Is Truth Important?

The short answer is yes. The long answer is yes. Peter Kreeft uses a great way to describe why truth is important.


Kreeft asks his audience if anyone believes in Santa Claus; no one does. Kreeft reasons that believing in Santa Claus is a positive thing. He argues that people who believe in Santa Claus are more moral (remember as a child how well behaved you were during the month of December because you wanted to make sure that Santa came to your house) and generally they are very happy; almost bursting at the seems with excitement especially on Christmas Eve night. So if you were more moral and a happier person, why don't you believe in Santa Claus now? Simple. He isn't real. Truth trumps everything.


For the sake of this argument, two presumptions will be made. 1) Jesus Christ is divine/God 2) the Bible is the inspired (God-breathed) Word of God. It is inerrant and is does not contradict itself. Another way to describe inerrantness of the bible is to say that it is infallible; it is without error. These presumptions are being made since most Christians, believe this to be true. The infallibility of the bible and the divinity of Jesus Christ are not under scrutiny here, these topics will be the subject of many other posts.


Truth matters for all people, but for the bible believing Christian, it takes an entirely more profound meaning. Jesus Christ Himself claims to be the Truth (Jn 14:6). This claim means that for Christians who believe in the doctrine of the Trinity, they worship the Truth in a very real way. This should be argument enough for Christians to seek the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. But some will argue that this idea is a just a metaphor. They may argue that Jesus also calls Himself the door and the vine, this doesn't mean that we worship doors or vineyards.


The "just metaphor" argument falls flat when considering the immediate context of Christ's words. Immediately after describing himself as the truth, Jesus says that "no one can come to the Father except through me." By using this terminology, Christ is teaching that in order to get to Heaven, in order to be saved, in order to come to Father; we need the truth. Jesus is the way, He is the truth, and by following the way and the truth we receive life; eternal life.


The Scriptures also teach us that the "truth shall set us free." (Jn 8:32) When Jesus teaches this, those listening disagree with him. They claim not be be slaves by virtue of their being descendants of Abraham. Jesus immediately changes the context and says, "every one who commits sin is a slave to sin."(Jn 8:34) One who disagrees with Christ when He says this, should speak to someone who suffers or has suffered from alcoholism, drug abuse, pornography, or any other type of addiction. Sin is addictive. When we commit it, we become enslaved it. The first lie is always the hardest to tell. The subsequent lies which are told in defense of the original lie become much easier and even necessary to tell. Soon it spirals out of control, and finally the truth is revealed. So it is with sin. We become enslaved to it. It controls us. It becomes difficult not to partake in it.


Jesus teaches that the Truth sets us free from sin. Authentic freedom subsides in the Truth. The Truth is what we need to come to the Father, to be saved, to have eternal life. The Scriptures go so far as to say that the only reason why Jesus was even born, was not to die on the cross for our sins, but rather, to bear witness to the Truth (Jn 18:37). It was because Jesus was completely obedient to the Truth, that He was crucified. In Jesus, Truth was completely obedient to Himself. As one of His disciples the same is expected of all Christians.

From a doctrinal perspective it becomes increasingly more important to know the Truth. Simply stated doctrine is the Truth(s) of our faith. They are God Himself. When Christians disagree on doctrine, what we are essentially saying is that we disagree with what the Truth is. But we know from Scripture that the Truth is necessary for salvation (Jn 14:6) and to be set free from sin (Jn 8:32).

The conclusion is simple. Truth is not something that we Christians can bend to our own will or our own understanding. Truth is not an idea, it's a person. And His name is Jesus Christ! All Christian dialogue therefore, must center around one principal idea, What is the Truth? The concept of who is right and who is wrong has no place in Christian thought or dialogue.

But the current situation in Christianity today is that we have over 30,000+ different Christian denominations who all teach different doctrine. Said a different way, Christianity espouses 30,000+ different versions of the Truth. But there is only one Truth; Jesus. Jesus says in the Scriptures in order for the world to believe in Him, there must be perfect unity of His disciples just as He is perfectly united to the Father (Jn 17:20-23). And how are the Father and the Son united? In Truth and in love. If we need the Truth to be saved, to have eternal life, in a world that espouses so many different versions of the Truth and there can only be one Truth by the very nature of the Truth, then it begs the question...

Where do we find the Truth?