What Is Truth? 1- What it truth? 2- Can we know truth? #1- What is Truth ? [media] (plural truths [media] ) n 1. true quality: correspondence to fact or reality 2. something factual: something that corresponds to fact or reality spoke the truth 3. true statement: a statement that corresponds to fact or reality 4. obvious fact: something that is so clearly true that it hardly needs to be stated 5. something generally believed: a statement that is generally believed to be true a religious truth 6. honesty: honesty, sincerity, or integrity 7. descriptive accuracy: accuracy in description or portrayal a criticism that had an element of truth in it 8. conformity: adherence to a standard or law 9. loyalty: faithfulness to a person or a cause (dated) 10. U.K. accuracy: accuracy of alignment, setting, position, or shape (dated) [media] Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. In John 18:38 Pilate asked Jesus “What is truth?” in what was basically a rhetorical question on his part. He then went out to the crowd to try and get Jesus released because he found “no basis for a charge against him” John 19:6 ….. [media] Among the sages of that time there were many opinions concerning truth; and some had even supposed that it was a thing utterly out of the reach of men. Pilate perhaps might have asked the question in a mocking way; and his not staying to get an answer indicated that he either despaired of getting a satisfactory one, or that he was indifferent about it. This is the case with thousands: they appear desirous of knowing the truth, but have not patience to wait in a proper way to receive an answer to their question. (from Adam Clarke Commentary 0n John 18:38)

“This question had long agitated the world. It was the great subject of inquiry in all the schools of the Greeks. Different sects of philosophers had held different opinions, and Pilate now, in derision, asked him, whom he esteemed an ignorant fanatic, whether he could solve this long-agitated question. He might have had an answer. If he had patiently waited in sincerity, Jesus would have told him what it was. Thousands ask the question in the same way. They have a fixed contempt for the Bible; they deride the instructions of religion; they are unwilling to investigate and to wait at the gates of wisdom; and hence, like Pilate, they remain ignorant of the great Source of truth, and die in darkness and in error. All might find truth if they would seek it; none ever will find it if they do not apply for it to the great source of light the God of truth, and seek it patiently in the way in which he has chosen to communicate it to mankind. How highly should we prize the Bible! And how patiently and prayerfully should we search the scriptures, that we may not err and die forever! See the notes at” (from Barnes' Notes 0n John 18:38) We’re going to attempt an answer of the question “What is truth” in an exhaustive manner (that is explore it from every conceivable angle) as we can in the time given, in order to gain it’s understanding. Some people believe we can know truth. Some think truth is relative to the situation. And then there are some who feel that “There is no such thing as truth”! Where do you stand on this matter? Can you defend your belief about truth, or do you follow it on faith alone? To get a better understanding on the Biblical understanding of truth, let’s take a look at Paul’s apologetic to Festus and King Agrippa (Great Grandson of Herod the Great) in Acts 26: Paul had appealed to Cesar, and was awaiting his trip to Rome and “A few days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay their respects to Festus” (Acts 25:13). After Festus explained Paul’s case King Agrippa said “I would like to hear this man myself.” (Acts 25:22) and Festus acquiesced. The following day Paul made his famous argument to Agrippa and Festus. Paul went on to describe how he was raised (his biography), how he had initially persecuted the followers of Jesus because he “was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.”. Then during on of his “trips” Jesus miraculously opened his eyes to the truth. And during this dissertation Festus forcibly interrupted Paul (I feel Festus had a problem with truth at this point) and chastised him.

Following is an excerpt of what happened: At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. "You are out of your mind, Paul!" he shouted. "Your great learning is driving you insane." "I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do." Acts 26:24-27 What did Paul have to be sure of when he made these bold statements? He had to know what he was saying was true! He had to know the King knew what he was saying was true! He had to know that the King had more authority (and knowledge of the facts) then Festus because he appealed directly (and fearlessly) to Agrippa! Isn’t this good evidence Paul was sure of what he was asserting? Absolutely! He knew what he was saying was truth (because he lived it, and he knew others who lived it). He believed it so much, he was exceptionally audacious in his speech and manner…… Now back to Pilate and Jesus. Pilate didn’t wait on Jesus to respond, Instead he acted as if he had some knowledge of truth. Remember, He told the crowd “I find no fault with this man” (John 8:38). By exonerating Jesus, Pilate was making a “true statement: a statement that corresponds to fact or reality”. #2- Can we know truth: Here’s some truths about truth; Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independent of anyone’s knowledge of it. (Gravity existed prior to Newton) Truth is Trans-cultural; if something is true, it’s true for all people, in all places, at all times (2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere at every time). Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change ( when we finally believed the Earth was round instead of flat, the truth about the Earth didn’t change, only our belief about the Earth changed). Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. (Someone can sincerely believe the world is flat, but that only makes that person sincerely wrong). Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it. (An arrogant person does not make the truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true). All truths are absolute truths. Even truths that appear to be relative are really absolute! (for example, it was 90 degrees in Dubois, Pennsylvania on 20 June 2007. That I felt warm there on that day may appear to be a relative truth, but it was actually absolutely true for everyone everywhere that I was warm on that day). So what do these examples of truth tell us? Simply this: that contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not. We can believe everything is true, but we cannot make everything true! So what about the opposite? How do we deal with the assertion that “there is no truth”? Another simple answer: We apply the assertion back on itself (or turn the statement back on itself)! For example, If I told you that I cannot speak a word of English. Your obvious response would be “Wait a minute! Your statement must be false, because you just uttered it in English!” The statement itself was self-defeating! A self-defeating statement is one that fails to meet it’s own criteria So whenever we hear on of these relativists, skeptics, atheistic and/or humanists postmodern thinkers espousing their self defeating beliefs, we reply with the rhetorical question that exposes the fallacy in their logic.

It’s one of my favorites because you can use it comical narrative illustration: Examples of self defeating statements about truth: Statement: There’s no such thing as truth! Rhetorical Answer: Is that true? Statement: There are no absolutes! Rhetorical Question: Are you absolutely sure? Statement: All truth is relative! Rhetorical Question: Is that a relative truth? Statement: You can’t know truth! (Also stated as “You can’t know anything for sure!) Rhetorical Question: Then how do you know that? (Then how do you know that for sure?) And one of my favorites…. Statement: It’s true for you, but not for me! Rhetorical Question: Is that true for everybody? You walk in a bank to make a withdrawal: You: I’d like to withdraw $5,000.00 please! Bank Teller: I’m sorry but you only have $42.50 in your account! You: Well that’s true for you but not for me! Are you going to get your $5,000.00? NO! You get pulled over for speeding- Officer: Sir, do you know why I pulled you over? You: No, not really officer. Officer: I clocked you doing 75mph in a 35mph zone. What do you say? Well that’s true for you but not for me! Are you going to get your ticket? YES! Will any of these excuses work? ……. NO! Truth is truth no matter where your are! 2+2= 4 in Abu Dhabi, on the moon and everywhere in the universe Truth is truth no matter where you go. There are no relative truths! All truth is absolute! And back to the statement “You can’t know truth”… Just by making this statement you’re saying that it’s true that you can’t know truth. But if you’re saying it’s true that you can’t know truth, then I guess you can know truth! If it’s true, it’s true for everybody So, therefore “Truth is Truth, and You can know it!”