Truth: Part 3

This is the 3rd and final post about "Truth" (for now).  You may want to read Truth Part 1 and  Truth Part 2 before you read this part.  Truth Part 1 shares, "Truth promotes Logic". Truth Part 2 shares, "Truth promotes Law." And now,  

3)    Truth promotes LORD (had to have a "L" word for God)

 I agree with Nietzsche that we all have different perspectives (way we look at life, opinions).  Perspectives do not guide us to truth.  And, truth exists independent of all perspectives.  Either a person’s perspective is true or false.  An example I used with my daughter: we could both look at my purple cell phone and have different perspectives (opinions) of the color.  I could wrongly say, "It is black," She could disagree saying, "It's purple."  I asked her if the the phone has a true color.  She said, "Yes, it can only have one true color."  I agree with my nine-year-old.  Because the phone exists, it has a TRUE color.  What if we both decided to call the color of my phone, red?  Would that change the TRUE color?  No.  What if we agree on the color, does that mean it is correct?  Not necessarily.  The phone's true color is true because it is true.  True? (my daughter laughed at the last statement)   

Nietzsche denied God’s existence (his perspective).  Can God not exist for Nietzsche and others who deny God, and yet exist for those who do believe in God?  No.  Either God exists or he doesn’t.  Our perspectives do not change the truth.  Because we live in reality, we can believe the truth about who we are as people, who God is, and how we relate to God.

Many Christian philosophers offer several arguments for God's existence.  The editors of the book, "To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview" include five different arguments:  the kalam cosmological argument, an argument from design, a Thomistic cosmological argument, a moral argument, and an ontological argument* (may simplify these in a future blog post).  Philosopher Paul Copan summarizes the moral argument in his chapter as:  If objective moral values exist, then God exists. Objective moral values do exist.  Therefore, God exists.*  Simply speaking:  "objective" defined as "measurable"; "moral values" defined as "what is right and wrong (true or false)" The moral argument bases this statement on the fact that truth exists.  Moral truth (right or wrong) must exist for objective moral values to exist.  Therefore, truth promotes the moral argument that God exists. 

Wow!  My brain hurts.  
   

*Francis J. Beckwith, William Lane Craig, and J.P. Moreland, To Everyone an Answer: A Case For the Christian Worldview , (Downers Grove, Illinois:IVP Academic, 2004) .

Spring Cleaning: New Carpet

(I'm sorry I haven't finished "Truth, part 3".  I took a Spring Break)  Here are some spilling thoughts of hope...

My much needed Spring Break with the girls ended today when I dropped them off to school.  We had a great week of time with family, friends, and SPRING CLEANING.  The girls, not as thrilled as I, endured cleaning their closets and rooms.  One project led to another, including tearing out old carpet to have new carpet in the girls' rooms.


I.  Why new carpet?

We moved into our current house 3 1/2 years ago.  The former owners replaced the carpet with the cheapest they could find to avoid giving us a carpet allowance.  We let the girls wear the carpet out!  When I had the carpets cleaned the week before last, the carpet cleaner asked if we had dogs.  "No, but our previous owners did."  Come to find out, in one of the rooms, they only replaced the carpet, not the pad.  Gross!  It only became evident when they wet the cheap carpet to clean it.  Needless to say, we are getting new carpet today! 

II.  How to get new carpet?

This reminded me of my how I used to take care of my stains (sin; choosing my way, not God's way).  My life, like the carpet, had stains from "accidents" (sin) that left a nasty look and atrocious smell that God could not accept.  He only accepts perfection, because He is perfect.  Instead of getting rid of the stains, I tried to cover it with carpet of good deeds (cleaning my room when told, letting go of my sister when told, trying my best in 2nd grade) church going (every time the doors were open).  I thought the more I went to church the better the carpet, right?  However, the Bible says we cannot get rid of sin by DOING more. (CEV) Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God's gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.  It isn't something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about."  So how could I get rid of the stains?  Only forgiveness gets rid of the stains.  So how can I have forgiveness? (CEV) 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says, "God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others. What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world."   We can only have forgiveness through Jesus, who died on the cross to take the penalty for our sin, death.  He died to offer us forgiveness.  When we trust in Him, God tears out the old carpet and pad (sin) and gives us new carpet, Jesus carpet (crimson red, from His blood).

