Truth Wars-(To Deny the Existence of Objective Truth is to Deny Jesus)
- Shamako Donae
- Aug 12
- 6 min read
“What is truth” -Pontius Pilate
“I am the Way, The Truth and the Light.” -Jesus Christ
“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
~John 18:37
One of the most compelling moral and practical aspects of the Gospel and the Bible especially in today’s world, is that it asserts that truth exists and at the root of that Truth is Jesus Christ.
Earlier this year, a friend of mine asked me (or maybe more accurately made the statement), “Why do American Christians feel like they have the right to determine what truth is. This seems like something only American Christians do.” I have to concede that I have not had the opportunity to travel abroad and engage Christian’s from other countries as much as I would like to, but I did refer this friend and would refer anyone else who had this question to the New Testament. As much as there are legitimate gripes and concerns about American Christianity, Biblically speaking this does not seem like one of them. For the person that makes the claim that truth exists is Jesus Christ Himself.
For the most part, it seems like everyone loves what Jesus has to say, until we get to things like this. Jesus was not a proponent of relativism, of the idea of a subjective truth and a world where there were q thousand options. Jesus Christ tended to keep things very simple. Let your yes be a yes and your no be a no because anything else is of the evil one. And this is what makes the case of Pontius Pilate so fascinating and relevant to today. Pontis Pilate could be a famous author and thought leader in today’s environment of relativism and truth customization.
The truth is not something that we own, possess, manipulate or control. It is there regardless of whether we speak it or not, accept it or not, live it or not. It was there before us and it will be here after us.
I am an opponent of the phrases “my truth,” and “your truth,” and language of that nature. Just a basic analysis of definitions should reveal to anyone who is sincere about the pursuit of truth that the phrase “my truth” is a lie that shouldn’t even exist. Granted, to a degree it’s application is understandable in empowering those who via lines of historical oppression may not be viewed socially or politically as the harbingers of truth. But that is actually the real power of truth that the idea that “winners write history” doesn’t mean that the winners aren’t liars. You can manipulate history because you have control of the pen, but the truth still remains the truth no matter what you try to do to acquire control over it.
This is in no way shape or form a brag, but is something that motivated the writing of this article. At my current age, I try to make a sincere effort to look past how I feel about something to determine whether or not a claim is true. Although I never finished my degree, when I went to college as a teenager and young man, I was a philosophy major whose primary interest was in pursuing truth. I did not know yet, but that desire to pursue the truth would take me from Hip Hop, to Communism to New Ageiness and finally into Christianity where the world finally started to make sense.
The Bible is consistent in not only anchoring God and his word as the Truth, but also stating the value of holding on to the truth as well as the consequences of being without it. In Ephesians, Paul eloquently states that our grasping of the truth will facilitate our, “no longer being children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” That phrase very accurately describes me in several phases of my life as I eagerly and passionately pursued the truth or at least the idea of the truth. With no to limited roots in something eternal, everything and anything was fair game.
This is what brought me into first contact with Communism as its interest in the concept of an objective reality appealed to my hunger and thirst for the truth. EvenMartian Luther King understood and addressed this in his far to under discussed article “Why a Christian can’t be a Communist. In this article MLK states:
“Yet, we must realize that there is something in communism which challenges us all. It was the late Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, that referred to communism as a Christian heresy. I want you to follow me as I go through this other aspect of the message. By this he meant that communism had laid hold on certain truths which are essential parts of the Christian view of things but that it had bound them up with concepts and practices which no Christian can ever accept or profess. In other words, although communism can never be accepted by a Christian, it emphasizes many essential truths that must forever challenge us as Christians. Indeed, it may be that communism is a necessary corrective for a Christianity that has been all too passive and a democracy that has been all too inert.”
MLK was clear that as a system of thought, one of the objective values of Communism was that it “laid hold of certain truths.” However, he also states in this sermon that communism is irreconcilable with Christianity because it leaves out, “God and Jesus Christ,” and that as Christians we recognize that, “we disagree…because we believe that history is moved not by economic forces but by spiritual forces”
While this discussion is pregnant with its set of questions that I plan on addressing in a later article, what’s important to note here is that MLK is not talking about his feelings or “His truth” or “Marx Truth,” etc. He is diligently and thoroughly seeking answers to THE truth with a starting point rooted in the Bible, clearly addressing the consequences or possibilities of what can happen when rooted in another starting point.
Even for those that do not follow the Bible, there are still basically only two paths. The path that follows Jesus Christ (The way, the Truth and the Light) or the path of Pontis Pilate (What is Truth?)
Without some form or a root or anchor, it is difficult to discern truth or to even state that truth exists. This is evidenced even from Non-Christians like Karl Marx, who emphasize the difference between objectivity and subjectivity. Martial Arts is another example of a space in which relativism doesn’t function well. I can say “It is my opinion that you did not punch me in the face,” but your bloody nose and black eye will display a much different story than the one you are sharing. Of course this is an extreme example that we would not even consider using, and yet, this is the very thing that we say when we say something to the effect of “my truth.”
In today’s “My truth,” “Your Truth,” “Post Truth” world, it’s easy to exchange the truth for a lie and not even know that you’ve done so, but the root of truth is what is under attack. But that path, the path of “relativity”is also in essence a path to the occult and away from God. Again, first it must be acknowledged that for many of us the truth is not of interest. We may be far more concerned with how we want to see the world than we are in seeing the world for how it is. I’ve certainly fallen victim to this and must work diligently on a regular basis relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, the world and my communities of accountability to help me stay anchored in a reality based on truth.
The pursuit of truth, or even the belief that it exists is a just, righteous and pure pursuit, if done from selfless motives and not selfish ones..and this is what God’s word encourages us to live by.
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