¿Qué es la verdad?

“So you are a king!” Pilate told him.

—It is you who say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world:

to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who stands for the truth

listen to my voice.

—And what is truth? —asked Pilate.

Having said this, he went out again to see the Jews.

-John 18:37-38

The Roman governor of Judea questions the humble carpenter from Nazareth hours before his death on the cross and the question he asks him still reverberates like an echo in one of those medieval cathedrals in the minds and hearts of believers and non-believers alike: “ And what is truth ?”

Let’s take a few seconds to think about how important this question is, whether we are really equipped to respond adequately to it, and whether we even have a real concept of what truth is. If someone were to ask us this question, how would we respond? In these verses of the gospel we realize that everything, and I really want to imply that everything (all our beliefs, our life, our eternal destiny, etc.) is based on the answer to this question, What is truth ? Without having a clear idea and a precise definition of what truth is, it is impossible to try to know what is true and how to discern what is not. If we do not know this, then how can we be sure that we are right? Where is our reference point? And how do we know that we will not find a great disappointment at the end of the tunnel?

In today’s world, the mere thought of this leaves many without the slightest concern (just as many deny the simple reality that [objective] truth exists and we can come to know it) this should not surprise us, because our adversary (Satan), has taken it upon himself through his tactics of deception, to make us believe that the answer to this ancient question is not necessary, because now the fashion is to do whatever we please as long as we feel comfortable with ourselves without thinking about others or the consequences that this brings, this is because now everything is relative based on how it makes us feel. It is exactly at this point that our adversary takes it upon himself to inject us with this virus of relativity and we imperceptibly stop feeling threatened by its existence, we try to justify all our actions without considering the moral implications, we gradually forget that the Devil, sin and [objective] truth exist and as a consequence we join Pilate and leave the presence not only of the one who undoubtedly knows the truth, but also of the one who clearly tells us that he is the truth personified: Via, Veritas, Vita (John 14:6).

To turn away from the truth by choice is one thing, but to be unable to discern the truth even when it is right in front of us is, I would say, extremely worrying under any circumstance or situation. Let us now see how we can best address this issue. My hope is that by the end of this article each of you will have at least the basic tools to detect the lies that our adversary so cleverly uses to lead us away from the truth, and consequently, be able to enjoy the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ and his truth in all its splendor.

Let’s see how the Royal Spanish Academy defines truth:

Conformity of things with the concept that the mind forms of them.

Conformity of what is said with what is felt or thought.

Judgment or proposition that cannot be rationally denied and that is generally accepted by a community.

I dare say that our Lord Jesus would not have used any of these three definitions if Pilate had waited long enough to receive an answer to his question. Why? Let’s see what these three definitions have in common that makes them insufficient to correctly answer this question. The common factor is that they have all been formulated in a way that presupposes that truth is subjective from the beginning, since they appeal to the thoughts and feelings of each person (or group of people) without having a reference point, and they do not even give us the assurance that it can be known at all.

In order not to repeat the error of the previous definitions, we will begin with the definition of “The Truth” seeing it from the point of view that the truth about reality is knowable.

Let’s first rule out “ What is not the truth ” (we are not going to expand on this aspect but we will use it as a point of reference).

The truth is not:

It is not that which works satisfactorily: One of the popular theories is that of the pragmatism of William James and his followers who say that truth is that which works satisfactorily.

It is not that which is coherent: Many thinkers have suggested that truth is that which is internally consistent, which is self-consistent, but we have to see that there are statements or declarations that can be coherent and appear to be solid while inside they may be lacking in content.

It is not that which is comprehensive: Comprehension is a test of truth but not a definition.

It’s not what feels good: The subjective popular belief that truth gives us a good feeling and mistakes make us feel bad. Obviously bad news can be true. But if what feels good is always true then we wouldn’t have to believe anything that isn’t pleasant. Feelings are also relative to individual personalities. What is pleasant for one person may not be for another. Truth would then be highly relative. But as we will see, truth cannot be relative so even though certain truths make us feel good, this does not mean that everything that makes us feel good is true.

After seeing these four points of what is not the truth, we can see more clearly what “the Truth” really is, and it is simply what corresponds to reality. Truth is what corresponds to its referent. The truth about reality is what corresponds to the way things really are. Truth is telling things as they are. [1]

Truth is that which corresponds to and/or adequately expresses what is real. Most philosophers have conceptualized truth only as a property of propositions. The most common account of propositional truth is the correspondence theory, which holds that a proposition is true if and only if it corresponds to how things are. [2]

A quick example would be the following statement “Jorge Gil was born in Turrialba, Costa Rica.” This statement is true only if it matches the facts of where I was born. If my birth certificate says: “born in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.” Well, we would clearly know that statement is false, but since my birth certificate does in fact say, born in Turrialba, Costa Rica and this matches the statement made first, then we know that it is true.

