Truth: is it absolute or relative? Yes.
At least according to the author of the text I currently use to teach English Composition.
As my Comp 101 students dive into the world of personal essays, they are encouraged to consider centering their essay on truth. But they are also urged to note that some truth is “the” truth (what is real or truly happened) and what is “a” truth (how only they remembered or perceived something).
So how do we know that we really know the truth?
I have tried to remain openminded and watched my current group of students wrestle through understanding this distinction in the past few weeks (while clearing professional and personal hurdles of my own). Meanwhile, I have reflected on this distinction more deeply from two angles, briefly summarized here.
Absolutism v. Relativism
Growing up, I was taught that the philosophy of relativism was the antithesis and enemy of orthodox faith. But while I am not advocating a free-for-all, continually-fuzzy mentality, if we are honest, followers of Jesus must recognize a tension of both absolute truth and truth we experience or know through personal situations and discovery. And we must rely on both…but in different amounts at different times.
The absolute truth is the rock foundation beneath the house. It cannot always be seen or even sometimes consciously felt. But it is there. Solid. Sure. Unbreakable. With the belief I profess, there is only one such source of this truth: the Almighty God who has revealed it generally (through creation and the natural world) and specifically (through the Holy Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ).
But there are also truths I know by observing things and people and the things I go through in my life. Though experiences may be similar, they are still relative, in a way, to each individual person’s mind, heart, and soul. They are true for you, or me, or both of us. They are the walls, windows, and decorative features of our houses, to continue the metaphor. Over time, these things may prove true continuously or change and adapt as we learn and relearn.
What is a follower of Christ to do with this dichotomy? First, we are to use both levels of truth to love our neighbors and share light with them. We must remember that most people want and need to hear about truth as it is knowable in real life experience, yet we must never water down the truth in order to help another person avoid life-changing discomfort. Second, when we feel conflict between the truth and our personal experience, we must remember words from Jeremiah 17 and 1 John 3: our hearts can be deceitful — or led to condemn us falsely. So if there is ever a conflict between what we hear in the Word and prayer and what we experience or “feel,” we must always rely more heavily on the former and use it as our foremost litmus test for ultimate truth.
The Renewed Mind
Speaking of being deceived, many of us have, somewhere along the line, started believing things as “truth” that are not really true at all. These things may be totally bogus or partly true but skewed. And they have been told to us consciously or subconsciously, actively or passively, by members of our family, community, or collective culture.
We perceive these lines and concepts as true. But they are not. Yet, to recognize them as lies and let go of them when they may have been with us for years or even a lifetime…? That’s like rocketing through the roof of the house, shooting past the atmosphere, and flying (weightless and untethered) in zero gravity.
But again, as a follower of Jesus, I recognize I am called to this. To fix my eyes on Him. To be filled with His truth. To let go of the lies and half truths that have driven me toward unnecessary, unattainable, or even ungodly ends, and to float in the weightlessness of His grace.
Then, in His time, He is renewing my mind and grounding me again on the foundational understanding of truth.
His truth.
The truth.
And when we know the truth, then we will be truly free (John 8:32, 36).
Amen…for each of us who would have the desperation and courage to embrace it.