III.  How to keep clean carpet?

God only accepts Jesus carpet in our lives to go to heaven.  Jesus carpet, the perfection God demands, is stain resistant.  Does that mean I will never sin again?  No.  But, every time I have an accident on the carpet (sin), the sin is already covered, and easily cleaned. I noticed the day after I had my carpet cleaned, how protective I became to keep it clean. That is how God wants us to be with our lives. (CEV) Romans 6:1-4 says, "Should we keep on sinning, so that God's wonderful kindness will show up even better?   No, we should not! If we are dead to sin, how can we go on sinning?   Don't you know that all who share in Christ Jesus by being baptized also share in his death?  When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ. We were baptized, so that we would live a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of God the Father."  God says, don't keep sinning carelessly because you have Jesus.  When I have another accident, I need to tell God about it, so the carpet (my life) remains clean and useful. (CEV) 1 John 1:9 says, "But if we confess our sins to God, he can always be trusted to forgive us and take our sins away."

So, what kind of carpet do you have in your life?  Carpet you choose stained from sin? Carpet you try to keep clean with your own efforts, never removing the stains?  Or crimson red carpet God provides through the blood of Jesus? If you already have Jesus carpet, are there areas of your life you need to tell God about?  You only have to ask God for new carpet (forgiveness) and he will do the rest.

Verses taken from  the CEV (Contemporary English Version).

Truth: Part 2

 
I remember the first questions each of my girls asked repeatedly, "what's that, what's that, what's that?" I answered this question with one or two words for them to add to their vocabulary. The next phrase, "why?" wasn't as easy to answer. My simplified answer usually led to another, "why?". After answering about five "whys" in a row, I would usually exasperatedly answer, "That's just the way it is. Or, I don't know. Or, depending on the question, sometimes I used the phrase I heard my parents say and promised I would never use, "because I said so."

When it comes to questions about what I believe about the Bible, God, Jesus, heaven, faith, and other religions, I had easy answers for the “what’s that?” questions the girls asked.  However, when I had no answer for God’s existence when talking to my atheist neighbor a year and a half ago, I knew I needed better answers for the “why?” questions.  I want to defend my faith with truth and not just respond with, “I don’t know.  Or, that’s just the way it is.”  I desire for my girls to know why they believe what they believe and not just, “because my parents told me so.”

1)    Truth promotes LOGIC (see last post; Truth part 1)

2)  Truth promotes LAW

According to Douglas Groothuis, who quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche’s books, The Will to Power and The Portable Nietzsche, Nietzsche’s philosophy of perspectivism has influenced the “no truth” person today.  Nietzsche claimed that facts do not exist, “only interpretations (or constructions) created according to one’s particular needs to enhance one’s life, what he called “the power to will.””  Groothuis quotes Nietzsche, “There is no true world, “only “a perspectival appearance whose origin lies in us.” In other words, we all have different points of view and none of them are actually true.  Reality doesn’t exist. *1

Perspectivism also supports the idea that lying does not exist.   If there is no truth, only a matter of interpretation, the facts in which to deny (lie), do not exist.  Can that be true?  Sounds like the law of non-contradiction again.  Ironically, the biggest problem in our world began with a lie, a lie from the “father of lies”, Satan himself.  Satan lied to Eve, telling her she will not die, like God said, if she ate of the fruit (Genesis 3).  Eve believed Satan and not God.  Choosing disobedience caused sin to enter the perfect world God created.  We will always be tempted to believe Satan’s lies, tell lies ourselves, and believe in the obvious lie, that truth does not exist.*1    

To summarize, if perspectivism is true, (which can’t be by its own definition), there is no reality, no lying, and no need for laws.  Does that sound absurd to you? However, because truth exists and people still lie, we need laws against lying.  Think about it, God included “not lying” in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:16 says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  God knows people don’t you think?  He created us, you know.  And He died for us, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8.

Truth (and lies) promotes the need for law.

Source:*1) Douglas Groothuis, “Facing the Challenge of Postmodernism” in Francis J. Beckwith, William Lane Craig, and J.P. Moreland, To Everyone an Answer: A Case For the Christian Worldview , (Downers Grove, Illinois:IVP Academic, 2004) .



For Truth Part 3

Linked to: Laura (friend of Douglas Groothius)