2003 issue 2 - reality of truth in a postmodern culture - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 2003 Issue 2 - Reality of Truth in a Postmodern Culture - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/5

The Reality

of

Truth in a

Postmodern

Culture

Joe Morecraft,

nd i

he sons i Issachat)

men

zvho

understood the times zvith knowledge

i

what

Israel

should

do... - I Chronicles

12:32

f we are going to be effective in defending the

faith and

in

evangelizing

our

culture

as

Christ

commanded us (Matthew

28:19)

then

we must be

as

dle sons

of

Issachar,

who understood the times

with knowledge of what

Israel

should do. We must

have a solid knowledge of the revealed will of God

in Holy Scripture widl the wisdom to apply it

to our

times; and we must have a correct understanding of the

nature of the time and culture in which we

live Both

- an understanding

of

the Bible and an understanding

of

our

particular place

in

history - are essential to

our mission of making the world's nations Christ's

disciples.

\'Vhat

is

the nature of

our

times?

What

are we to speak

from

God

to our culture that specifically addresses

their point of controversy with the Christian Faith? As

Martin Luther said:

f

Iprofess JJ ith the lottdestvoice

and

clearest expositioll

every pOl1ioll

oj

the tmth

oj

God exceptpreciselY that

little poillt JJJhich

the

JPorid

alld the devil are at that

IllOlllellt

attackillg,

I am Jot cOlifessillg Chlist, hOJPevel'

boldlY I may be

professing

Chtist. n;;rhere the battle

rages,

there the loyalty oj the soldier isproved, and to be

steady Ofl all

the

battlefields

besides, is mere

flight

alld

disgrace i

he

flinches

at that point.

A Sketch of the Mindset of the American

Culture

at

the

Outset

of the

21

st

Century

To understand

our

times we must understand the

basic perspective of Christianity, Modernism and

Postmodern ism with reference to the relation of truth

and reason. Christianity,

as

we shall see

in

more detail

later, holds that truth

about

God,

man

and the meaning

of life

in

the universe does

in

fact exist and that

it

may

be known by divine revelation. Modernism believes

that truth about life and dle universe exists and that

it can be known by the proper use of reason unaided

by divine revelation. Postmodernism holds

that

truth

does

not

exist.

In

the last decades

of

the

20

th

Century a transition has taken place from a Modernist

consensus

to

a Postmodernist consensus.

Truth

according to postmodernism

is

either an

individual or a social construct, with absolutely no

correspondence

to

objective reality, if there is indeed

such a thing.

For

postrnodernists statements are

true

if they are consistent with one another,

if

they

internally cohere.

But

when they speak of

truth

they do not mean that those statements are

in

accord

with objective facts. Hence, whatever viewpoint

works for you, and which internally coheres, is the

viewpoint you should choose, and use your power

to get others to prefer.

Truth

then becomes merely

a function of power relationships of many kinds.

Ideologies, philosophies and moralities sanctioned

as

true in a given culture really reflect only varying types

of discourse, which are shaped by social arrangements.

These belief systems

do not

indicate anything

about

reality itself but only how reality

is

contingendy

constructed under certain conditions."2

''According to the postrnodernists, all reality is virtual

reality.

We

are all wearing helmets that project our

own separate litde worlds. We can experience these

worlds and lose ourselves in them,

but

they are

not

real, nor

is

one person's world exacdy the same as

someone else's. We are

not

creating our own reality,

however. Rather, we accept a reality made by someone

else.

Just

as the corporations that manufacture virtual

reality technology program the fantasy, the so

called objective world that we experience

is

actually

programmed by large, impersonal social institutions.

Despite our heroics in fantasy land, zapping space

aliens and freeing the holographic princess, we are

only playing a game. We are actually passive and

at

the

mercy of our programmers."3

That

we live in a postrnodern world is becoming

more and more obvious.

And

we must learn

how

to

present the gospel to postrnoderns, because it

is

hard

to witness to truth to people who believe that truth is

relative (Jesus works for you; crystals work for her.')

It is hard to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to people

who

believe that, since morality is relative, they have

no

sins to forgive."4

According to recent polls: 66% of Americans believe

there

is

no

such thing

as

absolute truth; 72%

of

adults between 1 8 and 25 do

not

believe absolutes

exists.

53%

of iliose

who

call iliemselves evangelical

Christians believe no absolutes exist. This means that

ilie MAJORITY of those who profess to believe ilie

Bible and

who

profess faith

in

Christ as Lord and

Savior agree iliat there

is no

such thing

as

absolute

truili While 88%

of

evangelicals believe iliat the Bible

the

COUNSEL

of

CH LCEDON

19


2/5

The Reality

of mth in a

Postlllodern Cttltllre

is

the infallible word of God, bizarrely

53% do not

believe

in

absolutes

In

fact, 70% of all Americans claim to have this

high view of the Bible, and

66%

of all Americans do

not

believe

in

absolutes "Holding mutually inconsistent ideas is

a sure sign of believing

that

there are no absolute truths."s

Only 33% of Americans reject premarital sex. 56% of single

fundamentalists engage

in

sex outside marriage, which

is

about

the same percentage for liberals (57%). 66% of Roman

Catholics are sexually active. While

67%

of Americans accept

premarital sex, 83% of Catholics do. 49% of Protestants

and 47% of Catholics consider themselves "pro-choice"

with reference to abortion.

49% of

evangelicals and

71 %

of

Catholics say they believe

in

euthanasia.

