the crucifixion: “What is truth?” We heard that question in our first scripture today, but notice that Pilate didn’t wait for an answer. The scripture says that after Pilate asked the question he went out to the Jews who were outside and immediately pronounced that he found no guilt in Jesus. But interestingly enough, if Pilate had been with Jesus just a day earlier in the Upper Room he would have had an answer to his question.
VK: Because in the Upper Room in John 14:6 Jesus had said that he was “the way, the truth, and the life?”
RD: Yes. Jesus told His disciples that He – Jesus – was the truth. Now this is going to get a little tricky …
VK: Oh, no. Not headaches this early …
RD: Well, maybe some head scratching. Notice, Jesus didn’t say that He “knew the truth” or that he was going “to tell them truth.” No. He said He WAS the truth. And as God incarnate, if Jesus said that He was the truth He knew what He was talking about. But that’s not the tricky part. The tricky part was Jesus connected His being the truth to Him also being the way and the life. So, to put it simply, Jesus was connecting himself in an unambiguous way to being the way to eternal life because after saying that He was “the way, the truth, and the life,” He continued by saying “No one comes to Father except through me.” The reason I want to start there is because in those two very short sentences Jesus laid out the stakes for not knowing the truth. If we don’t know the truth, we don’t have access to the Father which of course means enjoying eternal bliss with the Father in heaven.
VK: Yikes. That’s a sobering thought. So what you’re saying is that it’s incumbent on everyone, but particularly Christians, to understand what’s at stake when we talk about truth – REAL truth. Not just everyday truths like whether we’re the ones who left the back door open when the flies came in or whether we filled up the gas tank in the car. Christians are the ones in possession of the BIG truth – that Jesus is the key to eternal life.
RD: Exactly. And that’s why it’s so important that we have a very clear eyed understanding of what truth is and is not. Today, you hear a lot of people talk about “my truth,” or “your truth.” When they use those terms they are making a very dangerous mistake. They are very subtly transforming the meaning of the term truth and in effect using the term truth when they really should be saying “my opinion” or “your opinion” or “my preference” or “your preference.” That’s not what truth is at all.
VK: Okay. We’re back to Pilate’s question. What is truth?
RD: Simply put, truth can be defined as “that which corresponds to reality.”
VK: Sounds simple enough. Truth is what corresponds to reality. What’s so hard or controversial about that?
RD: When we’re talking about every day truths like whether someone filled up the gas tank it may or not be very controversial. And there’s an easy way to settle competing truth claims. Go and look at the fuel level in the car. But when it comes to the really BIG truths – like whether God exists and whether there really is an eternal heaven or hell – that’s when the trouble arises, as we all know.
VK: Well, I think many people would say that for the, as you put it, big truths we can’t know the truth, reality, for sure.
RD: Yes. They do say that. But that’s why it’s important for us, particularly Christians, to ensure that we understand the truth and that we can provide reasonable answers to reasonable questions. That’s what 1 Peter 3:15 requires us to do. But in order to explain truth we must first understand it ourselves. Now on our next episode of Anchored by Truth I want to more fully discuss how to judge between competing truth claims.
VK: Like whether God exists or the Bible is the word of God or Jesus is the Messiah?
RD: Among others, yes. But before we talk about how to judge between competing truth claims let’s take a look at some of the attributes of truth. First, the truth, a truth is always singular. There can be an infinite number of individual truths, but of those truths is single, whereas there is literally no limit to the number of errors that might be associated with that truth.
VK: I think we’re going to need an example of what you’re thinking about.
RD: Here’s one we often have fun with, Jerry’s name. Jerry’s name is well … Jerry. But in the humor series we do, the Life Lessons with a Laugh, I can’t ever seem to come with that name. But there’s probably a hundred variants I use – J-Bang, No-See-J. In one lesson I call him Jermajesty.
VK: Jermajesty? Really?
RD: I found that one on the internet under a list of boys’ names starting with J. Anyway, there’s no limit to the number of ways I can mess up Jerry’s name. But all those pertain to a single truth – his real name is Jerry. So truth is singular. There’s no limit on errors, and errors can come in two forms: accidental or innocent or deliberate. Deliberate deviations from the truth would normally be called lies whereas innocent or accidental deviations from the truth are mistakes or errors.
