Do you believe in absolute truth?

Ideal08 · #1 05-20-2003, 01:37 AM

Me and a friend of mine are always debating something. And many times when we do, we come to the same topic: absolute truth.

I feel like things happen. That is a fact. So if things happen, I want to know what they are, absolutely. I know that there are three sides to the story, but I want to know all three sides. Like in books, I like to talk about what the intended message was. She feels the intended message doesn't make a difference once it is out of the author's hands; it's all up to individual interpretation. We do the same thing with movies. Because of the way I analyze everything, this is always where we end up. She said that I am constantly searching for absolute truth while she believes that there is no truth. But if that is true (ha ha), in what do we base our belief systems? Don't you only truly believe in something because to you it's the truth? If there is no truth, how can there be true belief? Is faith separate from truth?

So, GCers, I'm here to ask you, what is it that you believe? Truth or no truth?

librasoul22 · #2 05-20-2003, 08:49 AM

I believe there IS absolute truth, but no human being will ever know it. It's impossible because we are influenced/jaded by our own belief systems and personal paradigms.

Virtuous Woman · #3 05-20-2003, 09:20 AM

I believe that there is absolute truth in addition to everyone's individual truths that are influenced by their personalities, experiences, wants, needs, etc.

mela3 · #4 05-20-2003, 11:53 AM

I want to believe that there is an absolute truth. If there is not then people wouldn't have anything to believe in. The problem with having an absolute truth is that people must search for it and it is not easy to find! Some people will never feel whole until they find it. That is sad b/c I don't think everyone will find it and I think some people will find it when it is too late. Life is very unnerving.

CountryGurl · #5 05-20-2003, 12:30 PM

After sitting here for a while thinking about your question I think I can answer you truthfully

I do believe in absolute truth and that it is connected to faith. My bible defines truth as being fact, real, right, loyal, and Faithful . And to agree with mela3 a lot of people will never experience absolute trurth.

Blackwatch · #6 05-20-2003, 07:27 PM

The question about absolute truth is the essential question in the Post modern delimma. Post modern coming from the notion that we are living now in an era that has come after the modern era (positivism and enlightenment , scientific inquiry was the way to truth) which came after the classical era (where the church-state had the key to absolute truth). The post modern era states what your friend states, that even if there is an absolute truth, it is impossible to know because human beings' way of knowing is clouded by language and culture. In other words, our way of knowing is always subjective, therefore how can we know objective (or absolute) truth? I posed a very similar question to my Sunday school class at church. I think what the post modernists miss is the way of knowing that is objective, the creator's relationship to creation. Paul talks about this somewhat in Romans 1 and Jesus touches on this specifically in John 14. If Jesus represents the way, the truth, and the life, then we see that some way absolute truth has encountered humanity. Can we know absolute truth fully? I think it is impossible. But I do think that we can grasp at a very important aspect of that truth; Love. This is what Jesus wanted us to grasp from the truth. If we Love, then the truth of our existence becomes clear enough for us to embace eternity with certainty.

Blackwatch!!!!!!