D o e s W H Y Matters Truth The Danger of Ignoring Absolute Truth

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Are there consequences for ignoring truth?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters A simple example: “Want to go ice skating tonight?” “Is the ice thick enough?” “Who cares?” (the postmodern response) You could die…

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Absolute truth is demanded and critical in life. Health. “We accidentally gave him too much of the medicine…” Finances. “I’m sorry sir/ma’am – there’s no money in your account…” Transportation. “I thought red meant go…” Advertising. “This is false advertising…” Manufacturing. “The brakes didn’t work…” The Witness Stand. “I swear to tell the relative truth…” Relationships. “You lied to me…” If consequences exist for ignoring truth in the physical world, what about ignoring truth in the spiritual world?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Absolute truth is immune to: 1.Sincerity. 2.Belief. 3.Desire. One of these containers is lemonade and one is poison – does it matter which you drink?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters In the absence of absolute truth, power rules. Without a source of absolute truth, Nazism, Racism, or any movement could be imposed, and labeled true and acceptable. In World War II – every Nazi soldier had a belt buckle that said “Gott Mit Uns” – “God is with us”. Was that true?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters So it’s clear that absolute truth matters. But what about in the spiritual realm? Why think it’s any different than the physical realm? People need to go beyond opinion-belief to truth and fact. Everyone has an opinion, but those opinions need to be thought out. Failure to do so will lead to undesired consequences, just like the physical world.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Isn’t spirituality just a matter of “faith”? Is there such a thing as absolute truth/trust in the spiritual realm? Many people believe that faith is something you have in the absence of truth and evidence. “Faith” does not mean believing in something that just makes you feel good. The Greek word is “pistos”, which literally means “trust” – something/one in whom confidence can be placed; reliability; that which evokes trust; state of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one trusted; pertaining to being worthy of belief or trust; conviction of the truth; the character of one who can be relied on.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters A look at the oldest (bad) analogy of spiritual truth Six blind men approach an elephant. One believes it to be a snake (grabs the trunk), one believes it to be a fan (grabs an ear), another thinks it’s a tree (grabs a leg), and so on. Notice… They were all wrong. Someone knows enough to know it was an elephant to tell the story. The absolute truth is known and it exists (it’s an elephant).

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters All religions have similarities, right…? Yes, but so does a counterfeit and real $50 bill Just because something looks right on the surface doesn’t mean it is the real thing. Differences matter and must be uncovered to find the truth. Fakes aren’t acceptable. How do spiritual claims differ – just in the small stuff?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Many voices claim to be from God. Some similarities but they differ in areas of… The person of God. The person of Christ. Areas of personal morality. The way of salvation. What happens after you die. They differ in the things that matter – and matter greatly. So again, if differences matter in the physical world, why not in the spiritual?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters So if differences exist, and those differences matter, then all roads cannot lead to the top of the mountain. Bottom line: Spiritual truth exists – we need to find it. But how? From Culture? Some cultures act kindly toward their neighbor, but other cultures they eat them. From Majority Rule? The majority can be wrong. From each Individual? We call people crazy who lose touch with what reality really is and just invent their own.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Navigating the worldview maze to spiritual truth requires: And just what are the right questions…? Asking the right questions. Thinking logically. Examining converging lines of evidence. Excluding what is false. Embracing what remains.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Steps/questions that lead to spiritual truth: 1.Does absolute truth exist? 2.How can we use logic? 3.Does God exist? 4.Can God be known? 5.Is Jesus God? 6.Does God care about me? The end result is a coherent set of answers to the big four areas of life: origin, ethics, meaning, and destiny.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 1. Does absolute truth exist? If it doesn’t, then we can be sure of nothing and cannot go any further. But if it does, then we can continue through the maze…

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 2. How can we use logic? 1.Law of non-contradiction – something cannot be “A” and “non-A” at the same time and in the same sense. 2.Law of the excluded middle – something is either “A” or “non-A”. 3.Law of rational inference – e.g. All men are mortal, John is a man, therefore John is mortal. 4.Law of identity – “A” is really “A”. Logic is critical in rational thinking – recognizing that the opposite of true is false.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 3. Does God exist? If a supernatural Creator does not exist, then atheism is true and we can stop. But if we can show that a Creator does exist, then we need to find out what that Creator is like.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 4. Can we know God? Can we discover what God is like? Has He revealed Himself to us in some way? If not, then we can stop.

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 5. Who is Jesus? Jesus stands as the central spiritual figure in all of history (no matter the faith). Who is Jesus? Is He just a man, a prophet of God, or is He God Himself?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters 6. Does God care about me? If God exists, then does He actually care about me? Does this supernatural Creator have a plan and purpose for my existence?

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Working through the maze: Absolute Truth? Yes No Use Logic? Yes No God Exist? Yes No Know God? Yes No Jesus God? Yes No God Care? Yes No Agnosticism Pluralism AtheismAgnosticismDeism Christianity

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Answering Life’s Questions: Absolute Truth? Yes No Use Logic? Yes No God Exist? Yes No Know God? No Jesus God? Yes No God Care? No Agnosticism Pluralism AtheismAgnosticismDeism Yes OriginEthics Meaning Destiny

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Hard question: Do you want to know the truth? “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” I’m only offering you The Truth… Nothing more. “It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments.” - Nietzsche

© Confident Christians – W H Y Truth Matters Conclusions: Truth can be known, is desired, and is critical in life. Differences in truth claims matter, both in the physical and spiritual realms. Discovering spiritual truth entails asking the right questions and uncovering the truth answers via converging lines of evidence. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.” - Winston Churchill

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D o e s God W H Y Matters Truth Because Eternity is a long time to be wrong