The Absolute Truth About the Absolute Truth
Sheryl Young
September 22, 2006
I have four quarters in front of me - two near my right hand and two near my left. I count the two on my right, then the two on my left, then push them together and they total four.
Is there anyone who would dispute that two plus two makes four, or that four American quarters make one American dollar? How can we be so sure? After all, many people say there is no longer such a thing as absolute truth. Some believe we should make up our own truths as we go along according to our experiences, or how we feel at any given moment - but you shouldn’t dare try to share your absolute truth with anyone else.
Imagine taking those four quarters into any American supermarket, going to the register with $20.00 worth of groceries, and saying to the cashier, “I prefer to believe that these four quarters make $20.00, and you must accept them as full payment for my food.” Nobody is going to believe you, because in our money system, it is absolutely true that 4 quarters only make one dollar. So we can’t say that there is no absolute truth.
When someone states there is no such thing as absolute truth, I ask them, “Do you unequivocally believe that there is no absolute truth?” If they say yes, I say “Then you must admit there is absolute truth”.
There was a movie with Robin Williams a few years ago – “What Dreams May Come” – based on the premise that the main character’s life wasn’t really true – it was all in his head, and it could be whatever he made it. This seems far-fetched, but believe it or not, there is a whole camp of people who actually believe this.
If there is no absolute truth, then why do we die? Wouldn’t most of us prefer to live, and choose to stay at the age that has been our best? Or live in a different era which excites our imagination? Wouldn’t most of us like to twitch our noses and be millionaires?
The truth is, people just don’t want to face the truth. Or that there can be an absolute truth. Because if there is, someone would be wrong and that's now a "politically incorrect" word. We wouldn’t be able to do just as we please without facing the consequences of our actions. Everyone knows that all of our freedoms and choices are precious, and nobody can tell us what’s right or wrong, good or bad.
We live by many absolute truths. Murder is unlawful - that fact is accepted everywhere - and because that is true you can get put in jail for murdering someone. But not all absolute truths are this cut and dry. For example, the phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution, but most people believe it is because of what the media, separationists, and modern-day judges tell us instead of looking it up ourselves. So what is not the truth is repeated so many times that it becomes the truth to some, and many people are fighting for something that doesn’t even exist.
The absolute truth about us, we Americans, is that our freedoms and limitless choices
have made us weak. We have invited a new level of mediocrity. The freedom to believe that there is no absolute truth has made us lose our convictions, our direction, and our capacity to love people despite our differences. Disagreeing with someone is now automatically called hate. What dribble! In an effort to be tolerant of everyone else’s beliefs, we’re asked to give up our own, and many comply without even realizing it.
Kids in our school aren’t even being raised to think America is great anymore. Every American should take a trip abroad to see how good we have it here. We don’t hold a candle to citizens in other countries who face persecution and even death every day for proclaiming their beliefs. The mere fact that we can speak out against our leadership without having some brigade come and arrest us in the middle of the night is what sets us apart from two-thirds of the countries in the world today.
But we’d rather cry about how someone hurt our feelings, or won’t tolerate us, or won’t
praise us, or doesn’t agree with us. We have egos as fragile as eggshells. We’re demanding, self-absorbed and self-serving, unwilling to make sacrifices, and afraid to admit there’s an absolute truth because we might have to give something up.
The absolute truth I believe becomes truer every day that this country keeps headed in this direction, because its words gives me the brightest hope for the future. And that is “…the Lord is good, and his love endures forever, and his faithfulness endures through all generations” (Psalm 100:5). If only we could love each other this way, and still face an absolute truth now and then. Mere tolerance through lip service and trying to appease any group would pale in comparison if we could see what real love looks like. And that's the absolute truth.
Is there anyone who would dispute that two plus two makes four, or that four American quarters make one American dollar? How can we be so sure? After all, many people say there is no longer such a thing as absolute truth. Some believe we should make up our own truths as we go along according to our experiences, or how we feel at any given moment - but you shouldn’t dare try to share your absolute truth with anyone else.
Imagine taking those four quarters into any American supermarket, going to the register with $20.00 worth of groceries, and saying to the cashier, “I prefer to believe that these four quarters make $20.00, and you must accept them as full payment for my food.” Nobody is going to believe you, because in our money system, it is absolutely true that 4 quarters only make one dollar. So we can’t say that there is no absolute truth.
When someone states there is no such thing as absolute truth, I ask them, “Do you unequivocally believe that there is no absolute truth?” If they say yes, I say “Then you must admit there is absolute truth”.
There was a movie with Robin Williams a few years ago – “What Dreams May Come” – based on the premise that the main character’s life wasn’t really true – it was all in his head, and it could be whatever he made it. This seems far-fetched, but believe it or not, there is a whole camp of people who actually believe this.
If there is no absolute truth, then why do we die? Wouldn’t most of us prefer to live, and choose to stay at the age that has been our best? Or live in a different era which excites our imagination? Wouldn’t most of us like to twitch our noses and be millionaires?
The truth is, people just don’t want to face the truth. Or that there can be an absolute truth. Because if there is, someone would be wrong and that's now a "politically incorrect" word. We wouldn’t be able to do just as we please without facing the consequences of our actions. Everyone knows that all of our freedoms and choices are precious, and nobody can tell us what’s right or wrong, good or bad.
We live by many absolute truths. Murder is unlawful - that fact is accepted everywhere - and because that is true you can get put in jail for murdering someone. But not all absolute truths are this cut and dry. For example, the phrase “separation of church and state” is not in the Constitution, but most people believe it is because of what the media, separationists, and modern-day judges tell us instead of looking it up ourselves. So what is not the truth is repeated so many times that it becomes the truth to some, and many people are fighting for something that doesn’t even exist.
The absolute truth about us, we Americans, is that our freedoms and limitless choices
have made us weak. We have invited a new level of mediocrity. The freedom to believe that there is no absolute truth has made us lose our convictions, our direction, and our capacity to love people despite our differences. Disagreeing with someone is now automatically called hate. What dribble! In an effort to be tolerant of everyone else’s beliefs, we’re asked to give up our own, and many comply without even realizing it.
Kids in our school aren’t even being raised to think America is great anymore. Every American should take a trip abroad to see how good we have it here. We don’t hold a candle to citizens in other countries who face persecution and even death every day for proclaiming their beliefs. The mere fact that we can speak out against our leadership without having some brigade come and arrest us in the middle of the night is what sets us apart from two-thirds of the countries in the world today.
But we’d rather cry about how someone hurt our feelings, or won’t tolerate us, or won’t
praise us, or doesn’t agree with us. We have egos as fragile as eggshells. We’re demanding, self-absorbed and self-serving, unwilling to make sacrifices, and afraid to admit there’s an absolute truth because we might have to give something up.
The absolute truth I believe becomes truer every day that this country keeps headed in this direction, because its words gives me the brightest hope for the future. And that is “…the Lord is good, and his love endures forever, and his faithfulness endures through all generations” (Psalm 100:5). If only we could love each other this way, and still face an absolute truth now and then. Mere tolerance through lip service and trying to appease any group would pale in comparison if we could see what real love looks like. And that's the absolute truth.
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