What is Truth?

True (troo) adj. 1. Being consistent with reality or fact. 2. Conforming exactly to a rule, standard, or pattern. 3. Reliable: accurate <a true prophecy> 4. Genuine: real 5. Faithful: loyal 6. Honorable: upright.

Truth (trooth) n., pl. Fidelity. 1. Conformity to fact or actuality. 2. Fidelity to original or standard.

3. Reality: actuality. 4. A statement proven to be or accepted as true. 5. Sincerity: integrity.

Webster's II New Riverside University Dictionary

“In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is necessary that all likewise should learn to hear it.” - Samuel Johnson.

It seems to be an age old question. What is Truth ? From the very beginning, man has sought after Truth . Through the millennia, people of all nations have asked this question. Tragically also, when not satisfied with unchanging truth, man has imposed his philosophy on the masses and called it Truth . Democritus said “Truth lies at the bottom of a well, the water of which serves as a mirror in which objects may be reflected. I have heard, however, that some philosophers, in seeking for truth, to pay homage to her, have seen their own image and adored it instead.” This is True even today. All you have to do is be conscious and you will be exposed to false Truths from every area of life. The attacks are most prevalent in the media, driven by people that are more concerned with advancing personal and political agendas, and wanting to fall into the ranks of the politically correct than with promoting Truth . Of course, to those that are not actually interested in promoting Truth , anything sensational, or that runs counter to long accepted standards or patterns, can be lifted up as being True , even if all the facts are not yet in to back such claims.

I sight Global Warming as a prime example. A few months ago, so many were esteeming the defenders of Global Warming as being the modern day prophets that were going to lead us into a brave new age (no pun intended) that would save the planet from the insufferable carbon-based human life forms that were responsible for it all. Now, I am hearing more and more reports that maybe things are not as they at first appeared to be. Give me a break! The weatherman can't even get the 7 day forecast correct! And wasn't it just about 35 years ago that the experts (I use the term loosely) were warning us of an impending new ice age to come? Sure there are climate changes, and sure it can happen on a global scale. I do not deny this. What I do deny is that man is to blame for it. There is very reliable research that shows Global Warming occurs in 1500 year cycles and points to the causation to be natural, not man-made. Pick up a copy of Unstoppable Global Warming Every 1500 Years by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery .

But I digress. Global Warming (or the lack thereof) is another discussion for another time. As I prepared for this article on Truth , I consulted several sources. Sources that, through the ages have been reliable sources for Truth to many peoples. Of course, I relied primarily on the Bible, God's inerrant Word of Truth . Also, I prayed for God's wisdom and guidance in this endeavor, and I believe He has honored me in this regard because I feel His anointing all over this article.

I have spent hours consulting the writings of men & women throughout history that have honored Truth for what it truly is. And in an effort to bring all this research together, I will often quote some of these people in an effort to let them convey in their own words what Truth is, and how it should be treated, pursued, defended, and preserved. So let us take this journey to seek Truth together now. Open your mind to the possibility that you may learn a new Truth , or relearn an old Truth that you had at some point walked away from or forgotten. One of the great attributes of Truth is that it never goes away. It is always there somewhere in your spirit, just waiting for a chance to speak to you. Thomas Paine said, “Such is the irresistible nature of truth that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.”

I will try to be brief, as brevity is to the reader what water is to the thirsty. But you may want to print this out if it is too lengthy so you can read it later. But please do read, you will be blessed just as I have been blessed by the research and then writing on this most important subject.

I want to start with the source of all lies, and expose their origin. Why? Because Satan 's strategy is very simple. He wants you to question Truth and the source of all Truth . In doing so, he also wants you to question his very existence. You see, if he can get you to question and doubt the existence of God, then you have no basis for believing he exists either. I quote William Shenstone who said, “A Liar begins with making a falsehood appear like truth, and ends up making truth itself appear like falsehood.”

In Gen. 3: 1b , the very first words recorded of Satan speaking to a human are “Did God really say…” . Satan, whom Jesus called the father of lies in John 8:44 , started his assault on God and Truth very early in man's history on this planet. He questions what God's instructions were to Father Adam and Mother Eve. He wasted no time in planting a seed of doubt and confusion in Eve's head about what God did and did not say.

True to his deceptive nature, Satan asks Eve a question which contains a lie. When Eve responds with the Truth , Satan does not give up, because he knows human nature. He knows if he keeps after us long enough, we might actually believe a lie. Lenin was fond of saying, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” The deception, once planted, grows into a different way of viewing Truth and the world, and will give birth to thoughts which lead to actions which lead to a lifestyle that is corrupt, sinful, destructive, and centered on self. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

In Gen. 3:4 Satan continues this assault on God and Truth by telling Eve a second lie; “You will not surely die,” he said to her. His lie is combined with a Truth , because that's another way he fools us into believing him. Aristotle said, “The least deviation from the Truth will be multiplied later.” What a powerful Truth this is. How many times have we told a little white lie? It seems so insignificant at the time. Did you later have to tell another because of the first?