VK: And the Bible prohibits lying because it normally involves the intention to deceive another person, though not all lies arise out of evil. Rahab, the harlot, lied to the men in Jericho searching for the Hebrew spies to protect them from being discovered. But that, of course, was all part of God’s plan to deliver Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. So, that kind of exception doesn’t justify or apply to the vast majority of lies told by people.
RD: Right. So, we now know that truth is that which corresponds to reality and that deviations from the truth can be innocent or deliberate and there can be many, many (in fact an unlimited number) of those deviations. But here’s a really important point. No matter how many lies or errors people tell about a truth, none of those affect the truth. In other words, lies about a truth don’t change the REALITY. Errors about facts don’t change the facts.
VK: Uh oh. I think I see where you’re going with this. If a doctor truthfully tells a patient that the patient has cancer, the patient can tell his or her friends that they don’t but that won’t change the fact, the truth, that the patient has the disease. Same thing with the gas tank. Saying you filled up the tank when you didn’t doesn’t add any gas to the tank. And the same thing is true of the BIG truths. If Jesus was correct when He said that He was the only way to the Father, denying or lying about that truth won’t change it. This is so simple in one way, but so profound in another.
RD: And here’s another one of those points. The number of people who agree or disagree with a particular truth won’t change the truth. Or as it’s sometimes put, “Majority opinion doesn’t determine the truth.” So, for instance, when we did our series on the Truth in Genesis and we listened to Dr. Jonathan Sarfati defend the scientific evidence for Biblical Creationism, the fact that the majority of “scientists” may or may not agree with Biblical Creationism doesn’t affect whether Biblical Creationism corresponds to reality – is true. To make the point slightly differently, opinions about the truth don’t affect the truth. The patient may, probably does, hate the fact they have cancer, but their feelings won’t affect the fact that they have it. Now, a good attitude may very well help the patient fight the cancer effectively, but it won’t change the underlying fact no matter how many pop psychology books proclaim that we can change reality simply by our thoughts.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that we need to learn to be able to distinguish truth from lies or errors because the truth is what will actually affect us. If the gas tank is empty, we need to go and fill it up before we leave on a trip otherwise we’ll get stranded on the side of the road. And if Jesus is the only way to eternal life – well, at least the eternity in which we want to live, one of joy and bliss – then we have to learn to deal with that reality. Opinions about whether there should be more than one way to eternal life, agreement or disagreement about whether that’s fair or just, none of that will change the underlying fact that Jesus made that claim in the Upper Room that no one could come to the Father except through Him.
RD: Precisely. And that’s why understanding the nature of truth is so important. Truth corresponds to reality. We can enjoy or agree with the reality or hate it with all our might, but we still have to deal with it. Now, of course, for those of us who are Christians, followers of Christ, derive an unspeakable joy from knowing that we have a Savior. But those who would prefer another way to heaven may object mightily to the seeming exclusivity. That’s why when I explain to people why I’m a Christian I emphasize I start with the fact that I believe that Christianity is true. So, how I feel about that truth is, in the final analysis, irrelevant. And that’s the biggest reason we do Anchored by Truth. We want people to have a solid foundation for knowing why, when we say that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God that we are talking about the truth – possibly the most important truth of all time.
VK:. But that, of course, raises the question of how we can know the truth. Obviously, in order to know the truth we must have a way of distinguishing among competing truth claims. Because you are not denying that there are other books that also claim to be the word of God.
RD: Certainly I wouldn’t deny that and that’s the reason I want to discuss on our next show how it’s possible to judge between competing truth claims. But before we close for today I just want to circle back to summarize and make one final point. Jesus didn’t just say that He was the way, the truth, and the life. In John 8:12 He also said that He was the light of the world and those who follow Him would never walk in darkness. So, when it comes to determining what is true and what is a lie or an error it is imperative that we have the light of Christ for our minds to be truly illuminated. That’s why the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians says that the message of the cross is foolishness to the world. That’s also why we should pray diligently that the Lord will illuminate the minds and hearts of those who have not yet come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. Our job is to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have, but only God can change the human heart.
