The Best Offense…

“Quid est Veritas?”

What is Truth?

John 8:32

On August 7 of this year, Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s home run record – but suspicions of performance-enhancing drugs surround the accomplishment.

On October 8, Marian Jones, the darling of the US Olympic team, tearfully admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and returned the five medals she won at the Sydney Games.

On September 9, Britney Spears (I’ll spare you the photo!) appeared on the MTV music awards, and was obviously not actually singing the song that was coming out of the speakers – instead she was lip-syncing a previous recording.

On Monday of this weeek, a prominent politician had the official congressional record “edited” to tone down her support of a huge tax increase bill.  This follows a long list of allegations from both parties that written, official records with increasing frequently do not reflect that actual spoken words of politicians.

In a national poll last month 70% of Americans expressed concern about the “decline in moral values” in our society.  There is what we would call a crisis of credibility in our nation.  You can find corruption pretty much everywhere.  You can find it in politics.  You can find it in business.  You can find it in sports.  You find it in academics.  You can find it in entertainment.  You can find it in churches.  You can probably give me an example of a scandal in every major sector of our society. 

Pilate secured his place in history when, during the trial of Jesus, he asked, “Quid est Veritas?”  “What is truth?”

I would submit that those words, “Quid est Veritas?” could appropriately be placed on our money as our National Motto, replacing “In God We Trust.”  We have experienced an incredible “decline in moral values.”  What has caused this decline?   I submit that it is due to a secret, silent, ceaseless spread of truth decay.

Now this week was Halloween, and we saw all kinds of warnings in the media about the danger of tooth decay – but that’s not what I’m talking about this morning.  We’re discussing what I call   “truth decay” because I think it exemplifies what’s been happening in our society in the last fifty years.  Slowly, little by little, imperceptibly at first there has been an erosion of the value of truth in our society.  We don’t value truth like we used to.  If you don’t stop that erosion, it’s like decay of your teeth.  When it first starts you don’t know what’s happening.  You can’t feel it.  You can’t see it.  But that tooth decay is happening and if you don’t stop it, there will eventually be pain, and eventually lose your teeth. 

The same is true if we don’t stop the decay of truth in our society.  All kinds of problems are going to happen.  Even greater than the ones we’re facing right now.  When truth decay is left unchecked we do not loose our teeth, we lose our freedom.   Jesus said “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”  Freedom comes from truth.  The more you know the truth the freer you are in your spirit, in your life, in your family whatever.  The opposite is true.  The more you give up on truth the more you forfeit your freedom.

The past fifty years there has been a shift away from truth as the foundation of our society.  Instead of truth, we have begun to look for excuses.  The goal is no longer to get the facts, but to find the loophole.  Forty years ago people genuinely agreed on what is right and what is wrong.  If people didn’t do right at least they knew right.  They knew what they were doing was wrong.  Now today many people claim they don’t even know the difference between right and wrong.  A lot of people even claim there’s no such thing as truth. 

“Who are you to determine what is right?  You don’t determine what is true for me!  What you think is true is fine, but I may not agree!”

This idea that “there is no such thing as truth” is called postmodernism.  Or relativism.  Postmodernism, relativism, is built on the idea that “there are no absolutes”.  That is absolutely a stupid statement!  In the first place when you say there are no absolutes you’re making an absolute statement.  So it’s illogical.  Whenever somebody says there are no absolutes I want to say, “Are you absolutely sure?”

The statement that there are no absolutes is so irrational that even those who proclaim it don’t believe it!  Think about it - the entire world operates on absolutes every single second of the day.  I’d like to meet the post-modern person who would go into a pharmacy to get a prescription filled you don’t say, “Just give me anything.”  NO!  You want the pharmacist to give you absolutely the correct prescription in the right dosage.  

