Chapter 2
True or False?

“Is it true…?” You have probably spoken those words many times yourself. Let’s continue our discussion with a simple true-or-false test. Please consider whether each of the following four statements is True (T) or False (F):

1. ____  “The color black is the same as the color white.”

2. ____  “The color black is different than the color white.”

3. ____  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

4. ____  “There is no God.”

I hope you agree with me that the answers to the first two statements are: 1. False, 2. True.

Now, regarding questions 3 and 4, things get somewhat more difficult. Since this is a book somehow related to eternal life, you may correctly suppose that it is written from a spiritual point of view, and that the author probably believes in God. You might also correctly presume that I (the author) think the correct answers to the last two questions are: 3. True, 4. False. However, there are many people who do not believe there is a God, or who view God much differently than I do, and they may sincerely answer one or both of these questions differently than I do. We would then disagree about whether the correct answer to each of these questions is true or false. Historically, such disagreements have, at times, led people to persecute and/or kill each other. Let’s try to avoid that, while acknowledging that this subject of things being true or false is an important subject.

Initially my concern is not whether you agree with my answers to all four questions above, but whether or not you agree with me that there is a correct true-false answer to all four questions above. This has to do with the nature of truth. Is there absolute truth regarding at least some issues? Is it always true that the color black is different in some way from the color white? Yes. That is self-evident.

What about our own existence? Is there absolute truth regarding whether or not you and I exist? It is self-evident to me that I exist, and I hope that it is self-evident to you that you exist. Your existence may not be self-evident to me (since I may never have met you), but I maintain that there is still absolute truth regarding whether or not you exist. My own belief regarding your existence doesn’t change the absolute truth of whether or not you exist.

In the same way, is there absolute truth regarding whether or not God exists? It seems to me to be so. Either God exists, or he doesn’t exist. Some kind of middle ground seems to me to be implausible. The statement “There is no God” is either true or false, and my personal beliefs about God’s existence don’t change that absolute truth.

However, a clarification is in order. What do we mean by the term “God”? How this term is defined or understood may affect whether or not “God” actually exists. So, even with absolute truth about such things, a careful definition of terms may be necessary to properly understand such truth.

We see, then, that there is absolute truth regarding at least some subjects, whether we are aware of it or not. The absolute truth about some subjects may not be self-evident, but it is self-evident that:

Absolute truth exists.

For Further Reflection:

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