graphic: Martha G. Brady
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we have seen his glory,
glory as of the only Son from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
For what can be known about God is plain to them,
because God has shown it to them.
Romans 1:18
Truth
Is there such thing as objective truth?
In the world I grew up in, there was.
Things were simpler then.
Much more black and white.
It’s not that everyone kept all the moral rules.
But most people agreed when the moral rules were broken.
It was not a perfect world for sure.
Many examples easily come to mind.
Truth Is there such thing as objective truth? Share on X
But in the 1960’s during my college years,
A huge change took place in our nation.
It took years for it to show, but that is when the change started.
That is when the belief that there is no objective Truth came into wider belief.
Personally, I find it difficult still to imagine how that can be swallowed by
Intelligent people, especially those who have to get astronauts into space, stop
Do brain surgery or medical treatment and develop new and ground breaking
Treatments for people in a world with constantly changing diseases.
Of course, there is objective truth!
Gravity never changes. Mathematics laws are the same as ever.
The list goes on and on. We may not have always known the laws or the details,
But the existence of so many unchangeable truths have kept our world and bodies going for a long time.
Since the 1960’s, this belief about Truth and its fluidity has filtered down into our culture.
Movies, TV, classroom textbooks, even many churches have bought into this belief.
There is no objective Truth.
We are bearing the fruit of this belief today.
We talk way too much about my truth and your truth.
And people have very little to root themselves to in the way of objective Truth.
Many do what is right in their own eyes.
In many places, crime and chaos reign!
Their bedfellows injustice, prejudice, hatred and intolerance join them.
There is no political party that can say, “We are the pure ones! We are listening to those who disagree because we care about Truth more than we care about power.”
There is no political party that can say, We care about Truth more than we care about power. Share on X
There is no place we hear that…ever! We find spots that might be less filthy than others,
But there are no pure places.
No one seems to love Truth…or believe in it.
As the Church of Christ, both corporately and individually, we must show the world that we are truth-lovers.
That we love Truth more than power.
We love the objective Truth of GOD’s Word,
And Jesus, One who embodied Truth
And that we will be tellers of Truth in our words and actions,
As it is tempered with the Love of Christ!
***I wrote this great post for Five Minute Friday. It fell into place in an awesome way. The words poured onto the page. It was a wonderful post. I was amazed how well it came together. I clicked “save” and everything disappeared! I checked and double-checked. Sure enough. My beautiful post was gone into the hinterlands of the internet. I sighed and groaned. I wrote another post. It didn’t hold a candle to the first one. Just so you know.
Martha, this is a good, thought-provoking post. It surprises me how otherwise intelligent people can believe certain lies proclaimed as truth. I liked those verses you shared at the end. I want to be a truth-teller to the world around me. Thanks for the exhortation!
Me too Jeanne…except for the fact that so often Satan is described as deceitful and one who appears to be beautiful but deceives those He lies to…starting with Eve of course. He sounded so smooth and logical to her and the many others he deceived down thro’ old testament history. in the new testament church, he continued to deceive many in such subtle way by the doctrinal issues he used to divide the church. still does. often it is a combo of doctrinal issues and people who don’t know how to love each other in Biblical ways! (example: speaking the truth in love.)
Paul used the many doctrinal issues that were being used to divide the church, to write letters to the churches and correct their theology where the correction was needed. just as repeated lies were used to deceive back then, they continue to be used that way…both in and outside of the church! 🙁
I hate it when that happens. But the TRUTH is, you did well the second time! Blessings!
haha:) thanks mandy. glad it was helpful.
I’m sorry you lost your first post! But this one is full of truth, and it’s obvious that you know the Truth :).
thanks anita:) i think i wrote a note, but just wanted to say how much i loved your story:)
Jn 1:14 popped off the top of your post… especially the words “full of … truth.” And I thought, Jesus, full of truth, stands in opposition of the lies that fill the world…. and who is the father of those lies? Ah… to be full of Jesus, full of His truth! And then I notice the pairing of truth with grace in this verse. Very powerful. Have a lovely weekend! Visiting from 8 at FMF today.
glad you came by alice:) yes, and Jesus’claim for Himself in John 14 was “I am the… Truth”! It was among quite a few “I am… claims He made. In this day and age when truth is so fluid, it is comforting to know His claims for Himself, isn’t it?
I’m sorry you lost your first post but I think this one is very good! I agree, we need to hold to the Truth, not just what we think is right. And we need to seek that tricky balance of grace and truth which Jesus got so perfectly. I think there’s always the danger we focus on one and neglect the other.
for sure lesley! i think that is why he so often emphasized the importance of speaking truth in love…or versions of it. truth alone can often be very harsh! Jesus was the perfect combination of all His attributes. They were in perfect balance…as they are with all the GODhead.
I too, love Truth. I love Grace, Jesus, and the Truth of being set free by Him alone. Thank you for your insights here. Objective Truth, that is a good question. I find I struggle with the Objectivity as my filter is hardly that. When you Love deeply in His name, it is easier to lean into THE Truth, by Spirit power than my own not at all objective self. Blessings to you!
hi jennifer. i’m glad you came by. my point was that i need objective truth because i am way too subjective…in the ways i want to interpret morality to my advantage, and so many other aspects of life! GOD’s objective truth and the objective truth of Scripture helps me when I want to fudge re what constitutes holiness, sin, requirements to have sin forgiven…and so much more! his objective standard is helpful in my understanding of truth and justice. it isn’t based on feelings and sentiment.
of course, there are other places objective truth comes to play as well, that i talked about. laws of science and nature happen no matter how we feel about them. gravity works whether someone we love falls out of a building, or someone we don’t care about. they all go down and hit the ground. mathematics is the same. it is a comfort when the planning is going on to build a tall skyscraper or a rocket. not so comforting when we don’t know a particular formula to figure out even a simple way to figure out how to calculate something we need to figure out around the house!
The laws that apply via objective truth work no matter how we feel about them whether they are scientific or moral. It is encouraging to know Jesus, the author of truth, isn’t it?