What is Truth?

My Truth or Your Truth?

If we’re going to talk about whether Christianity is true or not, we need to get on the same page about what “truth” means. Because if everyone has their own “version” of the truth, we’re not going to get very far, are we?

You’ve probably heard someone say, “Live your truth” or “That’s true for you, but not for me!” or “Who are you to judge?” But here’s the thing: all those statements go against a basic rule of logic that we all follow without even realising it. It’s called the law of non-contradiction. Basically, the law means that two opposite statements can’t both be true at the same time and in the same way.

For example, take the statements “The Earth is flat” and “The Earth is not flat.” We all know that both of these can’t be true, right? (If you don’t know that, you might want to go back to elementary school.) So we have to figure out what’s really true. To do that, we have to be clear on what we mean by something being true.

The most basic definition of truth is:

“that which is in accordance with fact or reality.”

And that’s the kind of truth we’re talking about here: absolute truth. That means it’s true for everyone, everywhere, and everywhen. No matter who you are, where you are, or when you are, truth is truth.

So let’s go back to our Earth example. We know through the help of science and other reasoning that for everyone, everywhere, and everywhen, the Earth is not flat. (Sorry, flat Earthers.)

Here’s another example: if Messi loves football, that’s true for everyone, everywhere, and everywhen, too. (Sorry, people who hate football…or Messi :|)

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. Basically every religion out there claims to have the truth. But if we follow the law of non-contradiction, they can’t all be right. If, for example, one religion says “there is only one God” and another says “there are many gods,” they can’t both be true. So we need to figure out which religion is actually telling the truth. To put it in terms of our definition, we need to figure out which religion makes claims that are in accordance with fact and reality.

We’ll be answering a few more truth questions over the next few articles to help us decipher which religion is true.

In the next article, we’ll tackle the fundamental religion question: “Does God exist?”

Still feel free to ask your religion/Christianity related questions below. Thank you!