Who Is Telling the Truth?

by Jerry Falk

A friend on Facebook recently asked, “How do you know ‘facts’ are truth or lies?” Apparently, he was referring to the current political climate in the United States.

I took his question a step further.

If we reject the existence of God and dismiss biblical morality, on what basis do we determine whether something is true or false? Science, while valuable, is not infallible, and it cannot determine what is morally right or wrong. Morality requires a higher standard.

Moreover, if we are merely the result of a cosmic accident—if our closest relative in the evolutionary chain is the chimpanzee—why should truth matter at all? Aren’t we, in that case, nothing more than a coincidental byproduct of primordial slime?

And further, why should your truth be the standard and not mine? What gives the U.S. government the moral authority to declare certain actions “legal” (and therefore presumed good or truthful) and others “illegal” (bad or false)? If truth is relative, then laws are nothing more than personal preferences enforced by power.

To make any meaningful claim about right and wrong—or truth and falsehood—we must appeal to an objective standard beyond ourselves. This applies not only to individuals but also to nations. When leaders reject a moral authority higher than human legislation, it becomes easy to believe that “one person’s truth is just as valid as another’s.”

Most people shape the truth to suit their desires. They bend it to fit personal preferences or ideologies, justifying actions and lifestyles not by objective standards, but by internal perceptions and emotional impulses. As an example, even biological reality is now being redefined as merely a mental construct. We're told that sex assigned at birth doesn’t matter—what matters is how one feels. And others are expected to affirm those feelings as truth, even when they directly contradict observable, scientific reality.

I have little confidence in political leaders or parties—especially those who ignore the biblical command to “put away falsehood” and “speak the truth with [their] neighbor” (Ephesians 4:25). But if human life is simply a journey “from the goo to the zoo to you,” then why should truth matter at all?

Without God and His Word—revealed through inspired writers—we are left with no moral foundation beyond ourselves to distinguish right from wrong or truth from falsehood. And this, I believe, is one of the world’s deepest problems.