Is Absolute Truth a Lie?

There are hunter-gatherer societies that recognize basic truths that we fail to understand. Right now, we're pretending that because our society rejects truth and thinks anyone can do whatever they want, whenever they want, essentially, we think that men can all of a sudden become women and women can become men, and not only that, but that those aren't even the two sexes.

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Head.

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Welcome to Bible Bash, where we aim to equip the saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions you're not allowed to ask. We're your hosts, Harrison Kering and Pastor Tim Mullett, and today we'll answer the age-old question, is absolute truth a lie?

Now, Tim, for me, this is one of those questions that I feel like I've only just recently seen people bring up more and more, and I can't really tell if that's because this is sort of, you know, in a while people have started resorting to this claim that there is no absolute truth, or, you know, that maybe there is absolute truth, but we just, we can never know if we know what is true.

So I can't tell if it's just people are bringing this up, you know, for the first time in a long time, or if it's just my sort of limited perspective in terms of, you know, I've only been, I've only sort of been running in these circles for a few years now myself, and so I don't, you know, I'm not exactly the most grizzled, hardened veteran there is.

So what's the deal? Is this one of those things that has just always been an argument that people bring up, or is this a relatively, you know, new or sort of recycled claim that people are making?

Tim Mullett Yeah, I think, you know, a lot of that has to do with the fact that you are essentially interacting with people on the Internet and skeptics in general, and maybe you haven't been exposed to a lot of, you know, Internet atheist skeptics.

Darrell Bock. Not in real life. I thought they were a myth. I thought they were like a thing you read about, but you never actually see.

Tim Mullett Yeah, so we, you know, we live in the Bible belt, and because we live in the Bible belt, then, you know, the vast majority of people at least pretend to be Christians, you know, in the South, and they may never go to church.

They may never, you know, darken the doors of a church, except for on Easter, Christmas or something like that.

Darrell Bock. Maybe, maybe on Easter and Christmas.

Tim Mullett. Yeah, yeah, but they at least pretend to be, you know, good, you know, Christians as far as those things are concerned. But yeah, in many ways, I think it's probably related to the fact that you're interacting with more people on the Internet.

But then, you know, the idea of, you know, this skepticism of the notion of absolute truth, this really is a feature of postmodernism. And, you know, postmodernism is basically a reaction to modernism, and modernism, you know, basically started in the 1900s.

And, you know, these are, you know, ideologies that are coming out of the Enlightenment and.

All that.

But, you know, modernism when you see it, like if you think about, like the World Fair, things like that, the World Fair or the World of Tomorrow, you know, I mean, like movies, you know, movies where there's this optimism, like the strong sense of optimism that, you know, when in 20 I mean, I remember growing up, there's this strong sense of, you know, optimism that, you know, when 2020 comes, we'll have flying cars and all this, and 2020 came and gone, and we didn't have flying cars yet.

You just get coronavirus instead.

You just get coronavirus. But you know what I'm talking about, like those movies with like the World Fair and the World of Tomorrow, and like there's just this hope that like science will conquer everything,.

Right?

Right, yeah. Like if we're just we're advancing at such a rapid rate, and, you know, we can know things and like we can know things like with certainty, and we're going to overcome, you know, all the problems that exist.

And part of what's happened is that postmodernism was a reaction to that that happened after World War II. And, you know, it's been steadily increasing, you know, over the course of just, you know, my life in general growing up, things started to become more and more heavily dominated by postmodernism.

And postmodernism is basically just like a radical skepticism. And, you know, there's a lot of factors as to why people begin to adopt this radical kind of skepticism that we're talking about there. But, you know, some of those things have to do with the fact that we're living in a world essentially that is over, you know, overcrowded with information.

So we're basically like living in a time where there's so much information and people are disillusioned about, you know, what's true and what's false. And, you know, all the fake news kind of discussions and, you know, how do I know what's real?

