We live in a culture that has devalued truth. According to Philip Steyne, “The concept of absolute truth has lost favor with today’s society.” Ask someone to define the word truth, and the majority will give you a subjective answer. They may begin by saying that truth is “what’s real” or “reality,” which is fine, but if you delve deeper, especially if you delve into matters of religion or philosophy, people will basically tell you that truth is subjective. They will give you the existential answer: truth is what you believe; or they will give you the pragmatic answer: truth is what works for you. If they are especially erudite and progressive, they may even tell you that truth is what a given cultural group actualizes. All of those are lies, and a lie about truth is the worst kind of lie of all.
Truth is that which corresponds to its referent. In other words, truth is that which accurately, objectively describes reality, and the nature of truth is the same whether we are discussing border walls, mathematics, history, or religion. Granted, truth can be difficult to determine when it comes to historical and metaphysical matters, but difficult is not impossible; and, something is true whether a person knows or believes it or not. All other definitions of the word truth are self-defeating. This theory of truth has roots in the first principle of logic, the law of non-contradiction. The law of noncontradiction states that for any object A, A is not non-A. In other words, a claim cannot be both true and not true in the same way at the same time.
In the words of Jesse Waters, “Can I have permission to make an analogy?” Thank you. Say John and James are riding down the road in John’s new truck. James claims that the truck is a Chevrolet Silverado, and John corrects him by telling him that it is actually a Dodge Ram 2500. James argues that he knows the truck is a Chevy. However, the truck, which John bought new from Scott Evans Nissan and Dodge, is a Ram, not a Chevy, no matter how hard James believes it is a Chevy. They arrive at their destination and park, James gets out of the truck to look at it, and James admits to John that the truck is, indeed, a Ram, not a Chevy. Truth is that which corresponds to its referent. In the case of the truck, the pronoun that is the Ram 2500, and the referent is the truck. The truth is the truck is a Ram 2500. The truck cannot be both a Chevy and a Ram at the same time. That would be a contradiction in terms. An object is what it is and cannot be both itself and something that it is not at the same time. A is not non-A. I know this illustration seems silly and elementary, but when someone says that truth is subjective in any way, they are saying that John’s new truck could be both a Chevy and a Ram at the same time, a position that is irrational, untenable, and frankly unworthy of discussion.
The correspondence theory of truth applies to trucks, and it applies to religion. Now, it can be harder to know what is true in matters of religion than in matters of trucks, but truth is separate from knowledge. The truth is true regardless of anyone’s personal beliefs on the matter. In the illustration with the truck, it was a Ram the whole time James thought that it was a Chevrolet. James’ search for the truth about John’s truck in no way affected the truth that the truck was a Ram 2500. When a truth is difficult to prove, it actually becomes vitally important that we set forth to do so, and that premise is never more critical than it is in discussing religion. Religion is a life-shaping worldview. People’s concepts of religion shape everything they do, and everyone alive actually has a religion by which they live. Some are obvious, what people are used to calling religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the rest. Others are less likely to be typified as religions but still govern how people choose to live their lives, like pragmatism, atheism, agnosticism, humanism, existentialism, and postmodernism. How does a person decide by which worldview they should live? I would suggest that they should live by the one that is true, the religion that corresponds to reality. Applying the law of non-contradiction, a worldview is true if it is consistent internally and externally. In other words, a worldview passes the truth test if it neither contradicts itself nor contradicts known facts about reality. Only biblical Christianity passes this test. It is outside the scope of this short essay to prove that fact, but it is both provable and important to articulate. Of all the philosophies and worldviews by which men attempt to live, only Christianity coheres with reality without contradicting itself. That is why J. P. Moreland encouraged, “Christians must stop talking about ‘belief’ in life after death, heaven and hell, and must reexpress their views on these and related matters as expressions of knowledge of reality.”
Ideas have consequences. In a world where any idea can be true, anything goes, except for the idea that certain ideas are no good. Morality goes out the window, and genocide comes crawling in. Do you think I am exaggerating? How many people died in World War II? How many mass shootings has the United States seen this century? Why is suicide the second-leading cause of death in Americans aged 15-34? Why do Islamic extremists seek to annihilate people who disagree with their beliefs? None of those events ensued from embracing the truth.
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