Absolute Truth

by Robert Flores

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. — 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

What is good and evil? What is truth? These are common questions everyone asks. Unfortunately, though, people without any absolutes try to create their own “good” and “evil” truths, but that just doesn’t work. Who is to say that one’s opinion of what is good is more in tune with the “ideal good” than say, your next-door neighbor’s? No one can. All one can say is “Well, he’s just doing what is his nature”. They have no basis for thinking if he is evil or good. They can say that “everyone should do good to others and good will be done to you”, but without an absolute what is their “good” compared to someone else’s “good”? Their opinion of what “good” is doesn’t make an absolute for the world. Their definition of “good” is different than Christ’s definition of “good”. Who am I supposed to believe?

One cannot come to an absolute by averaging out the world’s opinions, either. Without an absolute, sure, you have leveled the playing field to where everyone is equal, but now you’ve put 7 Billion opinions in its place. Who is to say what is right? The media? The politicians? The judges? Who is to say that the policies they make are just? Who is to say that the majority consensus is correct? Who is to say that anyone is right? When someone starts with no absolutes they are delving into the vast space of “everything goes”. No one can have an opinion on anything. No one can disagree or agree. No one can even have an opinion on whether something is “good” or “evil”. What is “good” or “evil”? You can’t define it without an absolute. It’s just one’s personal preference at a point in time.

In contrast to the wavering sea of no absolutes, I, as a Christian, do have an absolute. That absolute is God. He has told me what is “good” and “evil” and I believe Him. God is truth that is universally and timelessly true.

And if someone out there thinks that there is no absolute truth, think again. Truth will hunt anyone down. No one can hide from it. Someone can agree or disagree or ignore the truth, but it does not affect the truth in any way. How someone treats the truth will affect them! Truth isn’t something that can be measured by a Gallop pole. It is truth regardless of what people think.

It is truth that exists regardless of whether individuals accept it or not. For example, if I start thinking something contrary to what God has said in His Word, then I am the one that is wrong. His Word is eternal and will never change.

Remember Galileo? He had the audacity to believe that the earth revolved around the sun; a shocking concept at the time. Well, he had the truth even if the rest of the world didn’t. He believed it on evidence and faith. Everyone else was content to believe the lie: that the sun revolved around the earth. But all their “believing in the lie” didn’t nullify the truth. Galileo was vindicated in time, because the truth could not be suppressed.

The thing about lies is that God doesn’t fear them. He knows that lies have a built in self-destruct button and that the truth will always prevail. Truth cannot be contained. It’s irrepressible. Satan know this too, which is why he uses half-truths much of the time.

Truth is in the Bible. But, for some reason, when people come to the Bible, they can see all the Manuscript evidence, historical evidence, scientific evidence and prophetic evidence all staring them in the face and yet they still choose to ignore the truth. It's interesting that people can believe in creatures of the past or creatures of the deep or creatures from outer space, but when faced with the truth of the Bible, they look the other way.

And yet there other people throughout history who have had their lives changed by this Truth; people who have been willing to suffer and die for it. Christians have always been the minority, much like Galileo. And, like Galileo, the truth is not dependent on the number of believers. Christians will be vindicated in time.

However, if a person is unwilling to believe the truth, it wouldn’t matter how much evidence could be presented to him; he still wouldn’t believe.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen — Romans 1:24-25