Veritas

Veritas

John 18:37-38…Jesus answered, "You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.""What is truth?" Pilate asked….

Veritas is Latin for truth. This was the word that Pontius Pilate used when speaking to Christ. He asked a big question when he asked “what is truth?” So I ask you, dear reader, the same question...

Truth to the Greek philosopher Aristotle relied on the actual existence of the thing which a thought or a statement is about: “To say of what is that it is not, or of what is not that it is, is false, while to say of what is that it is, and of what is not that it is not, is true.”(Aristotle – Metaphysics) Thomas Aquinas said in his famous work Summa Theologica that “Veritas est adaequatio rei et intellectus”—Truth is the equation of thing and intellect—which he restates as: “A judgment is said to be true when it conforms to the external reality.”So, is there absolute truth in the modern world? Our culture today says that there is no such thing. That it depends on our point of view, on our presupposed bias.

Dr. Norman Geisler, a modern day theologian, has this to say about truth: "We live in a relative culture and are proclaiming the absolute truth; we live in a pluralistic culture and are proclaiming an exclusive truth." He believes that there is such a thing as absolute truth. It is fact based and does not depend on our point of view. Truth is not changed by a person’s attitude toward it. “An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true” (Geisler and Turek – I don’t have enough faith to be an Atheist) Mortimer Adler once said “Truth consists in the agreement between what we think and what is in the world, what is real…Objective truth is truth that is independent of individual differences, differences in circumstance, time and place. What is objectively true is always true and true for all men everywhere at all times.” He goes further to say, “For all the centuries when men thought otherwise it was true that the earth revolved around the sun even though it took until the 17th and 18th centuries for us to come to know that to be true and generally acknowledge it. The truth is always the same when we know it -- when we have it. The fact that men change their minds, that what scientists and other men think is true at a time when it is wrong, doesn't make it true.” (Adler – Six Great Ideas) So, again I ask you. “What is truth?”

I have studied the Bible for a number of years as well as the works of great theologians and philosophers. And beyond that, I have built a relationship with the author of that Bible. I know truth from spending this time, comparing my beliefs and understandings versus reality. I am only human, so I still have some misconceptions and false beliefs…but at the core, I know there is truth to be found. And I build on that understanding of truth everyday. You may believe that other holy books have equal value. Compare them to the laws of historicity. You will find that no book, not even Homer’s Odessey, have the depth of historical proofs. Look for archeological proofs…look for the age and continuity of manuscripts…look for truth…Truth, dear reader, is more than how I feel about something. Truth is or it is not. Shades of grey reflect shades of falseness. I cannot truly be “mostly dead.” My wife cannot be “slightly pregnant” (she is not, just in case you are wondering the truth of that statement…) I cannot put my hand in a flame and not be burnt. I can have degrees of burn damage but it does not change the fact that I am still burnt! Likewise, God cannot be somewhat real or real for me and not for you.

Regardless of what I believe, truth is or it is not. Jesus cannot be “a good teacher” or a “moral man” and still be who he said he was…”the Son of God.” So, if when you read this, you are wondering if you will ever find truth or if it even exists, I urge you to seek truth. Anything less than truth is a lie… It may look pretty, appeal to our sense of right and wrong or to our pride but it is still a lie. A lie is a lie…whether we want to put some kind of pretty words around it to look good, it still is a lie. If I wrap up a dirty diaper in the finest wrapping paper and ribbon and bows and give it to you, it does not change what it is…or make you appreciate the gift more. A truth that is hard to believe or that rocks our understanding of things is still truth…

I try to live my life, searching for truth and sharing it with others. Because I believe that it will lead you back to the person I started this message with: Jesus Christ. I may have shocked or offended you by that. Prove me wrong. But if Christ came to “testify to the truth”, I as a Christian (“of Christ”) must do the same.

My prayer for you as I post this note is that you will seek the Truth as the Way the Truth and the Life has been seeking you.