Is my truth the same as your truth? Is it intolerant for me to say that my truth is true, but yours is not? What if my truth is opposite of your truth? Who wins?
When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilot, the Roman Governor who ultimately decided that Jesus would be crucified, the following dialogue took place concerning who Jesus really was:
Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus, and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning Me?”
Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”
Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”
John 18:33-38a (NKJV).
Pilot’s confusion over what is truth seems kind of silly to me, but just go into the street and ask ten random people if they think that Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and any other world religion are all equally valid truths. I absolutely guarantee you that most if not all will tell you that they are. They will say something to the effect that “if it is true for them, who am I to say it’s not true?” You may even agree with that.
Unfortunately, such thinking doesn’t solve the problem of what is truth. Consider this dilemma, can the answers to a question of yes and no both be true at the same time? Sure they can, but it depends on the question being asked.
When my wife would ask me whether it was cold outside, I used to answer that it wasn’t cold. It only took a few times of my wife going outside without warm enough clothing for me to realize that our perceptions of cold are completely different. We could both answer her question of whether it was cold with a yes and a no, and both of us would be correct. The answer depended on our subjective perception.
What if I asked whether the Sun rose this morning? Again, answers of yes and no would both be correct. If we have the blessing of experiencing another day, we could say, “yes, the Sun rose this morning.” However, it is equally true to say, “no, the Sun never rises; rather, the Sun stays put and the Earth rises and sets over the Sun’s horizon as the Earth orbits the Sun.” Both answers can be correct because linguistically we say that the Sun rises and sets, but scientifically it does not.
However, what if I asked whether two plus two equals six? If I firmly and sincerely believe it’s true, can you really tell me that it does equal six, because it’s true to me? What if I took my version of math and engineered an airplane or even an elevator on those principles? Would you ride in my airplane, or get on my elevator? Of course you wouldn’t! Not if you knew how I reasoned mathematical truth.
What about when it comes to one’s religious beliefs? Can religion be based on perception, or does one’s religious beliefs have to be treated the same as mathematical truth? Pilot’s retort to the truth about Christ was that of most people today, “what is it?” This is because of the influence Postmoderism has had on the way we think.
The idea of Modernism, when it comes to religious and philosophical thought, is essentially that everything can be explained with logic and science. Postmodernism is really a rejection of those rules, and therefore logic and science are pretty much out the window. Essentially, it’s the idea that has overtaken most thinking today, and says that if it’s true for you, then it’s true. Try that with gravity! If I didn’t believe in gravity, would it really be okay for me to jump out of a plane without a chute?
Most people with a Postmodern mindset will insist that their views are more rational because of the fact that they are being more tolerant of others, and therefore more humanitarian. Let me challenge you to step back from any presuppositions you may have over what is true, and let’s take a fresh look at truth itself. I specifically want to address three points: (1) what is truth, (2) can opposing religious “truths” be equal, and (3) is not taking a stance on what is true really being tolerant.
Let’s consider first what truth actually is. As I tried to point out in my introductory comments, truth isn’t always verifiably universal. Sometimes it’s subjective. Well, this issue of truth is not about whether you like certain things or ideas. I’m talking about whether an objective truth is in fact true.
My favorite example is that of whether I can survive jumping off a tall building or out of a plane just because I don’t believe in gravity. Not everyone knows why it’s true, or understands the mathematics behind gravitational pull, but nonetheless, gravity is objectively true for all of us, even if we never heard about gravity.
Math is objectively true for all of us. It doesn’t matter who asks the question, or where you ask it, two plus two will always be four. I don’t care if we were on Mars, two plus two will still be four, even if you never learned math.
These two examples prove that objective truth does in fact exist, and its existence is not connected in any way to whether one believes it or not. I fully understand that some people don’t want certain things to be true. But that does not, and cannot, ever affect whether something is in fact true. In order to be true, however, objective truth must be true all the time for everyone. It cannot be dependent upon one’s subjective viewpoint, otherwise it’s no longer objective truth.
Showing something is true, however, doesn’t mean that you have to witness it to know that it is objectively true. Most of what we believe to be true, we didn’t actually witness occurring. Not many of us have seen the Earth rotating around the Sun, but we believe it does because we take science’s word for it. Most criminal cases are solved not because someone saw what happened, but because the evidence supports the conclusion.
