Seeking Truth

I’m finally getting around to writing something mildly philosophical, but this post also goes to the core of my purpose for writing blogs, and tries to make this purpose more concrete. Obviously, I am a Christian, but I want to make it clear why I am a Christian, why it is important to me, and more importantly, why it would be important to you. First, my number one commitment is to truth, and not to Christianity (though I am committed to Christianity because I believe it is true). That may sound strange to some, but truth is the one thing all of us seek, whether consciously or subconsciously. In agreement with the great contemporary Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga, I would also assert that truth seeking is a part of our proper function. In essence, I’m arguing that we are naturally truth seeking, but our intellects and the noetic effects of sin both conspire to cause us to either reject the truth or to avoid the truth, respectively. Yet ultimately, we have a choice in the matter.

A close acquaintance of mine is a high-level executive for a Fortune 500 company, with hundreds of employees worldwide under his charge (and care). His brilliance is without question. Yet even as a Christian, he disagrees with me that humans are truth seeking, and further that we can even know the truth. Fundamentally, as he has related to me, he doesn’t believe there is objective truth, and by extension objective moral truth. In everyday life, however, he operates as if the very thing he denies actually exists. For example, at work he must communicate complex thoughts and ideas regarding company strategy and tactics to his team, ensuring that they are properly executed in a timely manner. His very presumption is that even though their minds are separate and distinct from his, there is a universal ability to interpret and execute on his directives in a manner that meets his approval. Moreover, he expects them to perform their work ethically. Without some universal standard of ethics, he would have no measure on which to punish actions he believed to be unethical. I can just imagine him calling one of his employees out on some unethical practice, and that employee responding that since ethics are relative, there isn’t a problem so they should just drop the whole thing. Now that would be a “career limiting move," but I digress.

So basically where I’m going with this post is that it is my belief that objective truth exists, that it is real, and that it encompasses moral truths that indicate what we ought to do. We put truth into practice in virtually every human experience whether cognizant of it or not. It is also my belief that Christianity best accords with truth, given the alternatives. Clearly, I don’t know this exhaustively, as no human has access to exhaustive knowledge. That is reality and is a part of the human condition. Given that caveat, with the best of my knowledge I believe it is my duty to work from core Christian beliefs that are transcendent and eternal. It is these truths on which our country and its Constitution were founded, whether from a deistic or orthodox Christian view of a creator. An atheistic or relativist view could not deliver the same as there would be no grounding basis or imperative other than force through monarchy, at a societal/cultural level through social contracts, or purely individual, all of which would be temporal and transitory at best (with the last being, effectively, “survival of the fittest”).

The Bible states that the [moral] law has been written on everyone’s heart, as described in Romans 2:15 and Jeremiah 31:33 (and yes, I am aware that things can and do go wrong, so I presume proper function for this law to be in effect). The knowledge of right and wrong is unmistakable; you can see this in an inchoate state in children even before they acquire language. Even Hitler knew what he was doing to the Jews was wrong, otherwise he wouldn't have attempted to hide his gruesome handiwork. For him to know it was wrong, and for us to know it was wrong also, requires a universal rule or measure from which to determine right from wrong, i.e., some truth or truths. We Christians believe we have encountered truth, and are fully aware that we are all part of a fallen creation. Others, unfortunately, use their intellect and the sinful nature they have in common with us to override the truth that God has made so plain (cf. Romans 1:20).
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