What is truth?


I have some neat analogies relating to religions, post-modernism, and truth. Some of these ideas are from Living with Questions by Dale Fincher, others are from books by Greg Stier…but some are my own.

Post-modern ideas/ false:

A Shopping bag/or a WalMart -there are a lot of choices and things to buy. You are the consumer and the world/store evolves around you. You could go to Eastern section and purchase some Buddhism or go to the Western Protestant section and pick up some Baptist love….

Starbucks – people like their drinks a specific way, a mix of flavors and long, hard to pronounce names….”I ‘ll take a Grande Triple Buddha Berry Frappacino, and a Venti Jesus please….”

Truth / Christianity:

-A cure for a specific diagnosis that we all have, sin. And the truth is that there is one specific solution that cures our sin cancer. Jesus is the only solution, there is no other. Having other drugs will not help.

-A math equation. 2+3 = 5. It always equals five and that is not going to change. It is never going to be 7.

Truth is absolute and exclusive. It is impossible for everyone to be right because by saying so you are excluding everyone who thinks there is only one way…

Truth defined and discussed:
Truth is an idea or belief that is a fact or in other words, ideas that reflect reality and in another way, propositions that correspond to reality. Without truth we cannot know things…without the ability to to know things, we cannot use things properly…if we cannot use things properly then we cannot take care of things properly.

Perception of “faith v. truth”
In today’s culture the word “faith” has a false connotation to it. May I suggest that it has a false definition to today’s culture. I think that in today’s culture, faith is thought of as a gift. It is treated as mystical and unknown. Unfortunately many people think of it as the opposite of truth and reason. Some go so far to say that faith is ignorance.
These are misguided misconceptions. Faith and Truth go together, hand in hand. They are friends, not opposites. Faith is based on truth. I rely on evidence and trust God, this is faith. Faith is confidence in the character of something that has proven itself reliable. God has proven Himself faithful and reliable and evident in my life, therefore I have faith in Him. I trust in His Truth.
It is a faith based on Truth. Truth or ideas as they are in reality.
Truth is a proposition that corresponds to reality. It is when an idea or belief shows up in reality.
Say my car breaks down. I bring it to the repair show and then walk down the street to Walmart. As I am in the check-out line of Walmart I get a phone call from the repairman saying that my car is fixed. I now have an idea/proposition in my head that my car is fixed. I have not seen r driven my car so I walk back to the repair shop. I pay the bill, hop in the car and start driving. Everything is working . I know for sure now that my car actually really is fixed. I experienced truth. The repairman had actually fixed my car and was not false. I know for sure because i can feel/ see my car working properly. The idea that my car was fixed lines up with reality, my car is fixed.

Faith and Reason: Faith, Worldviews, and Truth

This is the first of several posts on the topic of Faith And Reason. A lot of people in this culture have the wrong idea of what faith actually is. I have heard too many people say that faith is a leap in the dark. And that faith is not based on anything.
These Faith and Reason posts will be a mini “apologetics 101″series. I hope to explain some misconceptions and give a little bit of apologetics training through my rants and thoughts.
Apologetics 101 training
World views – A world view is a set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously) about the basic makeup of our world.”
A world view is a way of seeing the world. It is based on what we know about the world. Everyone has a world view, whether they want to admit it or not. World views are In the context of religion there are 5 main over arching world views. Each of these break down into several of thousand of specific world views, but speaking broadly here are the general and main 5.

Pantheist – believe that God is in all things. God is everywhere in nature, in humans, and everywhere else.
Atheist – does not believe that there is a “god.” Know there is no “god.”
Agnostic – unsure if God exists.
Theist – believe in a personal God. (Mono or Poly) ‘Personal God’ means that God has a personality, may or may not be able to be know.
Deist- believe in an impersonal God. (Mono or Poly)

The Christian Faith
Faith is based on facts, probability, reason, and knowledge. Faith should not be a leap in the dark, but it should be synonymous with confidence, trust, and assurance. Our faith is based on reason! It is not a guess or an emotion, but it is based on facts. Even, Wikipedia has the right idea: “Faith is a profound belief or trust in a particular truth, or in a doctrine that expresses such a truth.” Trust in truth.
I personally chose faith in God over there not being a God because probability. It is more probable that God does exist than he does not.

My rant:
Truth is naturally exclusive. Some one might argue that there is a neutral world view or an inclusive world view (all roads lead to God)….Even inclusivist excludes exclusivist, people who doe not agree with them. There is not a true inclusive world view, because truth is exclusive by nature.
Think about it this way. 1+1 is always 2. There is always one exclusive truth answer. There are an infinite number of wrong answers.


I need to make reference to Apologetics.com radio show: Apologetics 101, and I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler