Does Truth Exist?
by Terry Wane Benton
Jesus claimed that it does and that it can be known (John 8:30-31). However, others make the claim that truth does not exist and that it is only what each person wants it to be. Some "intellectuals" say, "There is no truth." But that itself is a truth claim. Is it true that there is no truth? The statement is self-defeating and does not pass its own validity test.
Some say, "That may be true for you but not for me." That is absurd. Something is either true for all or it is not true. Would you appreciate a banker holding your money and telling you an absurd balance that depletes your funds and lands your funds in his own pocket? What if he said that balance may not be true for you but it is true for him? Talking about "your truth" versus "my truth" is absurd. Something is either true or it is false. Here are three crucial things to remember:
1. Contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not possible.
2. You can believe everything is true, but everything can't be true.
3. Objective truth can't be denied without being affirmed.
Let me explain that last one. When you say "That is absolutely not true," you have affirmed an absolute truth, and thus you have entered into affirming that there is absolute objective truth. So, pretending that there is no truth, is affirming that it is true that there is no truth. Face it! There is truth, and it is absurd to pretend otherwise.
Now, Jesus claims to be the truth (John 14:6), that God's word is truth (John 17:17), and that you can know the truth and the truth can set you free (John 8:30-31). Those are truth claims. They are either lies or truth. You can't pretend they are merely his truths but that you have different truths. He stated the truth, and different views are false, but Jesus and different views cannot both be true. Jesus can be false and others true, but different views cannot all be true. If Jesus is true and right, then Muhammed is false. Both cannot be true. Both might be false, but both can't be true. There is a way to discover if Jesus is true or false, but merely choosing a position without searching the evidence is hardly the right way to go about discovery. Jesus claimed that if you continue listening and studying His word you would know the truth and the truth would set you free. I've found it so by search and discovery.
Truth is real and available, but an opinion does not invent it. We must search for truth, and quit pretending that every opinion is every person's truth. No! Truth does not work that way! People hold to truth or error, but every error is not to be claimed as merely "their truth." Now, as far as they know, they think they hold the truth, but thinking something is true does not make it so. "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Something seeming to be true does not make it true. Discovery sometimes makes us realize that what we thought was true was not really true. That is why honest search and evaluation is crucial to the discovery of actual truth. Have you searched and evaluated fairly Jesus' truth claims?