We even have absolutes in children’s games.  If not, think how easy Scrabble would be!  You just put down every letter in your tray, in any order and take all the points you can.  Your opponent puts down XFLUBIQ.  “OK, that’s 28 points.”  You say, “I’m sorry.  I’ve never heard of it.”  And they say, “It may not be true for you but it’s true for me.  It is a word.  I use it all the time.”  So what you do is you appeal to an objective, absolute standard called the dictionary.  If it’s not in the dictionary it’s not a word no matter how many points you thought you are going to get for it.

But tolerance, rather than truth, has become the supreme value in our culture.  It’s more important to be tolerant than it is to be truthful.  In fact, if you are truthful then you are considered intolerant.  And how dare you say that something is always right and something is always wrong.  That’s intolerant and that’s being judgmental. 

That’s just ridiculous.  All ideas are not equally valid.  If I say, “The moon is made out of rock,” and you say, “The moon is made out of Swiss cheese,” that is not an equally valid idea.  If I say, “The sun revolves around the earth,” and somebody else says, “The earth revolves around the sun,” those are not equally valid ideas.  There are a lot of things in life that are absolutely true and there are a lot of things in life that are absolutely false.  They will always be true and they will always be false. 

Today as we do part two in our series on Worldviews we’re going to look first at the damaging effect of truth decay in our society.  Our goal in this series is for each of us to be equipped to address our culture, and make a difference.  To be able to have, defend and promote a biblical worldview.  So we’re going to look, very quickly, at the terrible results of postmodern thought, which I’m sure you will recognize, and then at how we can encourage people to seek the Truth that sets us free.

What are the results of Truth Decay?

All kinds of things happen.  There are at least six results of truth decay.  You can see them in our culture.  You can see them in business.  And actually you can see them in your own life.  These things happen when we give up on truth.

Immaturity is a sign of truth decay.  In many ways our society is getting more and more immature.   One of the ways you can see it is we are less willing to accept responsibility which is a mark of maturity.  When there’s no right and wrong when there’s no standard of true and false then we all act in irresponsible ways.  We can behave like children.  “I can blame other people for my problems.  I can be disorganized.  I can pass the buck. I can refuse to pay my bills.  I can expect other people to take care of me.” Those are all immature, childish statements.  When we expect the government or anybody else to solve our problems because we’re not responsible, that’s immaturity.  Can you think of examples of immaturity in our culture?  Sure you can.

The Bible says this in Ephesians 4 “Let us be no longer like children forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone else has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like truth.”  Immaturity is a sure sign of truth decay.

Immorality is a mark of truth decay.  In the book of Judges we read of a society where there was no leader - that there was no king, no ruler, and it says, “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”  It sounds like our culture today.  If there’s no standard of right or wrong, anything goes.  When there’s no truth, and I become the center of the universe; and I’m preoccupied with me; I become self-centered, I worry about my pleasure, my goals, my getting ahead.  I don’t really care about anything else.  No one and no thing is going to get in the way of my desires.

The Bible says this in Ephesians 4:19 “They don’t care anymore about right and wrong and they’ve given themselves over to immoral ways.  Their lives are filled with all kinds of impurity and greed.”  They say, “I don’t care what God says.  If there’s no right or wrong, I’ll just do what I want to do.”

Illegality is a result of Truth Decay.  If there’s no standard of right or wrong then everything and anything can be considered legal.  All law is built on an idea that there are things that are right and there are things that are wrong.  If there is no right or wrong, if there is no truth, there are no laws.  If there’s nothing illegal then you can go around arguing about what the meaning of “is” is.  It allows a judge to throw out a conviction of a child offender who was trying to lure a little girl into a shelter because he said that the shelter couldn’t be accurately called a “secluded area.”  

When truth goes out the window and there’s no standard of right or wrong then anything becomes legal.  The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 “When there is ignorance of God crime runs wild.” 

