I’m continuing a series on the Foundations of Faith. This series was inspired by one of the last books written by Charles Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship, and Harold Fickett entitled The Faith Given Once for All. My first three messages were: “God Is”, “God has Spoken” and “The God Revealed to Us.” As Christians, we believe that most of what we know about the character of God, comes through special revelation – especially what is recorded in the Bible. The creation clearly God’s infinite power and genius; but what we know about how God wants to relate to us came through a patient, progressive revelation of God to the Jewish people and culminating in Jesus and His apostles.

But how do we truly know that this is the truth. And beyond knowing that there is a God, how do we know that truth can be discerned accurately and consistently by people of every generation? This is an important question; for there have always been contradictory views among people about what is true, what is right, what is good, what is evil, and how good people should live.

First, let’s define truth. Truth is simply what really is that which is in accordance with fact or reality. Truth can also be defined as a fact or belief that is accepted as true. As long as people can perceive reality accurately then there is the possibility of knowing truth.

The night before Jesus’ crucifixion, John relates a brief conversation between Jesus and the Roman Procurator Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus,  “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” ³⁸ Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?”

You can imagine the cynical dismissal in Pilate’s voice towards a condemned prophet from a backwater subject people of mighty Rome asserting that people who know truth listened to Jesus. To men like Pilate, truth in non-material matters was whatever those in power said was truth. It was for the mighty to define what was just and right, and the weak had no rights except to serve the mighty. To Pilate, Jesus was just another hapless, innocent person condemned to die for being an enemy to an important stakeholder in his prefecture, the Jewish Sanhedrin or high court.

But our Western civilization is built on different presuppositions that, ironically, derive from the Christian faith, which asserts that truth is ultimately found in a man who is also God incarnate, Jesus Christ. Christian belief, as did the Jewish belief that preceded, argues that truth derives from the God of Truth; and it is this one, holy God who both created our cosmos and who has the right to decide what is right and true within it.

Charles Colson wrote: “The question of truth – of a common and knowable reality that exists independently of our perception – is the great fault line of Western culture today. The dominant point of view dismisses the ideal. The fastest way to provoke scorn from most university professors is to use the words reality and truth.

“Why does this word truth breed such animosity? Because rebellious human nature resists truth’s claims. If something is really true, it must be true not just for the person saying it but for the person hearing it. And the fact is, we don’t want to obey a higher authority from any quarter – especially what purports to be from God – for fear it will impinge upon our personal autonomy. We cling to the idea that we create our own truth.” [Chuck Colson, The Faith…, p. 59]

Colson gives three sources of truth that are generally accepted outside of the special revelation of scripture:

Truth in the book of nature. A 12^th century saint named Victor (1096-1141) wrote, “This whole visible world is a book written by the finger of God.” David said much the same thing 2,000 years before in Psalm 19: “The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. ² Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.” Mankind has learned from thousands of years of experience that the world and heavens function by orderly laws, such as gravity, day and night, the seasons of the year, waxing and waning moons, and sowing and reaping.

Truth through reason. Reason is the ability to test ideas or facts, the most basic of which is the law of non-contradiction. The law of non-contradiction states that contradictory propositions cannot both be true in the same sense at the same time. The two propositions “A is B” and “A is not B” are mutually exclusive. Only one of these propositions can be true. For example, 2+2=4 and 2+2≠4 are mutually exclusive statements. Only answer is correct, that is, 2+2 always equals 4.

We use the law of non-contradiction in deciding which statements of facts are true when presented with opposing propositions. The challenge is in knowing which declarations of fact are more believable when presented with opposing statements. This is especially challenging when people are confronted with proving facts in legal and criminal cases, and deciding whether or not to convict someone of a crime.

Truth through conscience. There is a moral law written within every human being that enjoins us to do good to others and refrain from others. We know a basic rule of reciprocity – the Golden Rule – that is recognized in every advanced culture. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” We learn right from wrong through instruction as children, but also from the hurt we feel when someone does wrong to us. Everyone feels injustice when they are the victim of it. The Bible says in Romans 12:15, that the moral “law is written in their hearts.”

Colson writes, “Our understanding of the universality of the moral law and our consciences’ abilities to understand it has been compromised by today’s cultural relativism. This is why many young people, even Christian young people, blanch when I ask them if they believe there are any moral absolutes. But then when I ask them whether it would be right for someone to steal their wallet or to kill someone because they were a Jew or to push an old lady crossing the street into traffic, there is often an “Aha!” moment.” [p.58]

Little children know right from wrong when another child snatches the toy out of their hands. They cry “That’s mine!” That’s the moral law exhibited at

I would add another source of truth, upon which the Bible relies: truth through eyewitnesses. Yes, history has repeatedly shown that eyewitness testimony is imperfect, and that different people can perceive or interpret the same event differently. But eyewitnesses can be reliable, and the more eyewitnesses, the more reliable they generally are. If that were not true, then science itself could not be validated, since it depends on the ability of humans to actually perceive, record and evaluate data received by our senses or through instruments of our making. The rule of law depends largely on eyewitnesses and forensic data. So does our ability to share stories and experiences with each other and build shared meaning.

