Friday, August 17, 2007
1 comment:
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Anonymous said...
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When I was in college I thought I was so deep and above the average Joe, Because I experienced a moment of "truth". I was in a sociology class and the prof. was telling us to imagine we were all on a train traveling across Canada. Looking out of our windows to the North we see the northern lights. We are all struck by the beauty of the sight. She then made the point that man is so limited in language that we are not capable of describing the individual truth we are each experiencing. Our truth is unique to the individual. As though green is different depending on the eyes you have. WOW truth unique to my interpretation, my perspective, my truth is mine and yours is yours and they may or may not be the same Deep. I thought I was enlightened, on top of the world, master of my universe. Completely not understandable by any one outside my body. Cool. Until I went to science class and learned that the cones in my eyes that perceive green are the same in everyones eyes. Darn!
Once many years later I was approached by a postmodern thinker who was trying to show me how truth is relative, with an interesting and emotional story. It went something like this Once there was a Jewish Mother in Nazi Germany. There was a knock on the door and it was the German soldiers looking for her children. The Children were hidden in the closet. She asked me Do you tell the soldiers the truth, that the kids are in the closet or do you lie? I said I would lie. She said see I told you truth is relative. You would make up a new truth and all is well. That stumped me I have to say. But then I realized- the Truth didn't change, the Truth was that the kids are in the closet. The truth doesn't change when we choose to lie. The points of the author don't change in the perspective or interpretation of the reader of the work. Unless the author didn't know what he was doing and deliberately left it up to the reader to decide the works meaning. Which is no real meaning at all. A policeman doesn't lean into your car and say did you think you were going the speed limit? Ok, I won't give you a ticket. He measures your speed and the truth is undeniable. Every thing we experience that is consistent with Holy Scripture is True any thing else is not true. Our interpretation must agree with and be supported by Scripture. God is the same yesterday today and forever(Heb 13:8). This is the meaning of I AM WHO I AM (Exodus 3:14). Anyone who tells you anything different is playing god and making it up. It seems to me a long time ago some thing in the form of a serpent said "Did God really say" (Gen 3:1). Watch out John You are sounding a lot like the father of lies. -
August 17, 2007 at 3:50 PM
Hmmm. It appears my exchange with John Armstrong questioning his dislike for "propositional truth" hit a nerve.
See his post titled, "Propositional" Truth, "Objective Truth," and the Debate About What We Know and How We Know It" today (8/17/07) at
http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/