As Christians we have a very different view on the nature of truth than most non-believers. We believe that there is such a thing as absolute truth while most non-Christians say that truth is relative. In other words, those who hold that truth is relative say that what is true for you may not be true for me and vice-versa.
Fortunately, most Christians believe that we have a book that is full of absolute truth – the Bible. Not only is truth absolute but is extents to all people, across all cultures, and spans all time periods. (Psalm 100:5) expresses this thought well when it says: “…And His truth endures to all generations.” And since truth is absolute for all people and all time periods it should be testable – and according to the Bible it is for we read: “Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.” (Proverbs 12:19).
I don’t know about you but I am so grateful that the Bible gives us absolute standards of what is true and what is right and wrong because it gives me wonderful principles to follow and live by. And rather than trying to use my fallible and often wrong way of looking at things I can rest assured that if I follow the Bible I can know that I am living the best way possible by doing and believing in God’s ways.
So often when we are confronted with difficult decisions in life we make wrong choices whenever we choose to do things our way instead of God’s way. Having absolute standards to live by may not always be easy to follow but we can know in our hearts that the Bible has the best advice; in even the most difficult of situations.
Without God’s absolute standards of truth, relative truth becomes the norm and it can bring with it devastating consequences. Let’s take the issue of abortion to see how this works. According to the Bible all life is sacred and only God can give and take life. Not only that but the Bible is clear (and for that matter so is science) that life begins at conception. Based on this biblical standard abortion is always wrong. But to those who believe in relative truth they say that a woman should decide for herself if she wants to terminate a pregnancy citing that it is her body and her choice. As a result of not following God’s standards of right and wrong over 60 million abortions have taken place in America over the past 50 years.
In our world where we are called to make so many different decisions on a daily basis it is so comforting to have the Bible as our standard of truth to guide us to not only make the right choices in life but to avoid the many negative consequences when we stray from God’s commandments. My friends when the Bible is your standard of truth you can sleep well at night knowing that if you follow its prescriptions, not only will you avoid the many negative consequences of doing what is right in your own eyes, but you will be pleasing the Creator of the universe!
Curt, Thank you for your thoughts on absolute truth. As well, there can be no absolute purity, holiness, righteousness(rightness), and love unless there is a Creator who has these qualities. He can not also be untruthful, impure. unrighteous and unloving. These are mutually exclusive qualities. Thus, that is why Jesus Christ had to die on the cross for our sins as we could never present ourselves, in ourselves, to God. Our only way to access God is through the purity, holiness, righteousness, and love of Jesus Christ.