Is Truth the Absolute Standard?
A tactic used by many people, and certainly one used by liberals and those on the left, is to mock and ridicule those with whom they disagree. The purpose of this is to try and humiliate or embarrass their opponents and, through that, silence them. This is one of many reasons we Christians must be confidently anchored in God’s unchanging truth, found in His Word. We must know what we believe, why we believe it, and stand steadfastly on it.
Beliefs regarding God, salvation, morality, marriage, family, gender, etc., are fluid to many people, making their spirits and souls mooring-less, foundation-less, without a true north; for them, all truth is relative and, therefore, changing. Without truth’s common starting point, even common sense can be lost. Some national leaders and educators now say they do not know how to define a man or woman, that what it means to be male or female has changed. Others believe children should be mutilated in attempts to change their gender, contending that cutting off a body part can transform DNA and chromosomes. Many on the left believe a nation should not have borders, that people or nations can spend more money than they have without it becoming a problem, and that it is perfectly appropriate to take from hard-working people and give it to those who have not worked for it.
Madness! Do not be intimidated or silenced by these misinformed people. Love and pray for them, but do not be intimidated or influenced by them. Stand for truth!
In my book Becoming Who You Are, I write about the importance of truth. Here is a short excerpt:
“There is no greater teacher in the universe than God, and He was Adam's instructor in the ways of life. Through their spiritual connection, the Creator taught the created about creation, imparting portions of His own divine wisdom into the soul of Adam.
“Man's understanding and logic were intended to originate in God. Our Creator never intended for us to function intellectually apart from His influence. We were never to be ‘independent thinkers,’ never to have independent knowledge. Never! The reasoning process of our souls was not to be strictly human; it was always meant to have a supernatural element. All knowledge that traversed through people’s souls was to be influenced by the Spirit of God. HE would be the origin and builder of man's knowledge. Of course, the Fall changed this, but that was the plan.
“Another word used to describe this God-based knowledge is truth (Greek: alétheia). Biblically speaking, truth isn't just factual, nuts-and-bolts information; facts aren't necessarily synonymous with truth. And knowledge in and of itself doesn't lead to biblical truth. One can learn volumes of facts and information, yet completely miss the truth. Many highly educated people are skeptics, when it comes to believing in God and spiritual truth. Satan will even use facts, but his facts will never lead one to truth. In fact (pun intended), they can even lead to deception—a distortion of truth.
“Biblically, truth is not easy to define. Alétheia literally means ‘the reality that existed in the original norm’; the reality lying at the basis or essence of something; true and genuine reality!(1) With words such as reality, original, norm, and essence used to define truth, it becomes obvious that the Creator, God, is its Author. If truth is the ‘original norm,’ then there is an origin and an originator. There can be no truth without a creator. And if truth is defined by ‘norm or normal,’ then truth cannot be relative, always changing. It is absolute and unchanging, like its Creator, God.
“Since fallen man doesn’t want a norm, a standard, an original, he must deny the existence of truth, which is defined by these things. But when the standard is denied, as it is when God and His absolute truth are denied, anarchy is inevitable; the bar is lowered to the point of insanity, and man can justify anything.
“But truth does exist and can be summarized as the absolute standard found in God, from which all wisdom, logic, and knowledge proceed. It has always existed in God, and it never changes.
“‘When Lloyd C. Douglas, author of The Robe and other novels, was a university student, he lived in a boardinghouse. Downstairs on the first floor was an elderly retired music teacher, now infirm and unable to leave the apartment.
“‘Douglas said that every morning, they had a ritual. He would come down the steps, open the old man's door, and ask, “Well, what's the good news?”
“‘The old man would pick up his tuning fork, tap it on the side of his wheelchair, and say, “That's middle C! It was Middle C yesterday; it will be Middle C tomorrow; it will be Middle C a thousand years from now. The tenor upstairs sings flat, and the piano across the hall is out of tune. But, my friend, that is Middle C!”’
“There is a Middle C. It exists today, and it always will. No refined data or trendy theories will eliminate it.
“Likewise, there are absolutes. An absolute norm. An original. An alétheia. And ruling high above as the Creator of it all is God. The true God, who reigns in truth. This God-birthed truth— the only truth—was always intended to shape humankind's perspective. This is critical because Jesus said knowing the truth would make us free (see John 8:32). No truth, no freedom; know truth, know freedom. We must know that it exists and that the original plan was for us to live with it as a compass.”
Hold fast!
Pray with me:
Father, we thank You for Your Word. Thank You for communicating Your ways to us - giving us guidelines to live by, truth to guide us. Thank You for Jesus, who came to embody truth for us, to show us exactly who You are, what You are like, and how to live as the people You intended us to be: walking in truth and in love.
We are not arrogant and haughty regarding our efforts to walk in truth. YOU are the Truth; we are simply those endeavoring to learn and live by this truth, and none of us do so perfectly. But as You teach us, and as we increasingly understand Your truth, may we possess steadfast, immovable, uncompromising hearts and minds in order to model it. Yes, we want to see Your truth implemented in our society and world, but our hearts are not to condemn those who disagree with us. Instead, we will win them! We believe Your gospel, Your Word, and Your truth have the power to open their eyes, free them, save them, and transform their thinking.
We ask for an awakening to the body of Christ in America. Many have been influenced by and conformed to the thinking of the world, causing them to depart from Scripture and compromise Your truth. Please bring a correction to this. Return a deep love for Your Word to the American church. We know there will be no sustained revival if this does not occur; certainly, there will be no reformation. So we ask for this, and we do so in the mighty name of Jesus! Amen.
Our decree:
We declare that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6) and that His Word is truth (John 17:17). This will be our standard.
Click on the link below to watch the full video.
Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Becoming Who You Are, Embracing the Power of Your Identity in Christ, published by Baker Books.
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Dutch Sheets, Becoming Who You Are, (Bloomington, MN: Baker Publishing Group), pp. 45-46.
This is a definition compiled from several different lexicons and dictionaries. The number in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible is 225.