If the opposite were said, “Jorge Gil was not born in Turrialba, Costa Rica” and we assume that he was born there, then we would immediately know that this statement is false. This brings us to the law of non-contradiction, which we can briefly summarize as follows: “Something cannot be true and false at the same time and in the same situation” that is, if something is true, its opposite is false.

We can also know many things about the truth such as:

–Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independently of anyone knowing it. (Gravity existed before Newton.)

–Truth is cross-cultural; if something is true, then it is true for all people, everywhere, all the time (2+2=4 for everyone, everywhere, all the time).

–The truth never changes, no matter how much our beliefs about the truth change. (When we start believing that the earth is round instead of flat, the truth about the earth doesn’t change, only our beliefs about the earth change.)

–Beliefs cannot change facts, no matter how sincerely we hold to them. (Someone may sincerely believe that the world is flat, but that only makes that person sincerely mistaken.)

–Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one who professes it. (An arrogant person [I want to clarify that this attitude is not worthy of any follower of Christ] does not make the truth that he professes false. A humble person does not make the error that he professes true.)

–All truths are absolute. Even those that appear to be relative are actually absolute. (For example, “I, Jorge Gil, felt cold on January 4, 2014” may seem to be a relative truth, but in reality it is absolutely true for anyone and anywhere that Jorge Gil felt cold on that day.)

In short, contrary beliefs [opinions/criteria/opinions] are possible, but contrary truths are not possible. We can believe everything to be true, but we cannot make everything true. [3]

I hope that with what we have seen so far, we have a little clearer what the truth is (and what it is not) and as we already know more about it logically, we see how important it is to handle these concepts and ideas in an appropriate way, this will help us identify, resist and counteract the constant attacks of our adversary, which continues to blind the minds of all those who do not believe or who have rejected the message of salvation, let us remember that we not only have the truth of God carved on the table of our hearts (Prov 3:3, 7:3; 2 Cor 3:3) God also gives us our intellectual faculties, our reasoning ability, the infallibility of the holy scriptures and undoubtedly the Holy Spirit that protects us and helps us discern in all things concerning God.

The Bible, as we will see below, uses the criterion of correspondence of truth; to conclude, we will cite several examples.

–The ninth commandment is based on this criterion: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16)

–Satan is called a “liar” (John 8:44); his statement in the Garden of Eden to Eve, “No, you will not surely die!” does not correspond to what GOD actually said, “In the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

–Ananias and Sapphira “You lied to the Holy Spirit… You lied not to us but to God!” (Acts 5:1-4) They lied by giving a false report concerning their finances.

–Moses gives us one of the most important biblical passages regarding false prophets, following the principle of correspondence, these have to be tested based on “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not come true or come to pass, it is a sign that his message is not from the Lord. That prophet has spoken presumptuously; do not be afraid of him.” (Dt 18:22)

–In Proverbs we see “A truthful witness saves from death, but a false witness lies.” This implies the correct truth regarding the facts. In a court of law, intentions alone will not save innocent lives when they are accused, only “The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth” will do so. [4]

I hope that now we are not only much more comfortable with the definition of what “The Truth” is, but also with the fact that our God and redeemer, our Lord and savior Jesus Christ said the following words “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) in them all the weight of the Absolute Truth falls on Him and it is our duty as Christians to trust in Him, we are called to love Him with all our mind (Matthew 22:37) that is why it is important to approach our beliefs and His word in a way that we can maintain both a spiritual and intellectual balance and follow it to the letter, always remembering that He Himself calls us to put everything to the test and hold on to what is good (1 Thess 5:21).

I leave you with these two quotes to reflect on:

“Truth is a reality whether you believe in it or not. Truth does not require you to believe in it to be true, but it does deserve your belief in it.” – Doug Powell

“Men stumble upon the truth from time to time, but most of them pick themselves up and walk away as if nothing ever happened.” – Winston Churchill

References

[1] The Big Book of Christian Apologetics , The Nature of Truth p. 562

[2] Evans, C. Stephen (2010-03-17). Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion: 300 Terms & Thinkers Clearly & Concisely Defined (The IVP Pocket Reference Series) (Kindle Locations 2267-2270). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

[3] [Geisler, Norman L.; Turek, Frank (2004-03-12). I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist p.37-38]

[4] Systematic Theology in One Volume , Norm Geisler, p.85-85

Note on references

Because these are originally in English, the translation and modification was made by the author of this article who does not claim any intellectual rights over them.