Idolatry is another symptom of truth decay.  We begin to idolize the wrong things.  When I don’t know right from wrong, when I don’t know the truth, then my priorities and my values and the things I worship get out of whack and get really messed up.  I Idolize things like wealth.  Or I idolize success.  Or I idolize physical beauty.  Or I idolize athletic ability.  Or I idolize intelligence.  Or I idolize popularity.  Or I idolize cars and homes.  Or I idolize the way your house is redecorated.  Or I idolize any number of different things. Those things may not be wrong in themselves, but they don’t deserve worship.  They don’t deserve to be top, to be number one goal in your life. 

Truth decay has completely inverted our value system. Wrong things are now becoming right and right things are becoming wrong.  And good is bad and bad is good.  Black is white and white is black.  It’s all messed up.  We turn criminals into celebrities.  Then we give them multimillion dollar book contracts and make them millionaires.  The worst crime you do the more money you can make off of it.  That’s out of whack. 

We kill unborn human beings.  Forty-four million Americans aren’t here that would have been here because of abortion.  We kill baby humans while protecting tree frogs.  TV constantly mocks and ridicules marriage, unless it’s homosexual marriage.  That marriage is promoted. 

The Bible says this in Romans 1:25 “Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God they deliberately chose to believe lies.  They worshipped the things God made but not the creator Himself.” 

Injustice is a sign of truth decay.  When there’s no standard of right and wrong, no truth and no falsehood, then there is no basis for justice and law.  You can get away with anything – anything because there are not standards by which wrong can be determined. 

The Bible says in Isaiah 59 “Our courts oppose people who are righteous, justice is no where to be found, truth falls dead in the street and fairness has been outlawed.”

If that’s the damage of truth decay in our society, in our businesses in our families, in our lives, what’s the solution?  How do we reverse the tide?  Not through politics.  Not through legislation.  But by being people of the truth.  Being people who stand for absolute truth in a relativistic, postmodern, anything-goes society.  The Bible calls it being salt and light. 

We can know the truth, we can live the truth and we can proclaim the truth.  How?  How can we know the truth?  What is the source of truth?  I know we all want to jump to one place – but when we’re talking to unbelievers, we can’t run first to the Bible – because they aren’t going to believe the Bible is true - we need to engage them internally first, then move to the external.  Follow along:

First, we can know the truth through creation.  We learn a lot about God, a lot about truth, just by looking at nature.  This is why science is so important.  It helps us understand how things work.  It reveals how things are – absolutely.  It helps us understand truth.  It helps us understand God and His universe.  That’s why we value science.  But science does not lead us away from God – it leads us to God.

Romans 1:20 says this “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power, His divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so men are without excuse.”  I can learn a lot about God simply by taking a walk this afternoon.  When I go out and start walking around creation I can learn a lot about God.  We will be going deeper into this next week.

Secondly, we know what’s true through conscience.  Deep within us, we know what’s true and what is not, even if we do all we can to deny it.   If we go down to Main Street, right in front of our building downtown, and there’s a little old lady, she’s 92, she’s blind, and she’s walking with a walker.  She needs to cross the street.  Tell me which of these three options is morally right.  One, you can ignore her and just let her give it her best shot.  Two, you could help the blind lady cross the street.  Three, you could push her into oncoming traffic.  We instinctively know there’s a right thing to do.  You don’t have to be a “Christian,”  “Jew,” “Muslim” or even a spiritual person.  Inside you simply know that’s the right thing to do.  Postmodernism at its core would say there is no right thing to do – but even those who claim they adhere to that have a gnawing awareness deep in side that points to a universal right and wrong.

Our conscience tells us this.  Our conscience points to a higher value – an overarching set of principles that transcend us – our conscience points to the truth that God exists and it points to God’s truth.  The Bible says, in Romans 2:14, from the Message paraphrase:

This shows that God’s law is not something alien, imposed on us from without.  But its woven into the very fabric of our creation.  There’s something deep within us that echoes God’s yes and no, right and wrong.” 