How do I know what's right? And so, you know, postmodernism was kind of this reaction to modernism that, as I've said, I grew up in. And a lot of the novel, like this showed up in a lot of the novels that, you know, I would even read to where, you know, I grew up kind of reading Star Wars novels and things like that.

And, like, you know, there's a whole series of like Star Wars books that are, you know, based on this premise of moral relativism where the Jedi essentially embraced moral relativism. And that was basically a feature of all the books.

But then we're kind of moving past that, like in terms of like academic discourse. We're kind of moving into a post postmodernism kind of phase now. And, you know, post postmodernism is kind of like characterized by critical theory and intersectionality and all that.

And so like the pressing questions that people have now are not so much, you know, nothing can be known.

Right.

It's not like the radical skepticism. Like when you when you're thinking about the way critical theory and intersectionality works, there's a lot of confidence that they're on the right side of history.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

And so it's different than modernism, like in terms of like an optimism that you're going to fix the world. But like they're like you're moving away from kind of the radical skepticism. But then when you're interacting with, you know, Internet trolls, you know, you're probably internet interacting with, you know, Internet trolls influenced by postmodernism, which is now starting to go out of fashion a little bit.

They're lagging behind.

They're lagging behind, but they're still recycling the same kind of nonsensical arguments that they were making before. For sure.

Yeah.

So. OK, so it's so basically, long story short, what you're saying is it's kind of sort of relatively a new idea, you know, if we're talking hundreds, if we're talking like centuries.

I mean, it's a new idea in the sense that, you know, post-World War II, like, you know, there's a newness to like the like the radical form of skepticism that you can't, you know, know anything. But then, you know, these kind of intellectual ideas, they move in and move out.

Right.

You know, certainly, I mean, you know, Pilate says to Jesus, you know, what is truth? And that's like a classic kind of postmodern, you know, question as far as it's concerned. But I mean, that's that's obviously, you know, not he wasn't influenced by postmodernism at that time.

But that is just skepticism in general as a feature of life in a fallen world to where, you know, if someone is making a truth claim, certainly people are going to respond with how do you know that's right?

Right. Right.

So, OK. So when it comes to the title question that we're asking here, is absolute truth a lie? You know, we're we're basically taking aim at postmodernism, that sort of the skepticism that you're talking about.

So.

So what is what is your response to that question? Is absolute truth a lie? Are they right? You know, are we are we, you know, fools for thinking that that there is any absolute truth?

Well, I mean, certainly, yeah, that's the question that the postmoderns are, you know, leveling against Christians as far as that is concerned, that, you know, truth is absolute truth is a lie. This is a myth.

But then the problem with that is that I get self-defeating on the face of it. So, you know, if you're going to say that, you know, absolute truth is a lie, you're making an absolute claim, right? I mean, you're essentially saying that I know for certain that, you know, I know for certain that there can't be anything that, you know, for certain.

And so you basically, yeah, you're sitting on a branch of a tree that you've sawed off at that point where you're making a very dogmatic truth claim that is without foundation at that point, for sure.

So, you know, I mean, it's obviously logically self-defeating to say, I mean, to make that sort of claim. And, you know, more sophisticated, like skeptics, they can, you know, modify that slightly, but it still ends up in the same kind of place.

But yeah, no, I mean, it's self-defeating. It's a self-defeating kind of claim. But then as you read through the Bible, there's a lot of statements in the Bible that lead us to think that truth is not some sort of like illusion that we can know things and we can confidently know things and we can know things with certainty.

So, you know, you can think about John 8, 30 through 32, where Jesus, where John, you know, basically is telling us as narrator, as he was saying these things, many believed in him. So Jesus said to the Jews who have believed in him, if you abide my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.

So, you know, Jesus had some concept of the truth and that he was the truth and that his disciples had access to truth. And then, you know, Luke, yeah, basically good historian that he is, he basically says this in Luke 1, 1.

And as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who are from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all these things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account to you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you've been taught.

So certainly the Bible is making reference to this category of truth, and Jesus is truth and God is truth, right?

