Sunday, June 25, 2006

And they call ME a liar!

Ok - serious question:

How can we expect people to believe in absolute truth when everyone preaching absolute truth and insisiting they know the absolute truth disagrees on what absolute truth is?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Becks said...

ah ha! hence why i have a problem with anybody- in a religious debate or not- claiming to have absolute truth. truth by its lack of definition (apart from one in which you use the word true or fact- which the dictionary defines as something which is true!!!) cannot be absolute. nearly every 'truth' can be argued or debated due to experience. do not 'preach' truth- show love. (i hope that makes sense!)

Glyn Harries said...

But without knowledge of an absolute truth does Christianity really have a leg to stand on?

But I think we're coming from the same place. It winds me up when so many Christians claim that their stance and opinion and theology is absolute. Someone has to be wrong.

Becks said...

i do get what you mean, but in a wierd way truth is individual. you're truth, or i hope, is that God came in Jesus and that has given you hope and a future. for a muslim man, his truth is that Allah gave him life and that his days are filled with the glory of that. people only have to be catergorised by 'right' and 'wrong' if a general 'absolute is defined. it's so hard. i suppose there has to be boundaries, but its all made of areas of grey.

Anonymous said...

Harsh but fair to delete my comment, Glynman.

You're right, someone has to be wrong. But who to believe? Is this where faith differs from belief? (Does faith differ from belief?)

Matt Leeder said...

Becks, it's pure crazy to suggest that there isn't such a thing as absolute truth...

The biggest indicator is that your argument 'truth...cannot be absolute' is in itself a concept which demands belief in absolute truth... you belief that truth is not absolute...absolutely!

Ultimately it's all ivory tower theorising. I also wonder whether we get confused between subjective opinion and objective truth? Just because my opinion is that I have three legs doesn't change the truth that I have two...

Becks said...

thats totally true. to be honest, i feel slightly disappointed in myself. my problem with the idea of 'absolute truth' is that it becomes intolerance and ignorance. people believe they have the right way and stop listening and actually, stop caring. in a society as dynamic and multicultural as ours we cant afford to close down. i dont want to be someone who thinks that i always have the answer- because there is always more questions.

AndyMac said...

I think, as always, it's about finding a sensible middle ground.

To deny the existence of truth or absolute truth ends up in a contradicition (as someone already said).

But, to act as if everything can be reduced to absolute truth, would also be a fallicy.

I believe there is absolute truth, but how much we can actually identify as such is hugely limited, and so we shouldn't really be dogmatic about these things. That's where intolerance and ignorance come from.

This is especially true of theoretical and theological statements, such as 'God is Omnipotent' or 'Homosexuality is a sin' or 'Socialism is the way forward', which can not be verified, but only argued for or against.

This is as opposed to historical and physical truths, such as 'I have two legs' or 'Jesus died on a cross', which we can have a little more certainity about, although even then, never absolute.

Matt Leeder said...

Yeah, Becks, I hear where you're coming from and totally agree.

But, Andymac, I definitely have 2 legs... ;-)