None of us were alive when God created the world, but we have plenty of proof that He did. The proof is that we’re here! The truth of our existence is the evidence supporting the conclusion that a creator exists.
You are probably reading this right now on your computer monitor. Who made that monitor? What if I told you that it just evolved on its own into existence out of nothing, and after billions of years of morphing into various different objects, it turned into this incredibly complex device that you are now using to read the words I typed into another incredibly complex device that likewise evolved out of nothing?
Of course you wouldn’t believe me. So why would you believe that everything came out of nothing over billions of years?! It’s illogical and ridiculous, not to mention a scientific impossibility. We are so much more complex than our computers and monitors. There is no way that such complexity as life, much more a human being, popped into existence all on its own.
God also reveals His truth to us through our conscience, which tells us when we have violated His laws. Think about the way you feel after telling a lie, or taking something that doesn’t belong to you, or disobeying your parents, or getting angry at someone without a just cause, or lusting after someone not your spouse. When we do these things, we know that we are doing something wrong. Even atheists, who completely reject the existence of God, know these things are wrong. This is because God put a conscience into the heart of every human being, even the atheists, “who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness.” Romans 2:15a (NKJV).
The Bible says that God gave us evidences of His reality all around us, but that we reject that truth because we prefer the unrighteousness of sin that dwells in our hearts:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
Romans 1:18—23 (NKJV).
When it comes to religion, many people don’t like to say anything is objectively true, because they don’t really want it to be true. If a religion says that the way to heaven is by doing x, y and z, people who are not interested in doing x, y and z will not want to believe that the particular religion is true. However, that subjective desire has absolutely no effect on whether something is in fact true. If the God of Christianity is true, and Jesus truly is who He says He is, how can anyone from any other religion be correct just because they earnestly believe in another god?
As the passage from Romans above indicates, we suppress the truth about God because we prefer our own unrighteousness. This inability to declare truth from falsity leads us directly to a mindset where we only condemn those who claim to know truth. This brings me to my second point, which is, can opposing religious “truths” be equally true?
Think of it in the context of my math example. If I say that two plus two is six and you say it’s four, how can we both be right? You may say, “well that’s math, a scientific reality; you can’t apply that thinking to religion, an unverifiable philosophy.” Well I say that’s nonsense. I’ve already proven to you that our mere existence is plenty of proof that God is a reality. If you choose not to accept that truth, it’s not because you don’t have the evidence. Rather, it’s because you don’t want it to be true, so you suppress the truth in your own unrighteousness.
So back to my point, how can the answer be both six and four? It can’t, and the same goes for Christianity. It’s either true, or it’s not. The claims Jesus made cannot coexist with other religions, because He claimed exclusivity. Jesus said unequivocally, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6b (NKJV).
Every single religion of the world claims that one must do something to gain their god’s or gods’ favor. Only Christianity says that on our own, we can never gain God’s favor, because when viewed against God’s standard of perfection, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Romans 3:10b (NKJV); see also Matthew 5:48. It is only through the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, taking upon Himself the penalty that you and I deserve for all the times we broke God’s laws, that we can be looked upon with favor by God. Jesus said, “[h]e who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 (NKJV).
The Apostle Paul went on to explain, “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:9, 10 (NKJV). Confessing that Jesus is Lord is to submit to His rightful authority through repentance, and believing in your heart that God raised Him is to put your trust in Christ’s sacrifice through faith that it was your punishment that Jesus took upon Himself. The Apostle Paul described repentance and faith like this, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (NKJV).
God’s wrath abides on every single human being until and unless one repents from sin by confessing that Jesus is Lord and trusts that God raised Jesus from the dead after He took the penalty that we individually deserve. It is utterly unacceptable to say that Jesus Christ was just a good man, or that He taught good principles about how to live our lives. C.S. Lewis famously gave only three alternatives on what to do about Jesus Christ:
You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (all editions, Book 3, Chapter 3, The Shocking Alternative).
No other religion and Christianity can both be true. Jesus is either the very God who created the world, or he is a liar or lunatic. He cannot coexist along with any false deity. Regarding Jesus, the Apostle John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:1—3 (NKJV). Where in that passage can you fit a coexistence with any other religion’s god?
