What is truth? | GotQuestions.org
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How does the Bible define truth? What is the definition of truth according to the Bible? In this video we answer your question: What is truth?
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-truth.html
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- Hi there, many others like you have asked. What is truth? Let's find out, shall we?
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- You can also discover more and read a longer answer on GotQuestions .org.
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- Here is your answer for today. Almost 2 ,000 years ago, truth was put on trial and judged by people who were devoted to lies.
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- In fact, truth faced six trials in less than one full day, three religious and three legal.
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- After this, a very interesting conversation between the truth and Pilate took place.
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- Pilate's question has reverberated down throughout history. In a postmodern world that denies that truth can be known, the question is more important than ever to answer.
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- Truth is not simply whatever works, is understandable, or what makes people feel good.
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- Truth is not majority rules, nor is it defined by what is intended. Truth is not how we know, what is believed, or what is publicly proven.
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- The Greek word for truth refers to divine revelation and is related to a word that literally means, what can't be hidden.
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- The Hebrew word means constancy or duration, implying something that can be relied upon.
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- From a philosophical perspective, there are three simple ways to define truth. Truth is that which corresponds to reality.
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- Truth must match its object. Truth is simply telling it like it is. Thomas Aquinas observed,
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- It is the task of the philosopher to make distinctions. Making distinctions seems to be out of fashion in a postmodern era of relativism, especially in matters of faith and religion.
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- The philosophy of relativism says the position of the absolutist is wrong, but why can't those who say absolute truth exists be correct too?
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- The philosophy of skepticism simply doubts all truth, which ironically claims to know at least one truth, that you can't know truth.
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- The patron saint of postmodernism, Friedrich Nietzsche, affirms at least one absolute truth, the truth that no truth should be affirmed.
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- Pluralism unravels at the feet of the law of non -contradiction. Something cannot be both a and non -a at the same time and in the same sense.
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- Mortimer Adler notes, Pluralism is desirable and tolerable only in those areas that are matters of taste rather than matters of truth.
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- Hopefully, it's easy for you to see, each one of these philosophies is easily disproven by their own definitions.
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- When the concept of truth is maligned, it is usually for one or more of the following reasons.
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- Anyone claiming to have absolute truth in matters of faith and religion is narrow -minded, arrogant, and exclusive.
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- Is a math teacher narrow -minded for holding to the belief that 2 plus 2 only equals 4?
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- Arrogant for insisting that this is the only right answer. Wrong for observing that all answers other than 4 are excluded from the reality of what 2 plus 2 truly equals.
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- Yet another protest is that all that matters is sincerity. The problem is that truth is immune to sincerity, belief, and desire.
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- Some will admit that absolute truth exists, but only in the area of science and not in the matters of faith and religion.
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- This is a philosophy held by a logical positivist, to which all talk about God is complete nonsense.
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- Those who hold to the notion that only science can make truth claims fail to recognize that there are many realms of truth where science is impotent.
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- Anyone who makes the statement, science is the only source of objective truth, they have just made a philosophical claim which cannot be tested by science.
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- Why is it so important to understand and embrace the concept of absolute truth in all areas of life, including faith and religion?
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- Simply because life has consequences for being wrong. Incorrect doses can be fatal.
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- Poor investments lead to poverty. Wrong planes lead to wrong destinations. Consequences are highest in the area of faith and religion.
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- Eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong. During the six trials of Jesus, the contrast between the righteous truth and unrighteous lies was unmistakable.
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- The link between truth and righteousness, and between unrighteousness and falsehood, is demonstrated across the
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- New Testament. In conclusion, Pilate asked millennia ago, what is truth? Many things can have truth, but only one thing can actually be the truth.
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- Reality is, Jesus made the simple statement, I am the way and the truth and the life.
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- A claim that validated itself and his deity when Jesus rose from the dead.
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- Pilate evidently never knew the truth. Ignoring the truth always leads to undesired consequences.
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- All right, that answers your question. What is truth? On our website, gotquestions .org,
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- you'll find a much more extended article with citations and resource suggestions. If this helped you as much as it did others, like this video and subscribe to the
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- GotQuestions channel. Meanwhile, if you'd like to study more, as always, just keep asking.