WHAT IS TRUTH? PART 1

“What is truth?” If you went around asking that question there would be as many answers as there were people asked.

Some believe there is no truth, some believe truth is what you make it, some believe truth is clearly found in the Bible, some believe truth is what you can see, and some believe objective propositional statements that articulate truth are the truth.

Within this wide spectrum there is much debate. One thing many seem to miss however is the experience and reality surrounding any truth claim. All people in all places bring their social, economic, ethnic and cultural understanding into their opinion of truth.

The importance of understanding this cannot be understated. Many in the Church believe all truth is in the Bible, and therefore they come to the Bible to find the truth. However, what often happens is they ignore all the lenses they use when they come to the Bible. Many never acknowledge their life experience.

As a result, what has happened (in part) is they have developed anywhere between 9 to 14 distinct theological statements that state truth plainly and clearly. They claim these statements have come directly from the Bible.

But some disagree. One group may make a truth claim based on Scripture, but then another group will make an opposing claim based on Scripture. Who is right? Is there any hope of finding the truth?  

Sometimes if feels like the final decision about what can be known, and therefore true, resides within man’s ability to know and articulate the truth – or at least their version of it.

Many spend a great deal of their time working at deepening and developing their understanding of the truth they glean from the Bible. The more they learn the better they are able to teach others. Beyond just learning the facts, is learning how to defend them and prove opposing truth wrong. 

But what if objective truth and the defense of it was not the main concern of the Bible? Is it possible the biblical writers were more concerned with something else? If they were then we have to ask serious questions about how we approach the Bible.