Right.

And, you know, the scriptural writers were painstakingly compiling the things that they compiled so that we'd have confidence that we have access to this concept of the postmodern state that's impossible for us to have.

So, with that being said, you know, what does that mean? So when we're talking about truth, what are we even talking about? What do we mean when we're using that word truth, if you had to define it?

Yeah, well, you know, if you're just talking about truth, I mean, truth is, basically corresponds to who God is, like in terms of his nature, in terms of who he is as a person, in terms of how he's made the world.

And so, I mean, you know, truth comes in different forms. You have general revelation that tells us that God, like that there must be some sort of being, you know, who has created the world with power and the creation itself declares like his glory, right?

So you can look around the world, you can see the world shows evidence of design, like we're complicated beings, like we're irreducibly complex kind of beings. And, you know, it's the world itself bears witness to this, you know, reality.

So you have these two categories. You have general revelation that teaches us that there's a God who made us with power. And then you have special revelation. And both of these things are pointing to, you know, they're both revelations of who God is, but then God ultimately is a source of truth.

And everything, you know, that is true is going to correspond with, like, reality as it's been created by our creator, if that makes sense. And so, you know, what truth is, is it's, you know, things that are right which correspond to the world that God made, essentially.

Darrell Bock. So does that mean that, you know, when someone comes along and they say, hey, there is no absolute truth or, you know, we can't know what is absolutely true. Is that essentially a rejection of God?

John Dickerson. Yeah, I mean, it's essentially suppressing the nature of God. In both of those things, like, so the first thing is there's no such thing as absolute.

Truth.

That would be more the sloppy, like, postmodern way of criticizing the concept of absolute truth. So, like, there is no such thing as absolute truth. And then the more modest, like, proposal is the second one you mentioned to where, like, basically it's, there may be, you know, may or may not be absolute truth, but we can't, you know, know for certain whether or not that absolute truth actually exists, if that makes sense.

Darrell Bock. Right.

John Dickerson. But then, you know, like, either way, like, the first point was either way that was just self-defeating, right? So if you say absolute truth doesn't, like, doesn't exist, right? It's like a lie.

You're making an absolute claim.

Darrell Bock. Right.

John Dickerson. But then if you try to modify it slightly to say, hey, you know, maybe it exists, maybe it doesn't exist. There's no way we can possibly know. You've still made an absolute claim, right?

Darrell Bock. Right, yeah.

John Dickerson. To say that there's no way we can't know.

Darrell Bock. Yeah, right, right.

John Dickerson. So if it is, yeah. So, but essentially, yeah, that's what's happening is when people are denying the existence of truth, they're suppressing, like, they're suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.

This is basically the problem with Romans 1, that they, you know, they ignored what could be made known about God, which is plain to them, right? And they suppress the truth in unrighteousness, claiming to be wise.

They became fools and exchanged the glory of the, you know, incorruptible God into, you know, images resembling, you know, creatures and all that. So, yeah. So, I mean, fundamentally, like a rejection of truth is rejection of God, because God made the world and God is truth, right?

And what he says goes. And so if you're saying there's no such thing as truth, you're saying there is, like, God, there's no, like, this is just blind, meaningless, random chance. Like, the world is just, like, putty in our hands that we can do whatever we want with.

But then, I mean, it just, like, you're denying reality as it exists. And that's the problem, is that, like, there's obviously things that are true, right? Like, there's obviously, like, you existing that's true.

You're here. You know, you can see. You know, if you have eyes. Like, if you're not blind, you can see, right? Your senses are giving you information.

Darrell Bock. Well, I might be a part of the matrix, though.

John Dickerson. Yeah, yeah, well, you know.

Darrell Bock. I don't actually think I'm a part of the matrix.

John Dickerson. I mean, even if you're a part of the matrix, you still exist, right?

Darrell Bock. Somehow I exist.

