“What is truth?” Pontius Pilate asks this of Yeshua (Jesus) in John 18. In 2024, we hear people say, “My truth”, or “Your truth” when, in fact, there is only “the Truth.”
Merriam Webster defines truth as (emphasis mine):
1. the body of real things, events, and facts,
2. the state of being the case
3. a judgement, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true
4. the body of true statements and propositions
Fact is defined as:
1. something that has actual existence
2. an actual occurrence
3. a piece of information presented as having objective reality
True is defined as
1. being in accordance with the actual state of affairs
2. conformable to an essential reality
3. fully realized or fulfilled.
Truth is grounded in facts and reality. Something is either true or it isn’t, there is no middle ground here. Adding an adjective in front of truth is meant to change the meaning, add nuance. Truth is not a continuum but a binary, either it is, or it isn’t. By adding “Your,” or “My” in front of truth, it becomes untrue unless your truth or my truth aligns with actual truth. If it aligns with actual truth, there is no need for the addition of “your” or “my” in front of it. If it doesn’t align then it should just be written as untrue or, more to the point, a lie. My addition of the word actual is also redundant since truth is truth, the additional word adds nothing to the meaning.
More than once, I have presented things to pastors that would contradict some details of Christian tradition or orthodoxy. I would say something like, “Why do we do such and such?” when I can show you where it says don’t do such and such. Instead of arguing (would “discussing” sound better?) the point, I was asked, on multiple occasions, “What does it matter?” What kind of question is that? If I presented something that was true it shouldn’t have been dismissed as irrelevant. If what I said was true, it might require uncomfortable changes which is why it was dismissed. If what I said was untrue then a discussion should have ensued to explain to me where I was in error, after all, they are pastors and responsible for the flock. The response of, “What does it matter?” I heard as, “The truth doesn’t matter.” A believer needs to tread lightly here.
Does the truth matter? Be careful how you answer this. In John 14, Yeshua says “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Yeshua just said that he IS Truth! Does the truth matter? The second sentence answers that question since it could be restated like this: “No one comes to the Father except through truth!”
It will always be much easier to ignore the truth and keep doing comfortable things even if they may not be the correct things to be doing. Once you are confronted with truth that contradicts what you believe or how you live your life, that requires action. That requires discomfort!
A simple example here would be our diet and how that relates to our health. The truth is that the traditional American diet is terribly unhealthy. Seed oils are highly inflammatory and lead to all sorts of chronic health issues. High fructose corn syrup is just as unhealthy and will have long term consequences to your health as well. These ingredients are in a very high percentage of items that we call food; once you start looking at labels you will find that these things are not easy to avoid. These ingredients are in many things that we enjoy eating and drinking. Fixing this, aligning our actions with the truth, requires change, possibly discomfort. We don’t like to be uncomfortable. What makes this type of thing difficult is that there usually aren’t immediate implications. We can eat French fries, potato chips, bacon, drink Coca-Cola etc. and not have any immediate problems. These all taste good and we like the pleasure that they provide. But, over time, these things will begin to cause problems, and we tend to not even realize the cause and effect going on here. Your doctor will provide you a prescription for a drug to mask the symptoms, not fix the issue. It is much more obvious that we are being poisoned when we consume arsenic or cyanide and fall immediately ill.
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.”
― Mark Twain
In 2 Thessalonians 2, the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) writes, “The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder, and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them. For this reason God will send them a powerful delusion so that they believe the lie, in order that judgment may come upon all who have disbelieved the truth and delighted in wickedness.” In Romans 1 he also writes, “Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.” If we don’t love the truth we will fall for the lie, the deception. We can see this everywhere now where so many are now believing that men can become women, women can become men, tampons are needed in men’s restrooms, women can compete equally with men in sports, etc. These people have no love for the truth, so they believe the lie. We must love and pursue the truth.
Back to Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” Who did Pilate ask that question of? Yeshua, who is the truth! Pilate didn’t realize that. The irony! In John 8, Yeshua said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
New here? Consider reading the introduction here.