Does Absolute Truth Exist?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: John 14:6

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--does-absolute-truth-exist
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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let me first of all give you a reference my latest book called anchor points it's um an apologetic book so it helps explain biblical truth to unbelievers and helps establish Truth for believers who are asking these questions how do we know there is a God how do we know anything how do we know what's true what's real that's the subject of epistemology or theory of knowledge and then is there absolute truth how do we know it so my book anchor points tries to answer these questions and then after each chapter I have resources so that if you wanted a whole book on one topic I will give you what I think that I personally read and it uh it it it comes from a Christian perspective or at least I do use some secular resources but it provides psychological or philosophical support for what we believe so I highly recommend that if you have deep questions about this subject but just to answer very briefly let's consider two Alternatives first of all if someone believes in God then you can make a strong straightforward case well God is real God is absolute and so yes there is absolute truth it's found in God and God has given us his word and that's found in the Bible so the Bible is absolutely true now it has a lot of culturally relative things in that it was embedded in various cultural settings and of course the human authors themselves had various personalities and backgrounds but what we're saying is while God used those people in their cultural context the message he gave is absolutely true so what the Bible teaches is inspired from God it's infallible it's completely true and if you have questions on what how do we know for sure the bible really is God's word and it's really true and there are no errors and I've heard their errors and what about errors in transmission over the centuries what about errors in Translation well I have a book on that as well called God's infallible word so if we start by we believe in God there's a basis for absolute truth and then if we believe God wanted to communicate to us to have a relationship with us to fulfill his purpose of creation we find where is that word found that's the Bible and so once we identified the Bible is God's word then the Bible becomes the source and basis of Truth by which we judge all other truth claims so that will lead to a straightforward understanding there is truth we can find it in the Bible which comes from God who is true and ultimately it's found in our personal relation with Jesus Christ because he says I am the way the truth and the life John 14.

so ultimately truth is not an abstract notion it's not an intellectual reasoning it's found in our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ now the other case is what if you're talking to a skeptic an atheist an agnostic an unbeliever where do you start well again you can ask if they believe in God and you can start using the proofs for the existence of God and which I discuss at length in my book anchor points and then give other resources that go in more depth so once you establish the existence of God then you're back on the the track I gave before but if they're having a hard time there you can have another point and say do you believe there is an absolute morality well they're going to probably say no then you say all right do you believe that racism is evil do you believe slavery is evil do you believe that molesting small children do you believe torturing and murdering small children is evil if they say no then you say wait a minute you're morally bankrupt you can't live that way we couldn't have a society that way we could not exist that way so that's an intellectually dishonest answer I can't I don't believe you really believe that but if they say these things are wrong why are these things wrong what basis if there's no absolute truth if there's no God then there is no absolute morality so either they're going to be forced to say there must be a god who's given us moral teaching or there must be an absolute truth somewhere because that's where we get this basis but if they say no it's all relative then you say well then the only way you can support these moral teachings is by cultural opinion or personal opinion so you think slavery is wrong just because that's your opinion or because our society has concluded this wrong but objectively speaking who's to say it's wrong now they may argue um well it's the best way to organize Society or it's the best way to help the most people or this is the only way you could live that's kind of like a utilitarian argument it's useful it works it's good well then you say good for whom so for the Nazis they thought murdering Jews was good for them the majority of the country supported that so if you're going to go by culture or personal opinion or majority opinion are what's perceived to benefit the most people well throughout history slave owners felt like owning slaves was the right thing to do in in the culture of Bible days the Greco-Roman culture Mediterranean Empire 30 percent of the population were slaves well 70 percent weren't so for 70 percent of the population it was a good deal they thought it was morally right and justifiable it benefited the most people so no system benefits everybody equally so if a system benefits seventy percent at the expense of 30 percent under a unitary utilitarian argument Society works it works for the jury of the people who are you to say it's wrong so or go back to the ancient Canaanites they sacrificed children to Molech they burned them in the fire but they sincerely thought that was the way to ensure fertility for them to have more children and for them to have uh flocks and herds to multiply for them to have their crops to grow and so in all sincerity probably some of those those parents agonized and suffered by casting their children into the fire to be burnt by that in front of that Idol but they sincerely felt this is what's best for our family this is what's best for society and the Canaanite society as a whole said that was best so any utilitarian or relative argument any argument based on a majority opinion culture personal opinion what's best for the most people what's best for society cannot illuminate child sacrifice and ancient Canaan although Gods judge the Canaanites for that very sin the Bible says that's one of the main reasons he had Israel come in and conquer the land because it was God's Divine judgment or their sin was so evil so beyond the pale so contrary to God's will so contrary to human nature that even pagans should have known that was wrong and they were worthy of judgment but yet by any relative argument you can make a case they did what they thought was right and who are we to judge so by those standards any relative or subjective or cultural or personal standard you cannot judge the ancient Canaanites for murdering little babies you cannot judge the Nazis for murdering Jews take a look at uh Stalin the ruler of communist Soviet Union Russia or Mao the ruler of communist China it is estimated that between those two Nations as well as several other nations in the 20th century 100 million civilians died as a direct result of Communism either through executions torture deprivation or famines induced directly by the policies of Communism sometimes deliberate maybe sometimes not understanding the consequences but nevertheless as a direct cause of coming is 100 million people were killed the 21st century nevertheless both Stalin and Mao died in bid at the height of power they never faced the consequences of their actions they never face judgment if there is no judgment if there is no life beyond this life if there's no absolute truth they will never suffer any consequences and by their standards they chose what was right they enjoyed life they accomplished they succeeded they implemented their Vision they did what they wanted to do what they thought was right and what they thought was best for their society they followed their atheistic philosophy to the end and fulfilled it so if everything is subjective and relative we have no basis for saying that Stalin and Mao were evil or should be judged and moreover we have no basis for saying their choice was wrong because their choice worked it was good for them now if you say well one person versus one million but even that question why should 100 million people who lived in poverty why should they matter more than one person you know that's just your your relative opinion but it has no objective basis in reality so my point is if someone is going to stick by relativism that there is no absolute truth they cannot end up condemning any kind of evil that exists in the world they cannot make a valid case for any form of judgment or Justice or Consequences they cannot make any case for why suffering exists and how it can be overcome and how there can be Redemption and so if you really want to live a moral life and you really want to have a moral Society at some point you have to say there's an objective basis outside human thinking and that objective basis is in absolute moral law natural law which in turn comes from God who created us and who is a moral being who created us in his his image and so ultimately if we're just highly evolved intelligent animals then there should there really is no morality to speak of because when we see an animal killing another animal or even eating another animal we don't think that's morally wrong we don't try to punish that animal because they're just animals but we humans have a moral nature we know inside of us that we're different from the animals where does that come from that doesn't just come from us that comes from God and that comes from the concept of absolute truth and absolute moral law