John Dickerson. Yeah, you exist. Like, you know, so it may be that, like, you're deceived about certain aspects of the life as it exists, but you still exist, right? So I think, therefore, I am. Like, there is something to that, for sure.

Darrell Bock. Okay. So we've, you know, essentially said, hey, so there is absolute truth, right? Every time we're saying truth, you know, truth, absolute truth, it's the same thing, right?

John Dickerson. Right, right.

Darrell Bock. Okay, so we've said, like, yes, there is absolute truth. No, it's not a lie. And, in fact, you know, to claim that absolute truth doesn't exist or that it does exist, but we can't know what it is, number one, both of those things are self-contradicting, but then they're also functioning as a rejection of God, right?

John Dickerson Yeah, both general revelation and specific revelation. They're rejecting both.

Darrell Bock. Right. So you're not only contradicting yourself, you're not only wrong, but you're also rejecting God, you know, at the same time, which is wrong. But so with that sort of foundation being laid, how can we know what is true?

You know, so let's go beyond just the, like, hey, they're wrong part of this and talk about, well, how do we, you know, how do we actually figure out what is, you know, true, what we can actually count on?

John Dickerson. Yeah, well, I'm not sure that this question is all that. I mean, there's a sense in which it's like a complicated question to answer, like, how do you know what is true? But then, like, there's another sense in which it really isn't as hard as what people are making it out to be.

Darrell Bock. Okay. John Dickerson. People are treating this question as if it's just fundamentally some sort of incomprehensible riddle or something along those lines. It's just impossible to know. But then, you know, as you look around the world that exists, the world that God has made, like, there's obviously things that are incontrovertible, if that makes sense.

And so, like, the issue is, like, with Romans 1, when people are suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, it's not as if, like, the information that your senses are giving are just giving you just a convoluted mess of, like, irrationality or something like that.

So, you know, like, it may be just helpful to think through what Romans 1 is saying at that point. And, you know, like, what Romans 1 is saying is, you know, Romans 1 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

And then it says in verse 19, for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His indivisible attributes, namely His eternal power, His divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and things that have been made, so they are without excuse.

And so, like, you're basically, you're asking this question as if it's just, like, it's a hard question to answer, right? So there's a sense in which it's like and that's what, like, the atheists are saying and that's what the skeptics are saying.

But, you know, from the perspective of, like, God, like, God has made certain things very plain that individuals are suppressing and unrighteousness. And so what I mean is, like, the you know, there's different, like, philosophical arguments that are trying to get at this basic point.

But, you know, one of those arguments is essentially to say that, like, if you were to walk on a beach and if you were to see, like, a stopwatch on the ground, like, what would you assume?

There's a I'm at the beach and there's a watch that someone left on the ground.

All right, so someone must have made it, right?

Right, yeah.

Like, one of the most irrational assumptions you can make at that moment would be to say that that thing just, like, developed, you know

By chance.

Through blind, random chance or something like that.

Some might say by accident.

Right, right.

So, like, the issue is it's just too complex, right? Sure, yeah. So it's just it's too complex. So you look at a watch on the ground, like, you think about, like, the way a watch works and you're looking at it laying on the ground, you're saying that's so complex it can't just happen.

And so that's what your senses are telling you. That's what your experience is telling you. That's what your reason is telling you, that this is too complex. In the same way, like, if you were to walk in the middle of the forest and you were to see, like, just, you know, a meadow or whatever that had grass, like, that high, right?

Mm-hmm.

Like, all the way no weeds whatsoever, like, nothing in there, right?

Yeah.

And you would think, someone put that there, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Like, because you know, like, what happens with your own yard and, you know, everything else. Like, you know that, like, you know, nature, when it's left alone, it tends to chaos, right? It doesn't tend towards, like, order in that way.

And so, like, you know that weeds would come. You know that there wouldn't be this just perfectly green grass in the middle of the wood, you know, all the same exact height. That, like, bears evidence of, like, human interaction and manipulation.

Someone's spraying some weed be gone, huh?

