{"id":39973,"date":"2015-10-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-06T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/?p=39973"},"modified":"2017-10-24T14:52:03","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T21:52:03","slug":"is-the-bible-true","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/is-the-bible-true\/","title":{"rendered":"The Question is not, “Is the Bible True?” but rather, “How is the Bible True?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
Thinking about the nature of truth helps us understand how the Bible is (and is not) true. <\/p>\n
And don’t get nervous … I believe all the Bible is true … but you need to read on to discover what I mean by this.<\/p>\n
There are different types of truth. <\/p>\n
There is logical truth, scientific truth, historical truth, relational truth, poetic truth, and yes, even universal truth. There is a lot of overlap between some of these types of truth, but there are also some areas that might be true in one category, but not true in another. <\/p>\n
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For example, the statement \u201c2+2=4\u201d is mathematically true, while the statement \u201cI love my wife\u201d is relationally true. But I cannot use mathematics to defend the truth that I love my wife, so the statement “I love my wife” is not mathematically true. <\/p>\n
Then there are statements which are true for some and not true for others. The statement, \u201cHalloween is a day on which children get candy,\u201d is true for children who go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, but is not true for those who don\u2019t. <\/p>\n
Many historical truth claims are true when they are made, but are not true later. For example, “King George is the King of England” was true when he was king, but is no longer true today. <\/p>\n
Then there are experiential truths and truths from a certain perspective. Consider these two statements: \u201cThe sun rises in the east. The sun rises in the west.\u201d Which statement is true? Everybody would agree that first statement is true. Yet from a scientific perspective, the sun does not rise in the east. This is an illusion based on our experience of seeing the sun rise up out of the Eastern horizon. Scientifically, however, the sun is stationary and the earth rotates around the sun. <\/p>\n
Of course, even that is not a scientifically true statement, since in reality, the sun is not even close to stationary. The sun it is moving through the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of 450,000 mph. And when you consider that the Milky Way galaxy is moving toward the Andromeda galaxy at a speed of about 150,000 mph, and the earth is moving around the sun at a speed of about 70,000 mph, what this means is that when you were a child and your mother told you to \u201cSit still\u201d you were still moving at a rate of about 670,000 mph. <\/p>\n
So as you sit there reading this text, are you sitting still or are you moving? <\/p>\n
You might say, \u201cWell, I\u2019m sitting still relative to my chair, but not sitting still relative to the universe.\u201d Fine. Except that even relative to your chair, you are not sitting still. For the word \u201cstill\u201d means \u201cabsent of all movement.\u201d Yet your blood is moving, your eyes are blinking, your cells are reproducing, and your molecules are vibrating around like crazy. You are not remotely \u201cstill.\u201d So you see? The truth claim that you are sitting still relative to your chair requires even further clarification to be truly true. <\/p>\n
This dilemma about truth becomes even more convoluted when we begin to discuss history, poetry, and literature.<\/p>\n
The statement, \u201cI ate porridge for breakfast this morning,\u201d is a true statement (Relative, of course, to how I am using the words \u201cporridge\u201d and \u201cmorning.\u201d) But if I say, \u201cThe porridge was good,\u201d we now have a truth dilemma. What do I mean by \u201cgood\u201d? I could mean that it tasted good, or that it was morally good, or that it was not rotten, or maybe that it manufactured and sold by a company named \u201cGood.\u201d <\/p>\n
And what about the statement, \u201cI will eat porridge next Monday morning?\u201d It is my plan to eat porridge next Monday, but does this plan make the statement true today? In other words, can a statement about the future be true? <\/p>\n
Then there is the language of poetry. Take this statement: \u201cThe color of love is red?\u201d Is that true? Yes, it is true. But not from a scientific, or logical, or mathematical, or historical perspective. Love has no color. And in fact, what exactly is \u201cred\u201d? For that matter, what is \u201clove\u201d? (Baby, don\u2019t hurt me, don\u2019t hurt me, no more!)<\/p>\n
Or take fiction and literature as an example. Here is a True or False question for you to answer: Aesop\u2019s Fables are true. <\/p>\n
Well, of course they\u2019re false! In fact, the word \u201cfable\u201d means \u201cmyth\u201d or fictional story, which by definition, means they are not true. <\/p>\n
And yet Aesop\u2019s Fables contains some of the greatest truths in literature. Truths about greed, teamwork, hard work, and self-discipline. So in this sense, Aesop\u2019s Fables are amazingly true. <\/p>\n