Foundational Ideas: Absolute Truth

Increasingly, Western culture promotes a relativized view of truth. In other words, as Greg Koukl says, some people believe that truth is like ice cream. I may like rocky road, but you may prefer vanilla.  Neither of us is wrong, because this truth is subjective (i.e., based on the subject). In this case, what is true for me may be different that what is true for you. 

However, on issues that matter, truth is objective. Questions like, is there a God?, does Hell exist? Does abortion take a life? These questions do not depend upon my subjective interpretation, but are objective (i.e., based on the object). Greg Koukl says this type of truth is like insulin.  Failure to heed this type of truth has very real, even painful consequences.

Operating from a perspective that truth does exist and is objective affects how I view the world. Life is precious. Evil exists. Those who do not turn to Christ will go to hell forever. If this were merely a relativistic truth, then it would not matter if I told others about Christ, but its not ice cream, its insulin.

I would again direct the interested reader back to www.str.org, but I would also recommend Francis Beckwith and Greg Koukl’s book Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Midair as well as Don Carson’s the Intolerance ofTolerance for those who want to read more.