VK:. I think that’s a good reminder for all of us. We must do our part but we must trust God to do his. So to summarize what we’ve talked about today. Truth is that which corresponds to reality. It is not merely personal preference or opinion no matter how passionate someone may feel about what they see as the truth. Also, truth doesn’t change no matter how many different variations of the truth may be offered. Truth also isn’t affected by emotions - how people feel about it. Nor is it affected by how many people may agree or disagree with it. Truth is not determined by majority opinion. And finally Jesus told us that he is both light and truth so ultimately we must keep our eyes on Him to have any real hope of knowing the truth in this life. Wow. That’s a lot for one time. Guess it’s time to pray so let’s pray today that God would illuminate this nation through the restoration of the worship of the one true God.
---- PRAYER FOR RESTORATION OF THE WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE GOD
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New American Standard Bible)
The Gospel of John, Chapter 18, verses 37 and 38, New American Standard Bible
The Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 5 and 6, New American Standard Bible
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By R.D.Fierro
5
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Episode 63 – The Nature of Truth Part 1
Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.
Script: (Bible quotes from the New American Standard Bible)
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.”
The Gospel of John, Chapter 18, verses 37 and 38, New American Standard Bible
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
The Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 5 and 6, New American Standard Bible
********
VK: Hi! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m here today with RD Fierro, author and founder of Crystal Sea Books, and part-time health consultant. He checks the expiration date of the ibuprofen in the cabinet. Sometimes we need it for some of the concepts he foists upon the staff. Like today. RD, I think that you said that today that you want to start a new series where we’re going to talk about a couple of very simple and noncontroversial topics: the nature of truth and the nature of faith.
RD: Exactly. How hard can that be? All we’re going to be doing is talking about two five-letter words: truth and faith. I’ll bet most people use one or both of those words every day. I just want to talk about what those words actually mean. Piece of cake.
VK: Yeah. Sounds like the real potential for head scratching … or headaches today. Well, before we start talking about the topics that have had philosophers and theologians wrangling for thousands of years maybe we should start on the lighter side. How about if we listen to how all the debates got started in the first place with a Life Lesson with a Laugh on the very first verse of the Bible?
---- Life Lessons – Genesis 1 – Let There Be Light
VK: Hmmm. Hard to know where to go from there. I suppose you want to connect the fact that light and truth are pretty much inseparable?
RD: Well, that’s not a bad start and it’s actually a very relevant observation. In the Bible light and truth are connected so frequently that they are almost synonymous. But let’s start out with the question that Pilate asked when he was interviewing Jesus before the crucifixion: “What is truth?” We heard that question in our first scripture today, but notice that Pilate didn’t wait for an answer. The scripture says that after Pilate asked the question he went out to the Jews who were outside and immediately pronounced that he found no guilt in Jesus. But interestingly enough, if Pilate had been with Jesus just a day earlier in the Upper Room he would have had an answer to his question.
VK: Because in the Upper Room in John 14:6 Jesus had said that he was “the way, the truth, and the life?”
RD: Yes. Jesus told His disciples that He – Jesus – was the truth. Now this is going to get a little tricky …
VK: Oh, no. Not headaches this early …
RD: Well, maybe some head scratching. Notice, Jesus didn’t say that He “knew the truth” or that he was going “to tell them truth.” No. He said He WAS the truth. And as God incarnate, if Jesus said that He was the truth He knew what He was talking about. But that’s not the tricky part. The tricky part was Jesus connected His being the truth to Him also being the way and the life. So, to put it simply, Jesus was connecting himself in an unambiguous way to being the way to eternal life because after saying that He was “the way, the truth, and the life,” He continued by saying “No one comes to Father except through me.” The reason I want to start there is because in those two very short sentences Jesus laid out the stakes for not knowing the truth. If we don’t know the truth, we don’t have access to the Father which of course means enjoying eternal bliss with the Father in heaven.
