“What is truth” has been a question from the beginning of all time. In these last days society has begun to move into believing that truth is to be defined by the individual rather than by a God. I believe this is the result of a culture moving out from under the old norms and into new ones. We are becoming more easily deceived into believing that what feels right is supposed to be right. Now that we have begun defining truth individually, we as a world have adopted the term also known as “your truth.” However this prompts another difficult question “well who is right”. This is why I have come to believe that the start of truth does not start with the individual but the creator of all individuals. A God outside of all space, matter, social status and time. An infinite being that created everything with its purpose for a purpose. God is the only one capable of defining what is true because he is the truth of all things created.
Riding down the road you look up and see a sign that says, “we the youth live your truth.” It seems as if comfortability has become more important than reality. This desire to be comfortable is impacting even our relationships. For example I find myself realizing that it is more comfortable to ignore confrontation than to approach it head on. This point of view has led to many failed friendships that I am not proud of. It also has led to many regrets of not saying what needed to be said but rather saying what I thought they wanted to hear. I think we can all agree that it is more loving to tell the truth than to allow one to live in the darkness of lies. You have probably heard that relationships are built from trust therefore lies are what breaks that apart. So if we aren’t even certain what truth is how can we even point out a lie? We must consider that if there is no common truth, beyond who you are, how you feel and your circumstance, then there is no way to point out deceit. Not just the deceit found from your friend lying and betraying you but within your own being. Who is to say that it’s a lie to believe you are unworthy of living if that’s what you believe is true. How to we uncover truth in the midst of a social media obsessed culture filled with misinformation. Even with in religion which one is truth? It’s the spiral and the case for truth we all find ourselves coming back to. Some ignore and some press in but I believe within every person there is that question, what is true?
Furthermore, while considering what is truth we must remember that even our ancestors questioned what truth is. The gospels in the Bible are documents compiled of first hand accounts and eye witness of Jesus life in the New Testament called Matthew Mark Luke and John. In John 18:37-38 there is a recorded documentation of Jesus and Pilates conversation. In this conversation Pilate asks Jesus “what is truth” after the Jews had claimed Jesus to be guilty and deserving of death on the cross. The document reads, “then Pilate said to him, so you are a king? Jesus answered, you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him what is truth?” As you can see Pilate was concerned about what truth was. Pilate was torn between what the people were saying about Jesus and what Jesus himself was saying. When the world gives you one thousand answers how do we know what truth is? Additionally how much more confusing is it to believe in one truth? Jesus however did answer that he had come into the world to bear witness to the truth, being himself and he went on to prove that by dying and raising from the dead yet I have still found myself in the past struggling to trust that is true. Jesus later says I am the way the truth and the life. Jesus gave one way. He says I am that I am which makes sense. If you are the creator, you have always been, the only absolute truth lies within the one that created all things, because he just is. But yet society is throwing so many answers at my face of what is true that this “I AM the truth” seems foreign and I think even that is evidence.
However, the world has convinced us that to live free is to live your truth. That “your truth will set you free.” When in reality, John 8:32 reads “The truth will set you free.” If the world is right then why is the world becoming more anxious and depressed through the years? Why are Wars still raging and we are all divided? Not to mention we are constantly changing; my truth and feelings can change every day and that is scary. I realize that you can argue that change is good but when truth changes, morality can change, your whole life can change. You begin to have nothing to ground yourself to when truth becomes relative. for example, covid. I attempted to live my truth, thinking I could be in control. This lie led me to destruction. Once I lost control of my thoughts, I began to question the purpose of life, sexuality, gender, morality, and God. These things are highly normal to question as you get older, however when you question and do not have truth you begin to drown. Hell in your mind is what it becomes, consistently asking what is true all because you do not want to accept what is true. Like I said, truth is not always comfortable, but it is necessary to our lives. The bible being the living word of God given to us by his spirit says that “The truth will set you free. "Additionally, Jesus came to set us free of sin and shame, and this is who truth is, it is Jesus. However, we have an enemy fighting against us. Scripture says, “We wage war not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this preset darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places” these forces attempt to steal our truth and to deceive us much like they did in the beginning of time. If you can remember Satan came with three lies to Eve, “Did God really say,” “you can be like God,” “you surely will not die” and look at our world today. We accept your truth over what God really said to be true and believe that what we think to be true is truth. Additionally, manifestation and witchcraft are more prevalent than ever. With witchcraft the lie that you can be like God is the one people are fooled into believing. Witchcraft and manifestation supposedly will allow you to get what you want when you want it. However, although you might not see it this way, these practices are still not outside of Gods knowledge and power. In the time of Moses “magicians” would copy every miracles done by the power of God through Moses, but from a demonic power. The reality of the situation was that these magicians could not out do the power of God. Similarly, when we do not get what we want in God’s timing we are more vulnerable to believing that by getting it elsewhere we are doing what is best. We are putting the decision in our hands. We become the entitled children who think they know how to drive a car and end up running it off into a ditch. God's word can seem constrictive, but it is actually just calculated. His commands are meant to protect us not withhold from us. The lie that he is a constrictive God is exactly the lie stopping humanity from living in true freedom from bondage, depression, anxiety, and confusion. The one who created us knows how we operate and knows what is best for us. In Christ we are set free.
When Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and that whoever hears my voice lives in truth, we killed him. We let an actual murderer go to kill Jesus instead We tried to kill him because what it means to follow him is to admit your wrong and to accept that he knows the way. That he loves you despite your flaws and that his ways are better than yours. I think the lack of humility is what loses people. It takes faith to follow Jesus, but that faith has freed me to be joyful in any circumstance. Your truth will only lead to confusion because it is incapable of living up to the infallible unchanging truth of Jesus love and purpose for his creation. The reason we cannot point out this deceit is because we fail to truly find truth. We allow all answers to be right when in scripture it is clearly stated “ many are the ways of man that lead to death but narrow is the path to righteousness” we cannot escape death even if you truly believe it wont happen to you. I would argue death and life are reality, Christ is reality and he has built his case and there were many eye witnesses to see it. The question is what is true, and are you okay with just not knowing or will you fight to find the answers?