Episode 24E02b – How to Defend your Faith Session 3: Is there Truth, Goodness, & Beauty? (Part 2 of 3)
(Written by Dr. Kip Wehrman 01/21/2024)
Pritchett then asked this question, is this you? Most people think more about how they look, what they are doing, how they can meet their perceived needs, and so forth a lot more than they think about arguments for or against the truth of Christianity. Obviously, you are here. So, I suppose you know you need a better understanding of the truth of Christianity.
What about this. Many people, if not most people, are ignorant but think they are smart or pretend to be smart since they use Google or the internet. Siri or Alexa or whatever you use. Do these tools make you smarter or more ignorant of what you don’t know? I know I’m guilty of this. “what does google say”, who is google and why do we trust google. It is a question we had better be asking ourselves and others.
What about this one. Are we complaining about the problems but doing nothing to impact culture and address the problems we see. Ooch. Dr. Pritchett had a point. I hear a lot of complaints but not many solutions or actions. Jesus gave a commission, the “great commission”. To go and make disciples…teaching them to follow all of Jesus commands. Not talking about it or writing about it. Getting up and showing the world what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Actively engaging our culture with the objective of influencing and changing every aspect of our culture to be more and more aligned with the principles of God. No apologies. No excuses. If you claim to be a Christian, then be a Christian.
Pritchett then gave this charge and I’ll give it to each of you. Christians must foster communities of faith that emphasize objective truth, goodness, and beauty. Christians need communities of faith that encourage engagement in our culture (sports, sciences, and the arts) with Christian values. Christians need to bring back virtue training in churches and promote it in the homes. Christians must stand against -isms, gluttonous consumerism, empty spiritualism, bogus secularism, wimpy doctrine, and the culture of cool.
Now I might have written some of this a little different, but you get both his point and my point. God clearly states in the Bible that there is objective truth, goodness and beauty. If God says something is beautiful, then it is. You can have your opinion, but God’s opinion is true. If God says this is right and that is wrong, then that is just the way it is. You can have your opinion, but God’s opinion is true.
Which brings us to Truth. There can only be one truth. There can be many opinions but only one truth. Partial truths are not true. They are partially wrong and partially right. But Truth is simply true for everyone regardless of opinion, position, or situation.
Let me share this video from the 1990’s so the quality is bad. But this was reported to have happened in the North Sea just off of Scotland.
Truth is more than opinion. No matter how powerful you are or think you are.
Truth is more than opinion. No matter how powerful you are or think you are.
Can we handle the truth. Can our friends and family handle the truth. Can our society handle the truth. I think the answer is yes. Truth is always better than opinion or sugarcoated half-truths. Truth is never relative. There is only truth, the rest is mere opinion.
Jesus, told us very simply in Matthew 5:37 (NIV). “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one.”
Listen to this answer for truth from gotquestions.org.
I want you to hear Dr. John Lenox describe truth. Lenox is masterful at explaining the very complex in very direct easy to understand ways.
I want you to hear Dr. John Lenox describe truth. Lenox is masterful at explaining the very complex in very direct easy to understand ways.
John has this perfectly right. Truth is a person.
Here is the scripture from the gospel of John 14:6 (NIV), “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Our Christian worldview is simply whatever Jesus says. It is what is truth.
This is the end of How to Defend your Faith Session 3: What is Truth? (Part 2 of 3)