VK: Yikes. That’s a sobering thought. So what you’re saying is that it’s incumbent on everyone, but particularly Christians, to understand what’s at stake when we talk about truth – REAL truth. Not just everyday truths like whether we’re the ones who left the back door open when the flies came in or whether we filled up the gas tank in the car. Christians are the ones in possession of the BIG truth – that Jesus is the key to eternal life.
RD: Exactly. And that’s why it’s so important that we have a very clear eyed understanding of what truth is and is not. Today, you hear a lot of people talk about “my truth,” or “your truth.” When they use those terms they are making a very dangerous mistake. They are very subtly transforming the meaning of the term truth and in effect using the term truth when they really should be saying “my opinion” or “your opinion” or “my preference” or “your preference.” That’s not what truth is at all.
VK: Okay. We’re back to Pilate’s question. What is truth?
RD: Simply put, truth can be defined as “that which corresponds to reality.”
VK: Sounds simple enough. Truth is what corresponds to reality. What’s so hard or controversial about that?
RD: When we’re talking about every day truths like whether someone filled up the gas tank it may or not be very controversial. And there’s an easy way to settle competing truth claims. Go and look at the fuel level in the car. But when it comes to the really BIG truths – like whether God exists and whether there really is an eternal heaven or hell – that’s when the trouble arises, as we all know.
VK: Well, I think many people would say that for the, as you put it, big truths we can’t know the truth, reality, for sure.
RD: Yes. They do say that. But that’s why it’s important for us, particularly Christians, to ensure that we understand the truth and that we can provide reasonable answers to reasonable questions. That’s what 1 Peter 3:15 requires us to do. But in order to explain truth we must first understand it ourselves. Now on our next episode of Anchored by Truth I want to more fully discuss how to judge between competing truth claims.
VK: Like whether God exists or the Bible is the word of God or Jesus is the Messiah?
RD: Among others, yes. But before we talk about how to judge between competing truth claims let’s take a look at some of the attributes of truth. First, the truth, a truth is always singular. There can be an infinite number of individual truths, but of those truths is single, whereas there is literally no limit to the number of errors that might be associated with that truth.
VK: I think we’re going to need an example of what you’re thinking about.
RD: Here’s one we often have fun with, Jerry’s name. Jerry’s name is well … Jerry. But in the humor series we do, the Life Lessons with a Laugh, I can’t ever seem to come with that name. But there’s probably a hundred variants I use – J-Bang, No-See-J. In one lesson I call him Jermajesty.
VK: Jermajesty? Really?
RD: I found that one on the internet under a list of boys’ names starting with J. Anyway, there’s no limit to the number of ways I can mess up Jerry’s name. But all those pertain to a single truth – his real name is Jerry. So truth is singular. There’s no limit on errors, and errors can come in two forms: accidental or innocent or deliberate. Deliberate deviations from the truth would normally be called lies whereas innocent or accidental deviations from the truth are mistakes or errors.
VK: And the Bible prohibits lying because it normally involves the intention to deceive another person, though not all lies arise out of evil. Rahab, the harlot, lied to the men in Jericho searching for the Hebrew spies to protect them from being discovered. But that, of course, was all part of God’s plan to deliver Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. So, that kind of exception doesn’t justify or apply to the vast majority of lies told by people.
RD: Right. So, we now know that truth is that which corresponds to reality and that deviations from the truth can be innocent or deliberate and there can be many, many (in fact an unlimited number) of those deviations. But here’s a really important point. No matter how many lies or errors people tell about a truth, none of those affect the truth. In other words, lies about a truth don’t change the REALITY. Errors about facts don’t change the facts.
VK: Uh oh. I think I see where you’re going with this. If a doctor truthfully tells a patient that the patient has cancer, the patient can tell his or her friends that they don’t but that won’t change the fact, the truth, that the patient has the disease. Same thing with the gas tank. Saying you filled up the tank when you didn’t doesn’t add any gas to the tank. And the same thing is true of the BIG truths. If Jesus was correct when He said that He was the only way to the Father, denying or lying about that truth won’t change it. This is so simple in one way, but so profound in another.
