Truth, What is Truth? 3

Truth, what is truth? These words were uttered by Pontius Pilate in his response to Jesus’ famous statement: I am the way, the truth, and the life.

So, let’s take a minute to examine truth. Merriam-Webster defines truth as- the real facts about something : the things that are true : the quality or state of being true : a statement or idea that is true or accepted as true. Now, I’m not trying to disrespect Merriam-Webster, but you can’t use the word, to define the word, that you are trying to define. The fancy term for that is tautology or circular reasoning. Therefore, the only part of the definition of truth that isn’t tautological is this: the real facts about something. Now, let’s see what Merriam-Webster says about fact. It defines fact as: something that truly exists or happens : something that has actual existence : a true piece of information. In a nutshell, truth is defined as fact and fact is defined as truth, and that really doesn’t help us at all (no offense to Merriam-Webster).

I took us through the preceding exercise to prove this point: truth is very difficult to define. Furthermore, the “truth” can change. For example, only a few hundred years ago, scientists considered the earth to be the center of the universe. That was “truth” for their time. The “truth” also changes for the present time. For example, not too long ago scientists considered the bottom of the ocean to be lifeless. Now, we know that the ocean’s bottom is teeming with life. Scientists long considered Mars to be lifeless. I wonder how long it will take to dispel that “truth”.

Obviously, many of man’s “truths” have been found false. Generally, it doesn’t take very long to prove them false either. So, why do people scoff at the idea that Jesus could actually be the way, the truth, and the life? I agree that it is difficult to prove in a scientific sense, but it has been 2000 years now, and no one has been able to disprove it. My prayer is this: people who have not accepted Jesus would open their minds simply to the possibility that Jesus is truth. I promise that it is more dependable and more reliable than any of mankind’s “truths”.