Caleb Harrelson
[Originally published as the first section of 5 Dangerous Ideas about Faith]
What if you lied to your child to get them to eat healthier? Perhaps you told her there is a little leprechaun who will throw cereal at her while she sleeps if she doesn’t eat healthy food?
Do you think she would believe that story? Possibly. It depends on how young she is and if she has seen you as trustworthy in telling her the truth in other matters. What would be the consequence of your child believing this idea?
If she believes your story, she may find it funny or get really scared at night if she accidentally sneaks in some Lucky Charms for a bedtime snack. This could result in her not sleeping well and other behavioral issues. Also, the parent may find it humorous that the child believed them, and grateful that their child is allegedly making better food choicesof being scared away from the unhealthy option.
However, she will most likely find out later that the appearance of a real leprechaun was, in fact, not true and that Lucky Charms taste delicious. This may result in her having a little less trust for what her parents tell her. The consequences may vary, but this little scenario is most likely not going to wreck a child and parent’s relationship, but it is still likely to have some impact.
What if you told your child this instead:
“There is no absolute truth and whatever you believe in about the purpose of life is up to you…as long as you are sincere and happy is all that counts.”
Can you think of any potential problems with this statement?
- How is a child supposed to determine what truth is really true if truth is up to her to decide?
- How is this saying supposed to work out in the real world?
- How can you determine the meaning of life if you are the sole decider of that purpose?
- What if someone else comes up with a contradictory meaning of life that may cause harm to you?
Since everyone is different, our changing feelings can’t be the standard of the purpose of life. It must be beyond us and an unchanging standard.
The meaning of life must transcend humanity: meaning that is objectively beyond humanity’s own definition from within. Thus, our ultimate purpose in life is something that we must discover, not create.
If all humans were created for a purpose by a divine being and will someday stand before him in judgment, then our purpose in life must conform with why the Creator made us. Meaning must correspond to the reality of our divine designer’s intentions.
However, if humans were not created by a divine being and are just the result of a cosmic accident and mutations that led to us today, then how can we objectively have purpose, value, an unchanging standard of right and wrong, and ultimate justice for all the wrongs done in this earth?
All of these ideas have dramatic consequences that are far weightier than what type of cereal our kids chose. As parents, teens, and college students, it is vital that we develop our ability to test all ideas and learn how to respond to them.
We are going to look at some big ideas in our culture that sound good, but are actually dangerous:
Dangerous idea #1: “There is no absolute truth.”
This statement is usually qualified with, as mentioned above, that people simply need to follow “their truth” or “their heart” for happiness and meaning in life. This sounds nice and welcoming, but it doesn’t actually work in the real world. To claim that there are no absolute truths is a self-defeating statement: it’s an absolute truth claim that there is absolutely no real truth in the world.
The consequence of this idea is that people feel justified in following whatever “feels right” to them and their good feelings towards something being the standard of what is right and wrong. This is dangerous because what if someone else follows their truth that it’s ok to lie to people for fun? All people would agree that it is wrong to lie to people to hurt them; thus, it is an absolute truth claim that people don’t like to be lied to for fun. Truth is not something we create, it is something we discover. Truth is that which corresponds to reality.
This also means that contradictory statements cannot be true.
The belief that there is a God and that there is not a God cannot both be true. Also, the belief that all religions are basically the same and that Christianity is true cannot be true either. In Christianity, Jesus claims to be the only way to God and that Jesus is God himself. Whereas, all other religions reject Jesus’ claim to be God and that the Bible alone is sufficient for knowledge about God.
At some very basic levels, we can quickly see that between atheism and theism there are conflicting views. Between Christianity and Religious Pluralism (belief in many religions as the way) there are conflicting views.
Contradictory views seem obvious, yet I hear these claims nearly every day. Why is this?
The problem is that most people are not actually on a truth quest. They may claim to be seeking the truth, but in reality, they aren’t.
How do I know?
In the past couple of months, I have talked with several hundred people at the mall and on Uber rides, and most of these people have never heard that there is any logical and scientific evidence for the existence of God or the reliability of the Gospels. If someone is legitimately on a truth quest, it should lead them to examine the Gospels.
The Gospels have more copies available of an ancient manuscript in (around 5,300 in Greek). They are the central texts for the largest world religion. This religion has a leader who performed miracles, who claims to have risen from the dead, and whose followers turned the Roman Empire — and eventually much of the world — upside down.
To fail to examine the evidence for the existence of God and claims of the Gospel documents is a failure to pursue truth. The truth is that if Jesus really did rise from the dead, then the implications are huge for our lives now and after we die. In the words of C.S. Lewis:
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.
Many fear what would have to change in their life if they embrace the truth. Thus, we run away from it because we think that we will find something more freeing and satisfying if we live in our “own reality…our own sense of truth.” In the words of 17th-century philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal:
“Most people invariably arrive at their beliefs not based on what is true, but on what they find attractive.”
For us to truly live with joy and freedom, we have to pursue and live in truth. Living in truth should cause us to rejoice. However, living in a delusion is a superficial and fleeting sense of comfort.
Living in truth will help us discover the purpose that we are on this earth and that will truly be satisfying. Thus, we must unite truth and faith together. Religious truth should reflect reality. If it doesn’t, it should be rejected.
If we act like there are some “truth and science people” and other “people of faith” we are running into another dangerous idea. How we view faith and reason is the next dangerous idea that we will cover.