Creation and conscience point to the truth of God’s existence, and God’s values, but that truth is fully revealed in God’s word, the Bible.

We know what is true throuh the Bible.  The Bible is truthful and full of truth.  It is truthful because it is accurate – in amazing ways.  Archaeology continues to confirm the Biblical record.  I can’t stress this enough – there are powerful, influential people who have a s their greatest goal to discredit the Bible – they spend literally millions of dollars to find the missing piece of the puzzle that they are sure is out there buried in the sands of ancient Israel that will prove that the Bible is a collection of mythical legends, that Jesus’ early followers never believed He was God.  But with each shovel of dirt, each new find, the Bible is confirmed, not destroyed. 

Historians used to say that when the Bible talks about Solomon having all these horses and that was wrong.  Nobody kept horses back then.  But then they dug up a place called Megiddo and guess what they found?  We were there this summer – this is a picture we took of a manger, a feeding trough, at Megiddo used to feed the horses that were kept there centuries before the time of Solomon.  Within the last few years, evidence from Archaeology has confirmed the historical identity of Caiaphas; the High priest who tried Jesus; King David, from an inscription in the ancient city of Dan; an Assyrian King named Sargon from the book of Isaiah, and Belshazzar, king of Babylon mentioned in the book of Daniel.  All of who were at one time pointed to as mythical, or at least inaccurately identified people by “scholars”.

In addition, within the last 18 months, the remains of the earliest Christian church ever found were discovered, coincidentally in the area around Megiddo, and the mosaics on the floor refer to Jesus as God.  The DaVinci Code uses claims from skeptics that no one worshiped Jesus as god until the Nicean Council of the fourth century – this archaeological find proves that people were worshiping “the God Jesus Christ” 200 years earlier than that!  We have written, archaeological and historical evidence that Jesus was worshiped as God, and that His resurrection was recorded, taught and defended by eyewitnesses within months of it taking place, and those witnesses were willing to die for that truth. 

Efforts to disprove the truthfulness of the Bible keep confirming the accuracy of the Bible.  It’s important to know this stuff and be confident in the truthfulness of the Bible, so that we can the present the Truth of the Bible.   The Bible is not just truthful, it is full of truth.

Other worldviews have basic tenants that 1. we are a cosmic accident of nature; 2. that we are basically good, and will do good when given the right opportunities, 3. that there is nothing beyond us, or higher than us that we answer to, and 4. this life is the end.  That’s what postmodern worldviews want us to believe as true.

The Biblical worldview reveals the identity, nature and plan of God.  One who supercedes everything and everyone.  It shows His holiness, His creativity, His mercy and His love.  It proposes that we are part of His careful, intricate creation, made to have fellowship with Him. The Bible tells us, however, that we make mistakes, errors in judgment, and that sometimes we willfully do wrong things out of greed, selfishness and lust for more.  Those deeds have left me separated from God, and hopeless. 

How can a flawed human being satisfy a perfect, holy God?  By self-mutilation, or martyrdom or good works?  NO!  What work can a fly do for me that will make me see it as a valued part of my family?  What can a human being do to impress a holy God?  Nothing – we are without hope on our own – we need a Savior.  We can’t reach God, so He reached to us, by sending His Son, who paid the penalty for our mistakes, errors, greed, selfishness and lust – and gave us a way to be made right with Him.

Now I ask you – which sounds right to you?  Which worldview reflects reality as you honestly ponder your existence?  Which reflects the world as it is?  Deep inside every person there is a God-given awareness of the truth.   The only way to buy into a postmodern worldview is to suspend all reason – to ignore all facts and to disregard reality.

“You will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free…” 

Oh, if you don’t know the truth; if you are in bondage to the hopelessness, deception and denial that are the results of postmodern thought; then I urge you to look at the truth of God, to know the truth of God, and to be set free by the Truth of God.  He knows all about you, He loves you despite your flaws, and He wants to welcome you into His family forever.