Puzzle Piece 1: The Truth - is it true?

TFY'd: The Truth
“Hey Jonnie, what’re you up to this weekend?” asked Dave.

“Nothing much,” replied Jonnie. “You?”

“Pub crawl!” Dave exclaimed. “You wanna come?”

Jonnie thought for a moment and said, “Nah, I probably shouldn’t. The Bible says we’re not supposed to get drunk.”

Dave laughed. “Man, I’m glad I’m not a Christian. I can do what I want!”

“Just because you’re not a Christian doesn’t mean it’s ok for you to get drunk, you know. The Bible says it’s wrong for everyone, not just us Christians.”

“Come on, man, I used to think that, too. Then I heard Professor Smith say that we can’t claim that things like the Bible are really true because they’re just your version of true. Other cultures have other versions of what’s true. He told that story about the elephant, remember?”

“What? An elephant?” Jonnie said. “I don’t remember that...must have been one of those lectures I slept through.”

“Good thing I was listening, then, isn’t it?” asked Dave. “He told this old story about six blind men who visit the palace of the Rajah in India and bump into an elephant for the first time. When each man touches the elephant, he tells the others what he finds. The first blind man touched the side of the elephant. ‘How smooth! An elephant is like a wall.’ The second blind man put out his hand and touched the trunk of the elephant. ‘How round! An elephant is like a snake.’ The third guy touched the tusk of the elephant. ‘How sharp! An elephant is like a spear.’ The fourth blind man touched the leg of the elephant. ‘How tall! An elephant is like a tree.’ The fifth blind man reached out his hand and touched the ear of the elephant. ‘How wide! An elephant is like a fan.’ The sixth dude touches the tail of the elephant. ‘How thin! An elephant is like a rope.’ Then they got into this big argument about who was right, and it’s not until the Rajah comes out and tells them that they’ve each only touched one part that they realise the truth.” (1)

“No wonder I sleep through old Smithy’s lectures!” thought Jonnie. “What’s that got to do with anything?” he asked.

“We’re like the blind men,” said Dave. “Our societies have each only got part of the truth so you can’t say getting drunk is wrong for everyone because that’s just what you think because of the part of the elephant that you’re touching. Do you get it? Truth is just relative to the individual which means that what’s true for you isn’t necessarily true for me.”


The Truth – is it true?

This story is one that has been used for ages to try and convince people that they can’t have certainty about what they believe because the truths they believe are only their truths, not everyone’s. Basically, this is calling into question the very idea that truth even exists! Many people characterise our society as being post-modern, a worldview that, according to worldview expert and author of The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog James Sire, claims truths about reality are hidden, and if you think you know the real truth you’re living under an illusion. (2) Post-modernists are not really interested in facts, just stories. And one story about reality is no more valid than another – both are just stories.

But there’s a problem with this idea. Can you see what it is?

People, even post-modernists, don’t actually live their lives like this. Do they really think that a bottle of aspirin and a bottle of cyanide are equally valid ways to cure a headache? They don’t. We live in a world that is characterised by truth claims all the time, and the idea that there is no truth, or that all truths are equally valid, is simply ludicrous! And yet, it is very common to hear people say things like this.

In order to address this strange issue we need to look at four questions about the nature of truth:
1. What is truth?
2. Can truths be known?
3. Can truths about God be known?
4. So what? Who cares about the truth? (Next week’s topic.)


What is truth?

When asked this question, Christian thinker Greg Koukl often responds this way: “Would you like the true answer, or the false one?” His point is that we already instinctively know what truth is. A statement is true if it corresponds to the way the world actually is. For example, the statement “you are wearing a red shirt” is true if, in fact, you are wearing a red shirt. Truth is absolute, not relative. If a thing is true then it is true for all people in all times and places. After all 2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere and everywhen. Truth is not something you invent, it’s something you discover. The truths about gravity always existed; they just weren’t discovered until Isaac Newton.

What about the idea that “it’s true for you, but not for me”? Let’s see people try that on their bank manager. “I’d like to withdraw one million dollars, please.” “You don’t have enough money in your account.” “That’s only true for you.” Or how about this: “Look out! There’s a bus coming! Get out of the way!” “That’s not true for m-” (splat!). People can’t, and don’t, really live their lives this way!

It’s important at this point to separate truth from belief. Truth is unchanging throughout time, even though beliefs vary. When we discovered that the Earth was actually round, not flat, our belief changed, not the truth – the Earth has always been round! It’s possible for contradictory beliefs to exist, but not contradictory truths.


Can truths be known?

Some people, when confronted with this and forced to concede that truths do actually exist try to dodge the force of this by saying “We can’t know anything for sure.” They admit that truth exists, but deny being able to know it. Can you see the problem with this idea? It’s self-contradictory. The person who said that is absolutely sure that you can’t know anything for sure! They’re claiming to know the truth that you can’t know the truth. The statement refutes itself. It’s like saying “I don’t speak a word of English.” If someone said that to you you’d automatically realise that statement to be false because they said it in English! They’re telling you in English that they can’t speak any English... . The fact is, truths can be known and people know it. They just don’t always want to admit it!


Can truths about God be known?

Having established the fact that facts exist and that we can know them, we need to apply this to the idea of God. Can we know truths about God? After all, many people today have this idea that all religions are true and that it’s narrow and intolerant to claim that your way is right and someone else’s is wrong. But is that true? No. All religions can’t be true, because they make different claims about the same things! For example, Christians believe that those who haven’t accepted Christ as Saviour have chosen hell as their eternal destination. But Muslims believe that those who don’t follow the way of Islam are going to hell, and Hindus believe that everyone is caught in the eternal cycle of reincarnation and hell doesn’t even exist. These beliefs contradict one another and cannot all be true. In fact, the religions of the world have more differences than similarities, so the claim that they are all true simply doesn’t match the way the world actually is. They could all be wrong, but they can’t all be right. Remember our point from earlier – contradictory beliefs can exist but not contradictory truths.

But what about this claim that it’s narrow and intolerant to think your way is right? Aren’t we supposed to ‘tolerate’ other people’s beliefs? And by ‘tolerate’ people don’t mean ‘put up with’, they mean ‘accept as valid and true’. By now you should already realise the problem with this idea. Figured it out? Need a hint? The people who say it’s intolerant to say you are right and others are wrong are convinced that they are right, and they want you to agree with their point of view! They think those who disagree with their ideas on tolerance are wrong! That’s not very ‘tolerant’, is it? It turns out they really only tolerate those who agree with them, which makes them just as narrow and ‘intolerant’ as the Christian who claims that Jesus is the only way to Heaven.


So, we have seen that truth exists, and that it can be known. We have also seen that the claim “truth does not exist” is hopelessly self-contradictory, and you should be able to spot statements like these wherever you see them, explaining this error with “gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15) and showing people that the Christian worldview, the view that says that truth is absolute and can be known, matches the way the world actually is!


(1) Lillian Quigley, The Blind Men and the Elephant (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959). Possible original sources of the story are the Jataka Tales, a collection of Buddhist birth stories, and the Pancatantra Stories, Hindu religious instruction fables. Cited in “The Trouble with the Elephant”, Greg Koukl, 2005, http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=6191, accessed 10 May 2010.
(2) Cited in “Culturally Aware Apologetics”, Greg Koukl, 2001, http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5191, accessed 10 May 2010.

Prepared by D England using material from Chapter 1 of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Geisler and Turek, unless otherwise cited. Translated for Youth by J Simmons.