Is There Truth? John 18:38

Acting Ethically John Leo, in an editorial for U. S. News & World Report, July 22, 2002, wrote, “A Zogby International poll of college seniors came up with a fascinating finding. Almost all of the 401 randomly selected students around the country–97 percent–said their college studies had prepared them to behave ethically in their future work lives. So far, so good. But 73 percent of the students said that when their professors taught about ethical issues, the usual message was that uniform standards of right and wrong don’t exist (‘what is right and wrong depends on differences in individual values and cultural diversity’).”

Objective Standards The survey was commissioned by the National Association of Scholars. Stephen Balch, who is part of that group said “the results show the dominance on campuses of postmodern thought, including the belief that objective standards are a sham perpetrated by the powerful to serve their own interests” (Ibid).

“There Is No Truth” Postmodernists see individuals as products of a specific culture who must guard against the temptation to inflate their own norms into universal standards and dress up their own interests as objectivity. To claim knowledge as universal truth is impossible. There is no truth, just narratives and stories that ‘work’ for particular communities” (Ibid)

The Words of the Bible Are the Words of God 2 Timothy 3: Peter 1: Thessalonians 2:13

The Words of God Are Truth Titus 1:2 Hebrews 6:18 1 Samuel 15:29

Jesus Christ Was the Embodiment of Truth John 1:1-3, 14 John 14:6 John 17:3

The Holy Spirit Guided the Apostles into All Truth John 14:26 John 16:12-13 John 16: Corinthians 2:7, 9-10

Moral Absolutes? “In two national surveys conducted by Barna Research, one among adults and one among teenagers, people were asked if they believe that there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or that moral truth is relative to the circumstances. By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said truth is always relative to the person and their situation. The perspective was even more lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said moral truth depends on the circumstances, and only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute” (Barna Research Online, February 12, 2002).

Whatever Feels Right “By far the most common basis for moral decision making was doing whatever feels right or comfortable in a situation. Nearly four out of ten teens (38%) and three out of teen [sic] adults (31%) described that as their primary consideration” (Ibid).

Principles Taught In the Bible 13% of adults said they made moral decisions on the basis of principles taught in the Bible, while, “Just 7% of teenagers said their moral choices were based on biblical principles” (Ibid).

“Whatever” According to Barna, large #’s of Christians view activities like abortion, gay sex, cohabitation, drunkenness and viewing pornography as morally acceptable. “Without some firm and compelling basis for suggesting that such acts are inappropriate, people are left with philosophies such as ‘if it feels good, do it,’ ‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, it’s permissible.’ In fact, the alarmingly fast decline of moral foundations among our young people has culminated in a one-word worldview: ‘whatever.’ The result is a mentality that esteems pluralism, relativism, tolerance, and diversity without critical reflection of the implications of particular views and actions” (Ibid)

It Is Possible to Know the Truth John 8:31-32 John 17:17 1 Thessalonians 5:21

God’s People Will Follow the Truth John 18:37 1 Timothy 6:11-13 Acts 18:26-28 Hebrews 10:26

God’s People Must Teach the Truth Matthew 28:18-20 Romans 16:25-26 Acts 17:11 Ephesians 4:14-15

God’s People Will Defend the Truth Jude 3 Galatians 1:6-9 1 John 4:1