Someone's doing someone must be doing something, right?

Some roundup.

Now, but, I mean, when you think about, like, who we are as human beings, like, you can look around the world and you say that, hey, man, like, we are way more complex than that stopwatch, right?

Yeah.

Like, we are so complex. Like, we are so complex to the point where, like, it's just irrational to view us through any other lens. And so, I mean, God, you know, God, like, had a plan to create us as people.

And, like, there's so many aspects of who we are that's just, like, unfathomably complex. They're irreducibly complex, like, in the language of philosophy in that way. And, you know, so, like, Darwin, you know, one of the things he said was that the way you disprove evolution is that you show that the world is irreducibly complex.

And that's just a phrase that basically means that, like, the world is so complicated to the point where you can't, like, take one feature out of, like, the design of some sort of organism and it still functions.

And so, like, to give you a metaphor, like, to explain how this works, I mean, think about the way a mousetrap works. So, with a mousetrap, you have, like, you have a base, right?

Yeah.

And then you have a pressure plate. And then you have a spring, right? And then you have, like, a bar, right? So, you have, like, you have all these parts on a mousetrap. But then if you were to take a part, if you were to take, like, one of those things off, like, the whole thing would fall apart.

Right.

Do you get what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Now, like, Darwin says the way you disprove evolution is to show the world is irreducibly complex. It's so complex that if you take away one part, it falls apart. Well, the problem is that the more that we've learned about science, the more we realize that things are way, way more complicated than what we thought they are.

And the more, like, they're just way more. So, like, think about the way evolution trains you to think. Evolution trains you to think that you have this mousetrap and you're going to, like, every few years have some sort of random mutation where it's going to leap forward, right?

And then what's going to happen? So, you have your base, right?

Yeah.

And then what's going to happen is all of a sudden this base is going to grow a pressure plate.

Okay, a pressure plate.

It's going to, you know, grow a spring or something. Well, it's like, well, you have a base and a spring. Now, the problem is that, like, that didn't confer any survival advantage to your, you know, quote, unquote, mousetrap, right?

Like, because it can't do anything until it gets four evolutionary leaps down. Do you get what I'm saying?

Yeah.

All right. So, the world is that complex. And when you think about how complex we actually are, you can't just take certain things out. You see what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And, like, so, like, evolution tells us that we start from simple and we grow to complex, complex, complex. Everything our eyes tell us tells us that that isn't the way that nature actually works.

Right.

Nature goes from order to disorder, not from disorder to order, right?

Mm-hmm.

Like, that's not the way it actually works in real life that we can observe. But then, you know, you think about, like, your skin, you know, just to camp on this point for a second, and I'll explain the significance.

Like, God, like, you know, I don't know if you've ever really thought about this, but, you know, you may think, like, hey, you know, why didn't God make us stronger than what we are or something like that?

Mm-hmm.

Right?

Yeah.

Well, if he made us, like, ten times as strong as we are, then we might accidentally punch, like, a hole through people, right?

I guess so.

Yeah.

All right.

So, but then, like, right, well, he could fix that, too, by giving us, like, skin that was metal, right?

Adamantium skin.

Yeah, but the problem is if he gave us skin that was metal in order to compensate for the super strength that we have, then you would have, like, think about, like, all the things that would change, okay?

Mm-hmm.

So, like, now you have metal skin, well, now you don't have any way to regulate your temperature as an organism, right?

Oh, yeah.

Like, see, like, when it's hot, like, your skin would, like, super heat up, right?

Yeah.

Right?

I'd be glowing or something.

You'd be glowing, right? And then, but then, like, think if he had, like, metal skin or something like that. Like, you have metal skin, you, like, what would happen if you get hit really hard with it?

You'd have a dent in your skin.

Yeah. Right?

Have you thought about this before, haven't you?

Yeah.

I mean, but then, like, but think, though, like, you'd have a dent in your skin, like, that wouldn't just come back out, right?

