Hey Brother,
What is true? What is truth? I remember the question was brought up in a new media thinktank/philosophy class in college. The professor told us of a study where witnesses to a car accident couldn’t even correctly identify the color of the car. For some, it was true that a grey car caused the accident. For others, it was true that a blue, green, or whatever other color car they remember caused the accident. My professor used this example to “prove” that truth is relative.
This angered me to no end, and I let the professor know it. No matter what people remember, the color of the car is a fact. Let’s look at the science of color. Light comes from the sun, some wavelengths of light are absorbed, and some are reflected. Whatever wavelengths are reflected make up the color of that car. We can debate what to call that color (men see white, women see… “eggshell”) but that debate is simply social semantics. Even if no one is there to witness it, those wavelengths are being reflected; therefore, that car’s color is a fact.
The same logic can be applied to one of the most famous of philosophical questions. “If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” If truth is only what we perceive, then the answer is no; but truth isn’t just what we perceive. Sound is vibration traveling through the air. In our example, the sound is the vibration caused by the kinetic energy of the falling tree being converted to another form of energy when it stops. That energy is sound. Whether I’m there to hear it or not, those vibrations are traveling through the air.
Our understanding of the truth is relative, but that doesn’t change the fact that something IS indeed true!
In today’s world, many people get offended when you say only one religion is true. But, just like in the examples above, there must be an answer that is fact and truth. We may perceive it or interpret it the wrong way, but that doesn’t change the fact that (as one show famously put it) “the truth is out there.”
For Christians, we believe Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by” Him (John 14:6). Some people are offended by that statement. They say all religions are true. Well, even that belief is a truth statement unto itself and is, therefore, a religion they believe in.
If we are wrong about Christ (and I’m sure we’re not), something else has to be true. So, when you have doubts about your faith, don’t just sit there doubting, look at the alternatives. Are they better? Do they hold the keys to eternal life? Do they rely on our own individual righteousness and strength? I don’t know about you, but I know I can’t save myself. That fact is one of the many reasons I believe that the message of the Bible and Christianity is true.
We all believe something and have our own perception of truth. However, absolute truth exists whether we believe it or not. Other people may say we are foolish for our faith, ignorant for our hope, “but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17
Share below how God has revealed His absolute truth in your life!
Kristopher Galuska
Family Radio Staff