My environment + My experiences = My truth

I do not claim to have a complete understanding of truth. I do not want to argue to prove what I have learned. I just want to share some revelations I have had while going through some studies this week.

Let’s start with what Jesus says in John 8: 31-32 “…If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

From this I see that Jesus’ teachings are the truth and the truth has power over bondage. We are free when we stay in the word of God.

In my studying about truth the idea of postmodernism came up. From the transition from Modernism to Postmodernism people started to believe that there is your truth and my truth. They would debate their truths not wanting to reach an agreement but to learn from each other’s experiences and to adjust their truth. Modernism died because man’s reason could not answer life’s mysteries or solve the world’s problems. Postmodernism is a worldview that denies all worldviews. A worldview is not what you see; your worldview is what you see with.

Looking at the title of this post, my environment + my experiences = my truth, my truth could also equal my worldview. The only way to know God’s truth is to stay in his word.  

Stuart McAllister lays out what truth, by nature, is…

It is non-contradictory – it does not violate the basic laws of logic

It is absolute – it does not depend upon any time, place, or conditions

It has to be discovered – it exists independently of our minds; we do not create it

It is descriptive – it is the agreement of the mind with reality

It is inescapable – to deny its existence is to affirm it (we are bound by it)

It is unchanging – it is the firm standard by which truth claims are measured

Everything in the Bible aligns with these six criteria.