Nothing But the (Relative) Truth
“What is truth,” Pilate asked Jesus in John 18:38. Here we are, more than 2,000 years later, and people are still asking the same question. But the answer has gotten a bit complicated as a Barna survey reveals. The survey, conducted in 2001, indicated:
- A minority of Americans believe in the existence of absolute moral truth;
- Less than one in three “born again” Christians adopt the notion of absolute moral truth;
- 64% of adults agree truth is always relative to the person and their situation;
- 83% of teenagers say moral truth depends on circumstances;
- 38% of teens and 31% of adults claimed the moral basis for decision-making was “whatever feels right or comfortable in a situation;”
- 16% of teens based their decision on what would most benefit them.
Barna noted that even many Christians considered activities such as abortion, sexual fantasies, cohabitation, drunkenness and viewing pornography to be morally acceptable. He said, “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.’”[1]
That survey was conducted in 2001, more than 20 years ago, and the situation has become even worse today. In fact, depending on what “truth” you choose to stand up for, you could be accused, tried, and convicted of a hate crime, simply for defending your truth.
According to the dictionary, truth is “conformity to fact or actuality; a statement proven to be or accepted as true.” Or, as the 1912 Webster’s dictionary put it, truth is “conformity to fact or reality; exact accordance with that which is, or has been, or shall be.”
According to R. Allan Killen, “Truth must fit the facts of life and existence. This means propositional correspondence to reality. Truth cannot satisfy itself with universals and generalities, useful as they may be, nor with mere individuals and particulars, but must vertically fit the facts while organizing them correctly through the use of universals.”[2]
Truth, by definition, ought to conform to fact or reality; it should reflect the way things really are. But nowadays, truth has become a very individualized thing. You can, and apparently should decide what is true for you, irrespective of what someone else’s truth might be. Your truth is based on personal feelings or the situation in which you find yourself. Truth becomes, as one writer put it, “abstract, vague, or nebulous.”[3]
But does relative truth hold up when faced with real world situations? Can relative truth help you when you come face to face with the reality of life? More than one writer says no. At the website gotquestions.org, we read:
“The philosophy of relativism says that all truth is relative and that there is no such thing as absolute truth. But one has to ask: is the claim ‘all truth is relative’ a relative truth or an absolute truth? If it is a relative truth, then it really is meaningless; how do we know when and where it applies? If it is an absolute truth, then absolute truth exists. Moreover, the relativist betrays his own position when he states that the position of the absolutist is wrong—why can’t those who say absolute truth exists be correct too? In essence, when the relativist says, ‘There is no truth,’ he is asking you not to believe him, and the best thing to do is follow his advice.”[4]
Frederick Nietzsche, described as the “patron saint of postmodernism,” asks, “What then is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonyms, and anthropomorphisms… truths are illusions… coins which have lost their pictures and now matter only as metal, no longer as coins.”[5]
On another website Clarence Haynes suggests that relative truth is a contradiction in terms. He says, “If truth is factual and indisputable then you cannot have different truths for different people. Relative truth is a rejection of absolute truth.”[6]
In real life, real truth is constant; it does not change depending on circumstances. Real truth is objective; the same truth applies to everyone. And real truth will stand in the end against all challengers.
Consider these examples of why absolute truths and standards are essential to us in our daily lives:
“If [the law of gravity] were not an absolute, we could not be certain we could stand or sit in one place until we decided to move. Or if two plus two did not always equal four, the effects on civilization would be disastrous. Laws of science and physics would be irrelevant, and commerce would be impossible. What a mess that would be! Thankfully, two plus two does equal four. There is absolute truth, and it can be found and understood.”[7]
Finally, we ask the question:
“Why is it so important to understand and embrace the concept of absolute truth in all areas of life (including faith and religion)? Simply because life has consequences for being wrong. Giving someone the wrong amount of a medication can kill them; having an investment manager make the wrong monetary decisions can impoverish a family; boarding the wrong plane will take you where you do not wish to go; and dealing with an unfaithful marriage partner can result in the destruction of a family and, potentially, disease.”[8]
Clarence Haynes adds:
“It is not enough to understand what truth is; we must also understand why we need absolute truth. With no absolute truth then there are no longer any standards. I believe it is safe to say many of our standards, which were once considered absolute truths, are under attack today in our society…. When the standards are removed then people are free to do what they want, and we become a society that lives by relative truth. While some may see this as liberating, I see this as disastrous.”[9]
Bottom line? Truth is important; absolute truth is important. Relative truth can be, and usually is, disastrous as we see clearly in the nightly news. It behooves each of us to “know the truth,” and to live by the truth.
Author’s note: See an upcoming companion article, “What is Truth?” in which I address the One who introduced Himself as the truth (John 14:6), and who gives us all the information we need to live by the truth, empowered by the Holy Spirit (John 16:13).
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- https://www.barna.com/research/americans-are-most-likely-to-base-truth-on-feelings/ ↑
- R. Allan Killen, “Truth,” ed. Charles F. Pfeiffer, Howard F. Vos, and John Rea, The Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia (Moody Press, 1975). ↑
- Steve Lawson, “What is Truth?,” https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/what-is-truth. ↑
- gotquestions.org, “What is truth?”, https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-truth.html. ↑
- Ibid., quoting from On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, quoted by Mann, D., in Structural Idealism: A Theory of Social and Historical Explanation (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2002), p. 138. ↑
- Clarence Haynes, “What Is the Difference Between Absolute Truth and Relative Truth?”, https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-life/what-is-the-difference-between-absolute-truth-and-relative-truth.html#google_vignette. ↑
- Gotquestions.org, “Is there such a thing as absolute truth/universal truth?”, https://www.gotquestions.org/absolute-truth.html. ↑
- Gotquestions.org, “What is truth?” ↑
- Clarence Haynes, “What Is the Difference Between Absolute Truth and Relative Truth?” ↑