RD: And here’s another one of those points. The number of people who agree or disagree with a particular truth won’t change the truth. Or as it’s sometimes put, “Majority opinion doesn’t determine the truth.” So, for instance, when we did our series on the Truth in Genesis and we listened to Dr. Jonathan Sarfati defend the scientific evidence for Biblical Creationism, the fact that the majority of “scientists” may or may not agree with Biblical Creationism doesn’t affect whether Biblical Creationism corresponds to reality – is true. To make the point slightly differently, opinions about the truth don’t affect the truth. The patient may, probably does, hate the fact they have cancer, but their feelings won’t affect the fact that they have it. Now, a good attitude may very well help the patient fight the cancer effectively, but it won’t change the underlying fact no matter how many pop psychology books proclaim that we can change reality simply by our thoughts.
VK: So, what you’re saying is that we need to learn to be able to distinguish truth from lies or errors because the truth is what will actually affect us. If the gas tank is empty, we need to go and fill it up before we leave on a trip otherwise we’ll get stranded on the side of the road. And if Jesus is the only way to eternal life – well, at least the eternity in which we want to live, one of joy and bliss – then we have to learn to deal with that reality. Opinions about whether there should be more than one way to eternal life, agreement or disagreement about whether that’s fair or just, none of that will change the underlying fact that Jesus made that claim in the Upper Room that no one could come to the Father except through Him.
RD: Precisely. And that’s why understanding the nature of truth is so important. Truth corresponds to reality. We can enjoy or agree with the reality or hate it with all our might, but we still have to deal with it. Now, of course, for those of us who are Christians, followers of Christ, derive an unspeakable joy from knowing that we have a Savior. But those who would prefer another way to heaven may object mightily to the seeming exclusivity. That’s why when I explain to people why I’m a Christian I emphasize I start with the fact that I believe that Christianity is true. So, how I feel about that truth is, in the final analysis, irrelevant. And that’s the biggest reason we do Anchored by Truth. We want people to have a solid foundation for knowing why, when we say that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God that we are talking about the truth – possibly the most important truth of all time.
VK:. But that, of course, raises the question of how we can know the truth. Obviously, in order to know the truth we must have a way of distinguishing among competing truth claims. Because you are not denying that there are other books that also claim to be the word of God.
RD: Certainly I wouldn’t deny that and that’s the reason I want to discuss on our next show how it’s possible to judge between competing truth claims. But before we close for today I just want to circle back to summarize and make one final point. Jesus didn’t just say that He was the way, the truth, and the life. In John 8:12 He also said that He was the light of the world and those who follow Him would never walk in darkness. So, when it comes to determining what is true and what is a lie or an error it is imperative that we have the light of Christ for our minds to be truly illuminated. That’s why the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians says that the message of the cross is foolishness to the world. That’s also why we should pray diligently that the Lord will illuminate the minds and hearts of those who have not yet come to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. Our job is to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have, but only God can change the human heart.
VK:. I think that’s a good reminder for all of us. We must do our part but we must trust God to do his. So to summarize what we’ve talked about today. Truth is that which corresponds to reality. It is not merely personal preference or opinion no matter how passionate someone may feel about what they see as the truth. Also, truth doesn’t change no matter how many different variations of the truth may be offered. Truth also isn’t affected by emotions - how people feel about it. Nor is it affected by how many people may agree or disagree with it. Truth is not determined by majority opinion. And finally Jesus told us that he is both light and truth so ultimately we must keep our eyes on Him to have any real hope of knowing the truth in this life. Wow. That’s a lot for one time. Guess it’s time to pray so let’s pray today that God would illuminate this nation through the restoration of the worship of the one true God.
---- PRAYER FOR RESTORATION OF THE WORSHIP OF THE ONE TRUE GOD
VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”
If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not famous but our Boss is!”
(Bible Quotes from the New American Standard Bible)
The Gospel of John, Chapter 18, verses 37 and 38, New American Standard Bible
The Gospel of John, Chapter 14, verses 5 and 6, New American Standard Bible