The reason we can trust the revelation of God in the Bible more than any other source is that it’s built on eyewitness testimonies of direct interventions of God in the lives of real people and recorded and interpreted by devout men of integrity.

That’s why I’m glad that we have a jury system comprised of, we hope, impartial citizens. It’s an imperfect system, but better than letting judges alone decide criminal cases. For one person is more likely to let their biases prevail than twelve people reasoning together.

Discerning truth in matters that cannot be tested empirically is more challenging still. Unfortunately, the modern world has defaulted too often to science to give us answers to questions they cannot verify through testing empirically. Who or what created the universe is one such question? Who or what gave the physical laws, subatomic particles and matter their properties are other foundational questions that cannot be answered empirically? They just are what they are.

But the deeper questions that form the worldviews of society are more challenging still. All worldviews have to grapple with four fundamental questions that pertain to all people: our origins, meaning, morality and destiny.

The Apostle John, who lived the longest of the original apostles by far, according to strong Church tradition. John lived into the 90s of the first century – more than sixty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. So he was the last faithful eyewitness of the launching of Christ’s kingdom, starting with Pentecost. John understood how critically important knowing truth is to faith. Without truth, faith is merely fanciful religion, built upon man-made mythologies.

John made it perfectly clear where he saw truth residing. John 1:14, 17 says forthrightly, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.” Two thousand years later, people can take those words for granted as some kind of religious wish-fulfillment. But to a living eyewitness of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, these were profound declarations of ultimate Truth of the highest order. God, who dwelt among us, personified divine glory full of divine generosity and truth toward us. And Jesus’ grace and truth transcended what – to Jews like John – was previously the highest revelation of God’s covenant loyalty and justice – the Law of Moses.

The truth mattered greatly to the Apostle John, and all the other apostles as well. All of them suffered, and all but John died adhering to the Truth, Jesus Christ. So let’s look more deeply, with Colson and Fickett, at Why Truth Matters.

Truth Matters Because the Heart of What We Believe is at Stake

Starting in the nineteenth century in Germany, theologians began questioning the integrity of biblical revelation, and the historical integrity of the gospels of Jesus Christ. Emphasis was placed on the inner experience of the believer as the primary barometer of Protestant Christianity, and those who espoused the fundamental doctrines of the faith were lampooned in the seminaries and universities.

What resulted was a form of “liberal Christianity” that effectively repudiated critical beliefs, like the divinity of Jesus Christ, his vicarious atonement and resurrection from the dead. This effectively gutted historic Christianity, leaving only a maudlin social gospel in its place. Theological liberalism tragically led multitudes to perdition by ignoring the need of repentance to faith, and diminishing the critical work of Jesus’ death for our justification, lauding it merely as an exemplary of act of love. Divine judgment was deemphasized, so that church attenders felt no urgency to respond to the gospels claims.

Against this the Apostle’s teaching declared, “ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Our sin and separation from the glory of God made it essential that God redeem us through Christ’s death. Being holy, God had to satisfy or propitiate His innate justice and wrath against sin. Christ’s death accomplished this, so that God receives the glory for justifying us who have faith. Liberal Christianity minimized and ignored this teaching, which was at the heart of the gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles.

Without Truth the Gospel is Perverted

Colson says, “Weakening our commitment to the truth allows us to undermine the Gospel without arousing even a protest.” Modern liberalism has emphasized loving one’s neighbor, while diminishing the greater commandment to love God with all one’s heart, mind and soul. And the God the Great Commandment referred to is exclusively the God of the Bible, and no other. You cannot love God until you clearly identify who God is and what God desires of us; and to do that, you must have an unwavering source of authority – sacred scripture that is focused on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is tragic that many of what used to be the strongest Protestant denominations in our land, affirmation of the divinity of Christ, the atonement of Christ, and the authority of the Bible has been laid aside. But the Apostle Paul declared in his great chapter on the resurrection of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 15: “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, ² by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.”

Paul made it clear in this opening declaration that adherence to this simple gospel message was essential for salvation. Christ’s death, burial and resurrection is of first importance; and its significance is grounded in prophetic affirmations from the Old Testament that were the Scriptures in Paul’s day.

Paul went on to say that if Christ had not risen from the dead our faith is in vain. In effect, Christianity from the first century till now has been an exercise in futility. But the billions of people whose worldviews and lives have been shaped by this gospel message, and which laid the foundations of Western Civilization, proves otherwise. Western civilization became the most influential in world history precisely because it was built on the sure foundation of the Christian religion which in turn serves to proclaim salvation through the risen Savior, Jesus Christ.

