Transcript Is There Truth?

Is There Truth?
John 18:38
Acting Ethically
• John Leo, in an editorial for U. S. News & World
Report, July 22, 2002, wrote, “A Zogby International
poll of college seniors came up with a fascinating
finding. Almost all of the 401 randomly selected
students around the country–97 percent–said their
college studies had prepared them to behave
ethically in their future work lives. So far, so good.
But 73 percent of the students said that when their
professors taught about ethical issues, the usual
message was that uniform standards of right and
wrong don’t exist (‘what is right and wrong depends
on differences in individual values and cultural
diversity’).”
Objective Standards
• The survey was commissioned by the
National Association of Scholars.
Stephen Balch, who is part of that group
said “the results show the dominance
on campuses of postmodern thought,
including the belief that objective
standards are a sham perpetrated by the
powerful to serve their own interests”
(Ibid).
“There Is No Truth”
• Postmodernists see individuals as
products of a specific culture who must
guard against the temptation to inflate
their own norms into universal
standards and dress up their own
interests as objectivity. To claim
knowledge as universal truth is
impossible. There is no truth, just
narratives and stories that ‘work’ for
particular communities” (Ibid)
The Words of the Bible Are
the Words of God
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• 2 Peter 1:20-21
• 1 Thessalonians 2:13
The Words of God Are Truth
• Titus 1:2
• Hebrews 6:18
• 1 Samuel 15:29
Jesus Christ Was the
Embodiment of Truth
• John 1:1-3, 14
• John 14:6
• John 17:3
The Holy Spirit Guided the
Apostles into All Truth
• John 14:26
• John 16:12-13
• John 16:14-15
• 1 Corinthians 2:7, 9-10
Moral Absolutes?
• “In two national surveys conducted by Barna
Research, one among adults and one among
teenagers, people were asked if they believe that
there are moral absolutes that are unchanging or
that moral truth is relative to the circumstances.
By a 3-to-1 margin (64% vs. 22%) adults said
truth is always relative to the person and their
situation. The perspective was even more
lopsided among teenagers, 83% of whom said
moral truth depends on the circumstances, and
only 6% of whom said moral truth is absolute”
(Barna Research Online, February 12, 2002).
Whatever Feels Right
• “By far the most common basis for
moral decision making was doing
whatever feels right or comfortable in a
situation. Nearly four out of ten teens
(38%) and three out of teen [sic] adults
(31%) described that as their primary
consideration” (Ibid).
Principles Taught In the Bible
• 13% of adults said they made moral
decisions on the basis of principles
taught in the Bible, while, “Just 7% of
teenagers said their moral choices
were based on biblical principles”
(Ibid).
“Whatever”
• According to Barna, large #’s of Christians view
activities like abortion, gay sex, cohabitation,
drunkenness and viewing pornography as
morally acceptable. “Without some firm and
compelling basis for suggesting that such acts
are inappropriate, people are left with
philosophies such as ‘if it feels good, do it,’
‘everyone else is doing it’ or ‘as long as it doesn’t
hurt anyone else, it’s permissible.’ In fact, the
alarmingly fast decline of moral foundations
among our young people has culminated in a
one-word worldview: ‘whatever.’ The result is a
mentality that esteems pluralism, relativism,
tolerance, and diversity without critical reflection
of the implications of particular views and
actions” (Ibid)
It Is Possible to Know the
Truth
• John 8:31-32
• John 17:17
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21
God’s People Will Follow the
Truth
• John 18:37
• 1 Timothy 6:11-13
• Acts 18:26-28
• Hebrews 10:26
God’s People Must Teach the
Truth
• Matthew 28:18-20
• Romans 16:25-26
• Acts 17:11
• Ephesians 4:14-15
God’s People Will Defend the
Truth
• Jude 3
• Galatians 1:6-9
• 1 John 4:1