Brad Alles

In the Post-Modern world in which we live there is no universal Truth (capital “T”).  There are only “truths” (small “t”) that are particular to a society and limited to individual perception.

On the other hand, Christianity is a comprehensive, unified worldview that addresses all of life and reality. It is not just religious truth but total truth.  As we have seen in earlier blogs, God gives the big answers to the big questions that we all have: how the orderly universe came to be in existence through Creation, how evil and suffering entered the world through Adam and Eve’s rebellion, and how God dealt with humanity’s sin through His Son Jesus Christ. Moreover, the Bible explains why we were created, what happens when we die, and how we can live as His people who have been saved by grace through faith in Jesus as Savior. The Bible is God’s Word, a reliable book that has been accurately handed down without essential loss from generation to generation. The accounts, from the Flood to Jesus’ life, can be geologically, geographically, historically, and archaeologically verified. It’s not just “true for me” as in Post-Modernism, but true for all of us.

Yet the very concept of a universal Truth is not only rejected by Post-Modernism, but religion itself is also consigned to irrelevance. Through privatization, individuals separate their private and public life by living in what Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer described as a “two-story truth.” Imagine a building with two levels. The lower level of the two-story truth is the realm of reason, an area of objective, scientific knowledge and facts. On this level, the battle cry is, “True for all” since no one can argue with rational, verifiable facts, like two plus two equals four. However, on the upper level of the two-story truth is the realm of faith, an area of subjective, personal preferences and values. Here the statement is “That’s true for you, but not me.” Believing that Jesus is Savior and Lord is just a truth for my personal life; it is not objectively true or verifiable.