Colson says forsaking truth perverts the mission of the Church. “When truth is abandoned, therapy takes its place. We learn how to cope with our problems instead of curing them.”

Rejection of Truth Results in Biblical Illiteracy

“Pollster George Barna has discovered that most churchgoing adults reject the accuracy of the Bible, the existence of Satan, and the sinlessness of Jesus. Many see no need to evangelize and believe that good works are one of the keys to persuading God to forgive their sins…. When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1 percent of adult believers agreed with or accepted all thirteen.”

Is it any wonder that the rest of the world is skeptical of the claims of Christianity when so many of its adherents are so ignorant of core doctrines? Barna concluded “this is an age of anarchy… the Church is rotting from the inside out, crippled by abiblical theology.”

Going deeper than that, the denial of truth distorts our perception and understanding of reality, which attacks the glory of God. The nullification of truth in understanding humanity says, in effect, that God cannot be trusted to guide us and so we are cut loose to define the reality that works for us. It upends God as the Designer and Sovereign of all existence. That is precisely where Satan wants us to be; for humans separated from God are like lambs separated from the shepherd. Humans who dismiss the notion of truth are prey before a forest of spiritual predators lying in wait to attack and devour hapless souls.

Rejection of Truth Leads to Ethical Confusion

Colson wrote, “Denial of the truth of God’s revelation undermines any attempt to deal with contemporary ethical questions, particularly in regard sexuality, which plays a major role in all of our lives. It’s often the place we want to make up our own rules.”

Nothing is more profoundly human than our sexuality, and no pleasure drive affects human thinking and behavior more than our sex drive. The division of the human race between male and female is the foundation of human society; for conceiving and nurturing offspring demands a prolonged partnership between the opposite sexes, which gave rise to marriage and families.

Human sexual identity, marriage, and family to foundational to the human race and identity. When you blur the reality of these issues you nullify our core identity and repudiate the God who made man male and female. Yet this is exactly what is happening throughout the very civilization that first elevated human rights – Western Civilization.

The renowned author J.K. Rowling, who wrote the Harry Potter series, has recently been attacked viciously in social media for affirming a woman who has pleaded for protection of women only private areas – that is, bathrooms, dressing rooms or women’s sports. She has been called a TERF – Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist for simply asserting that women are distinct from biological males and need protection from predatory males. As a survivor herself of prior sexual abuse, she pointed out that nullifying women’s rights to claim exclusivity as females is another attack on women and feminity.

As Christians, we must repudiate any and every act of intimidation or violence against other people who differ from us. People who deeply feel they are other than their genes indicate need compassion. This world has never been a level playing field for truth – not since the Father of lies invaded it. So people will always oppose God’s will Just as with those who cannot fathom the existence of God, or believe that God could become a man in Christ, we must hold in loving tension those who sincerely perceive the are someone trapped in the body of the opposite sex

Those who harm LGBTQ people are playing the devil’s game; but so are those who seek to harm non-LGBTQ people for refusing to affirm that there are as many genders as people want to imagine.

We must affirm biological reality as the Creator’s original design and intent. We must also be kind to the rare anomalies – genetic hermaphroditism – where people have aspects of both and female within them. Such people derive only compassion and understanding.

The Rejection of Truth Undermines Cultural Development

Rejecting Truth Leads to False Gods

• The enemy seeks to blur truth with relativism, implying that no clear distinctions between truth and error can ever exist.
• The enemy also misuses truth to attack those who adhere to biblical beliefs or morays. Human rights has become a huge weapon in attacking those who adhere to the Bible in matters like sexuality, morals, freedom of speech.
• Anyone who suppresses alternate ideas in the public square is a threat to the truth. Human beings must have the right to express contradictory ideas before dialectical methods can assist people in knowing what is right.
• Christians must affirm the holiness of God and revealed moral truth in the face of those who wish to conform us with their contrary worldview.
• How do we know what we know?
  • Our senses
  • Reason
  • Reliable authorities or eyewitnesses
  • Revelation – scripture
  • Experience
• If God is the source of our existence and consciousness, then it stands to reason that He would be able to make what He wants us to know knowable.
• Knowing God is a core truth of God’s self-revelation to us.
• The truth makes us free. How? By connecting us with the One who is free and wills for us to experience freedom in relationship with Him.
• Truth liberates us from errors that either hurt us directly, or indirectly by confine us and inhibit us from thinking, speaking and acting in ways that are ultimately beneficial to us.
• Since the Good News of Jesus Christ is the most liberating truth ever given to mankind, rules and laws that stifle expression of the gospel are enemies of the truth.
• We must obey God and disobey man when a system of falsehood is imposed upon us from above. How we disobey authority is the disturbing crux of any struggle for religious liberty.
• We must love those who blindly oppose expression of God’s truth. Their opposition to the truth does not justify a hateful, condescending or reciprocally vindictive response.