What is Truth?–A Theological Approach to Philosophical Skepticism

Those of you who have been reading my blog for some time will know that I am, in fact, a skeptic. I don’t accept anything at face value, with one singular exception. I see truth as something which God alone controls. Supposed ‘truth’ which comes from science and from the world immediately gets put into the doubt folder. It is not necessarily untrue, but aside from God’s confirmation, it can never be proven as true.

I think it is necessary for me to address Christians who presume to know truth. I believe (for many reasons—let me know if you want them all) that men are incapable of completely understanding truth, even when God makes it clear to us. I often use the example of a fuel filter on a car. Pure gasoline comes out of the factory. It is then put into storage tanks, then trucks and eventually into the tanks at the gas station where it sits. Then you come along, buy the gas and put it into your own fuel tank. Along the way it has picked up all sorts of impurities. The fuel filter attempts to transfer the fuel to the car, but is charged with the task of removing the impurities. We are the fuel filter. Even though God is providing us with His pure unadulterated word, by the time we filter it through all the crap in our lives, we get a manipulated version of that truth. Because of this, I do not believe that ANY man can know conclusively what God’s truth is. So even with the greatest theologians, I am a skeptic.

How about God’s word? I should make it clear that I continue to prayerfully seek truth from God’s word, however, I do not believe that any man can conclusively determine God’s truth even from the Bible, not because God is faulty in His method, but because we, as humans, have so soiled ourselves that we are unable to grasp the depth of the truth of God’s word.

I determine truth according to three basic methods. (It should be noted that I am a skeptic even of my own derived truth, but to reject all knowledge of truth is insanity.) I derive truth (1) through God’s word. I take what is clear and simple in God’s word and use that as a filter for determining truth in other areas of life and/or God’s word. I derive truth (2) By the Holy Spirit. Through prayer and meditation, I believe God will confirm His word. I derive truth (3) through the work of God in my life. Same as God opens and closes doors in a practical sense so that we know WHAT to do, He also opens and closes doors to show us HOW to do or to show us WHAT is true. Only when all of these three come together will I make an assumption on truth. An assumption is the best that we can hope for and I truly believe that any assumption of truth made aside from this method or another similar method is foolish.

Some people will note that I left out logic. Logic is a God given ability, however, like in all philosophy, it is more of a tool that is used in conjunction with the above mentioned methodology.

But what about general revelation? Certainly truth exists in creation, but creation alone is not conclusive on truth aside from God’s word, God’s Spirit and God’s intervention (see above 3 points). There is probably truth in science and in the world, but without a proper method, the evidence is inconclusive.

Hmmmm. My wife just pointed out to me that my views are strikingly similar to the beliefs of the emergent church and that John MacArthur (who’s commentary I love) would have an aneurism if he read this. So, I should point out one major, glaring difference. I do believe in doctrine, so long as it is systematic, and sound doctrine. I will not respect your doctrinal opinion simply because it is your opinion; it must be a firm conviction which is derived of sound pursuit of God’s word. Faulty or weak methodology results in false doctrine and false truth.