The claims of all other religions are completely different from Christianity. They all say that one must do something to please god. Christianity says that you can’t please God on your own. The only way to please Him is through repentance from your way, and faith in God’s way, Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind.
Be aware of this too, the God who created everything you see and personally put life into every one of us, warned us through Moses that He will not accept being put on the same level as a fantasy:
You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.
Exodus 20:4, 5 (NKJV). Regarding this issue, the Apostle Paul posed the question, “Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?” 1 Corinthians 10:22 (NKJV).
God proves to us that He is true by the mere fact of His creation. His Bible teaches us that His truth cannot coexist with any other religion. This brings me to my final point, which is that failing to take a stance on what is truth, and simply accepting that everyone’s religion or lifestyle are equally valid, is not being tolerant and loving at all. In fact, it’s being hateful.
Consider this, if I saw someone who couldn’t see where they were going walking directly into the path of a bullet train speeding down the tracks, would it be tolerant and loving of me to just say, “well, that path is true for him, so I won’t upset him by letting him know where that path is taking him.” That’s ridiculous! But that’s exactly what happens when people who know the truth about God keep quite because they don’t want to offend someone of a different faith.
So many people are under this misconception that Christians are just completely arrogant to think that they have it right, and only people who trust in Jesus are going to Heaven. Why do the Christians have it right and no one else? My initial response is, someone has to be right! One of these positions must prevail, either the atheists are correct, or Mohammed was correct, or Jesus was correct, and on and on we can go.
My second response though is that this comes from the misunderstanding that all of these beliefs just popped up on their own and it’s only through a dominating power that Christianity came out on top. The truth is that all human beings descended from Adam and Eve, as well as Noah and his wife. During at least those two periods of human history, all mankind knew the truth about God. It was through rebellion that mankind created false religions as a way of suppressing that truth in favor of a reality that they prefer. God demands that His creation get on His plan, and that is too much for those who cannot let go of their plan.
The Bible says that we don’t want God to be real because we don’t want to be subjected to God’s rules, but would rather keep doing the things that God calls sin. Referring to the rejection of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, the Apostle John wrote, “[a]nd this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19 (NKJV); see also John 8:12b.
In the Book of Revelation, Jesus warns, “all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.” Revelation 21:8b (NKJV). Who of us has never told a lie?! I would venture to say that every single one of us has told at least one lie in their lifetime. I don’t care if you call it a lie, fib, white lie, half truth, or anything else. An untruth is a lie, and the Bible says that without the saving grace of Christ’s atonement on the cross applied to one’s soul, those who have even told one single lie will spend eternity in Hell for rebelling against God.
It’s not the lie that’s necessarily sending people to Hell, it’s the rebellion against God that is sending them there. But none of us have told only one lie, nor is lying the only law of God’s that we have broken. Every single one of us have broken God’s laws many, many times, and there is coming a day when “God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” Romans 2:16b (NKJV).
The reality is that God is objectively true, and it does not matter how subjectively sincere you are about believing otherwise. He has revealed Himself to us through creation, and through our conscience. The Bible, which is God’s written revelation to us, teaches us exactly what God wants us to know so that we avoid the pitfalls of where our “deceitful … [a]nd desperately wicked” hearts would lead us when left to ourselves. Jeremiah 17:9b (NKJV). The Bible claims its truthfulness as being “given by inspiration of God.” 2 Timothy 3:16b (NKJV).
Pontius Pilot couldn’t figure out the truth of Jesus Christ because he didn’t want to. Not only did he have numerous eyewitnesses that he could have questioned regarding the incredible miracles Jesus performed, proving that He was God in the flesh, but Pilot even had Jesus Himself saying He is the King of the Jews prophesied throughout the Jewish Scriptures. Even Pilot’s wife told him of the supernatural dream she had, warning her of who Jesus was. See Matthew 27:19, 20.
Like Pilot, we have all the evidence we need of God’s existence, and the reality of who Jesus is. All of us will stand before Him one day and give an account of not only the things we have done, but “every idle word.” Matthew 12:36b (NKJV). Don’t be like Pilot! Get off the fence and quit suppressing the truth in your unrighteousness. Listen to what God is telling you even right now. If you hear His voice, do as Jesus commanded, “Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Mark 1:15b (NKJV).
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