Satan tells Eve, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Of course he is referring to spiritual eyes. And he was correct in that Father Adam & Mother Eve would know good from evil. She doesn't run to God for help or advise, or ask her husband who was there with her (wimp) if he was sure he quoted God correctly to her. Martin Luther King Jr. said “Our Lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Adam should have spoken out against Satan, but he did not. Sir Winston Churchill said “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” You cannot appease evil, in any form. And now it appears that Satan has won the first battle for Truth ; or has he?

In the interest of brevity, let's fast forward a few thousand years to Jerusalem. Jesus has been arrested. During the illegal kangaroo court that was convened under the cover of darkness, false accusations are made against Him. Of course, today we know this all had to take place in order to fulfill the scriptures. Never-the-less, the brutality with which God's lamb is treated and received at the hands of those present is stomach turning to say the least. He was struck repeatedly before the High Priest and portions of his beard ripped from his face. When he was led before Pontius Pilate, His face would have been bloody and swollen to say the least.

We read the report in John 18:28-40, detailing His time there in the palace. We also read how Pilate questions Jesus alone, away from His accusers. Now, this is what is most striking to me in this entire episode. After a short exchange between Jesus and Pilate, John 18:37 records Pilate saying, “You are a king, then!” said Pilate . To which Jesus replies, “You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” And then Pilate asks the question that has echoed down the halls of history,

“What is truth?”

Prior to this moment in history, God's Truths have been given in countless ways to man. For the Jews, it was given first by oral tradition, and then by the scriptures. It was handed to them on the tablets at Mount Sinai. And they always had the prophets with them. For the entire human race, God revealed His Truths in creation itself. We read in Romans 1:20 , “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” In other words, creation and nature itself scream that there is a creator because if you study nature, you see the Intelligent Design behind it all.

Shortly prior to this moment, in His earthly life, Jesus proclaimed in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life.” The Truth . The Truth . All Truth flows from Jesus, and He is in all Truth . If Jesus is not in it, then it does not hold to the definition of Truth at the beginning of this article. Do ya get it? Time for another quote from a great American. This one from Helen Keller . She said, “People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.”

If we as Christians are to grasp onto Truth and defend it against a world hell-bent on destroying it, then we must ensure that Jesus is in the things we hold as being true . We cannot be followers of Christ's Truth on Sundays, and followers of the world's truth the rest of the week. We must Live Truth , always. We are called to defend Truth at all times and in all places, because we are called to testify to the Truth that lives in us. If we are devoid of Truth , then our lives will show it. Our conclusions must match up with Biblical Truths . Plato reminds “We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Jesus said we are the light of the world in Mat. 5:14. He expects us to shine our light, which is a reflection of His light, into this dark and deceived world. When we do, men will fear our light, and they will hate us for it. But I ask, whose opinion do you fear? God or man.

“If you look for Truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or Truth, only soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”-C.S. Lewis

“The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of Truth.” - Cicero

The Truth, God's Truth, stood before Pilate that day. It had been dragged in and dumped on his palatial doorstep. It was bound, beat-up, and bloody. Blind men were upset with it, cursing it, wanting it silenced, destroyed, and forgotten forever so their lies could prevail. His accusers also had their chance to receive the Truth , but because the Truth did not match up with what they thought the Truth should be, they denounced it. First privately, and then later publicly. Not Pilate nor Christ 's accusers were interested in seeking and investigating the Truth . It wasn't convenient.

Despite Christ's appearance, despite his condition, he was then and still is today, the Truth . Oliver Wendell Holmes gives us this nugget about Truth . He said “Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening.” By evening of that same day, Jesus was laying in a borrowed tomb. He had been kicked, punched, jabbed, slapped, spit upon, mocked, humiliated, stripped naked, flogged, and crucified. His body was killed, but not the Truth that was Him. I believe this is what Martin Luther King Jr. was thinking about when he said, “I believe that unarmed Truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

We must be good witnesses to those that do not know or understand so that they too may be saved through God's grace. When asked, we must be ready to testify without fear to that which lives within us, the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

“The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

We must be willing to stand up for the Truth that is found in the Bible, regardless of the personal consequences. “It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and speak painful Truth through loving words, that is friendship.” - Henry Ward Beecher

When questions come our way for our beliefs, be ready with an answer. Speak in love and Truth at all times. Truth fears no questions.

Why did I address the question of what is Truth in this fashion? Why did I spend so much time and energy to discuss it and quote so many people from so many time periods and continents? Truthfully , to demonstrate that Truth , God's Truth , is universal, and timeless, and Jesus is at the center of all Truths . What is True in the America 's is also True in Europe and the Middle East . Truth cannot be altered, it cannot be reshaped, it cannot be destroyed. Man may look into a deep well of Truth and be more impressed with his own image, but that image will fade in time. The well remains. The waters that run through that well will never cease to flow. “ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” - Psalm 40:8

The enemy wants us to feel defeated, beaten, and bloody; just as Christ did before Pilate. But we must not give in. We must not grow weary of doing good, and we must continue to fight the good fight.

“Never give in---never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.” - Sir Winston Churchill