Yeah.

And then, so you wouldn't be able to have, like, sweat glands at that point to remove some of the temperature out of that. You wouldn't really even be able to feel, like, what it's like to touch another human being, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

And so, I mean, but that's just, like, so you tinker with the design a little bit. What I'm trying to say is, like, every part of the human design, it all works together with a bunch of different things, right?

So, like, you know, like, everything has a purpose. Like, everything has a function, and you start messing around with it, and you're messing around with, like, 10 different things at once. And that just goes to show, like, human beings as organisms, like, we're just, like, we're very, very complex, right?

Right.

Like, we're more complicated than, you know, anything that we could ever make, right?

Yeah. Yeah.

We can't make cameras that replicate our eyes. We're not even close.

Like, we're so complicated. Like, we're so complicated. And then you have, like, you know, all this variety within the human species itself. And then, like, you think about the way the world is. Like, it's, like, the conditions, like, these are called, like, in the language of science, like, anthropic constants.

But the conditions necessary for life to exist in the world, like, they're just so precise. Like, if our planet, like, we're just a little bit further away from the sun, we'd freeze to death, right? If it was a little closer, we'd burn to death.

You know, we have to have, like, a big planet like Jupiter, you know, a couple planets away from us in order to keep us in our orbit. You know, so, like, it's all, like, we're rotating at the exact level we need to rotate.

Like, if the moon was a little bit bigger, there would be massive out-of-control tides. If it was a little bit smaller, right? Like, so, I mean, there's, like, all these, like, everything is held together by this precarious kind of balance that, like, we're hanging on the knife edge of extinction or something.

God's upholding the world by the word of his power. But the reason why I say all those kind of things, though, is not just to, you know, go on a big rabbit trail. It's just to say you're asking, well, how do you know what's truth?

And, like, you could—what I'm trying to say is, like, there's a sense in which, like, you look around the world and you see, hey, we are obviously designed.

Yeah. Yeah.

Like, we're obviously designed, man. Like, we didn't just happen. Like, that doesn't just happen in real life. Like, we're designed. We're made, right? Like, and so someone made us. Like, something, like, greater than ourself made us.

And in the language of Romans 1, like, this is just plain, right?

Yeah.

This is—like, you have to, like, be an idiot to deny it, essentially, right?

Mm-hmm.

Who's, like, you know, not like an intellectual idiot, but like a moral fool to deny the fact that you're real, that you exist, and that you were made, you know? Like, the fact that you can—you know, you and your wife can make a child and you see the child come out of—you know, you see your child come out and you think, man, how did that—this is a new person, right?

Like, this is life. And so, you know, I think there's a sense in which, like, knowing the truth—you don't have to have, like, a complicated degree in philosophy to realize that, like, there is truth, right?

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Like, you exist. Like, there's right and wrong, you know? And, like, I mean, even the most hardened skeptic who is sitting there saying truth is relative, right? Like, you can test their—they don't believe that truth is relative.

All you have to do is get a hot cup of coffee, hold it above their head, and say, you know, would it be right or wrong for me to pour this on your head, right?

Well, truth is relative.

All right.

But they would sue you just like that, you know? So, I mean, like, there's right and there's wrong, right? Like, there's good and there's evil, right? You exist. And when you do—you know, commit wrong things, you feel intensely guilty, right?

And so, like, there's evidence, like, in the world, like, that general revelation would tell you all that, right? Without even getting to special revelation, general revelation would tell you all those things.

And when you get through special revelation, God, you know, testifies to the truthfulness of His Word with, you know, the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, which confirms, you know, what our eyes are telling us.

And, I mean, there's nothing more reliable than the Bible. You know, the more you read the Bible, you are reading truth. And you can look around the world and you can look at it in light of the Bible and everything the Bible says about it is right.

And so, it's verified within, you know, testimony of the Holy Spirit in your heart, but then it's easily empirically verified just by looking around the world and saying that everything God says is true and everything He says is right.