While people have always committed sins, they at least

acknowledged these were sins. A century ago a person may

have committed adultety flagrantly and

in

defiance of

God

and man, but he would have admitted

that what

he was doing

was a sin. \Vhat we have today is not only immoral behavior,

but

loss of moral criteria. This is true even

in

the church.

We face

not

only a moral collapse

but

a collapse

of

meaning.

"There are

no

absolutes."6

The

Self-contradictions

of

Modernism

and

Postmodernism

Modernism trusts implicitly

in human

reason unaided by

divine revelation to obtain

truth

and meaning.

But it

has

no

reasonable foundation for its faith

in

reason.

Postmodernism believes that

truth

does

not

exist, that

meaning does

not

exist, and

that no

absolutes for thought

and life exist. And they make these statements absolutely and

as

expressing truth. Therefore, they refute themselves.

Christianity

is

perfectly self-consistent

in

full correspondence

with all the facts

of

reality because its origin is the Creator

of the universe. Christianity is

not

the

most

reasonable

of all the worldviews and religions of the world, it is the

only reasonable worldview and religion.

In

fact, we know

Christianity

is

true because of the impossibility of the

contrary. In other words,

if

it is not true,

then

we have no

basis for knowledge

or

morality.

It is the Christian's contention that all non-Christian

worldviews are beset with internal contradictions,

as

well

as

with beliefs which do

not

render logic, science

or

ethics

intelligible. On the other hand, the Christian worldview

(taken from God's self-revelation

in

Scripture) demands

our intellectual commitment because

it

does provide

the preconditions of

intelligibility for man's reasoning,

experience and dignity.

In

Biblical terms, what the Christian apologist does

is

demonstrate to unbelievers that because of their rejection of

God's truth, they have become vain in their reasonings,

Romans

1:21.

By means of their foolish perspective they end

up

opposing themselves, II Timothy 2:25. Their philosophy

and presuppositions rob one

of

knowledge, Colossians

2:3,8,

leaving them in ignorance, Ephesians

4:17-18.

20

the

COUNSEL of CH LCEDON

In

various forms, the fundamental argument advanced by

the Christian apologist is

that the Christian worldview is

true because of the impossibility of the contrary.

When

the perspective of God's revelation is rejected, then the

unbeliever is left

in

foolish ignorance because his philosophy

does

not

provide the preconditions of knowledge and

meaningful experience. To

put it

another

way:

the

proof

that Christianity is true is that if it were not, we would not

be

able to prove anything.

What the unbeliever needs

is

nothing less than a radical

change of mind - repentance, Acts 17:30.

He

needs to

change his fundamental worldview and submit to the

revelation of God in order for any knowledge or experience

to make sense.

He

at the same time needs

to

repent of

his spiritual rebellion and sin against God. Because

of

the

condition of his heart, he cannot see the

truth

or know God

in a saving fashion."7

The Biblical View of

TruthS

Without embarrassment

or

hesitation

or

equivocation, the

Bible gives us a unified perspective

on

the reality, content

and nature

of

truth.

The

Hebrew word,

'elllet,

involves the

ideas

of support

and stability, faithfulness and conformity to

fact.

God

is the God of

truth,

Psalm

31

:5 who

speaks

the

truth, Isaiah

45:19,

and

who

is near

to

all

who call

on Him

in truth, Psalm 145:18.

The

Hebrew word also denotes

that

which is conformed

to

reality

in

contrast to anything

which would

be

erroneous

or

deceitful" and

that

which

is

authentic, reliable and right," I Kings 17:24, Psalm 119:142,

Proverbs

8:7. Truth

in Hebrew

is NOT

another word for

"belief" or "social custom," since some beliefs and customs

can

be

false and opposed to the revealed will

of

God -

The

LOR

detests

lying lips, but He delights in those who

are

fai thfu l, Proverbs 12:22. So then, the

Old

Testament

not

only condemns all lies and deceit,

it

also commends truth

to

us as FAITHFULNESS

AND

VERACITY.

The

Greek word for truth is

aletheiawhich

denotes conformity to

fact, veracity, genuineness, the opposite of what is

false

John

7:

28,8:16. The Greek adjective,pistos, should be translated faithful,

reliable, trustworthy. The

New

Testament often combines these

two words as in Revelation 3:14 where Christ refers to Himself

as the Amen, the

faithful

and true

witness. So then, truth in

the New Testament

is

that which

is in

conformity to reality and

in opposition to

lies

and errors. Truth

is

accuracy over against

falsehood, Ephesians 4:25, I Timothy 2:7.

"

...

such a view

of

truth

[as presented

in

the Bible] collides

with postmodernist notions of the social construction of

reality and the relativity of truth. Nicole concludes, 'The

Biblical view of truth ('eme , aletheia)

is

like a rope with several

intertwined strands'; it 'involves factuality, faithfulness

and completeness.' The Bible does not present truth as a

cultural creation

of

the ancient Jews

or

the early Christians.

They received truth from the

God

who speaks truth to His

creatures, and they were expected

by

this

God

to conform

themselves to this truth."')


3/5

The Reality of mth

ill

a Postmodem

llltllre

Now

we come to the distinctives of the Biblical view

of

truth.

First, truth

comes

from God. It is revealed by God. It

is not

invented or constructed by individuals

or

societies.

Beliefs may be constructed by individuals and societies, but

truth

is the revelation of the personal and infinite Creator

of the universe.

He

has revealed Himself

in

creation and

in

human beings, Romans 1:19f, who suppress the truth in

unrighteousness and are therefore under God's judgment,

Romans 1:18. Although they worship the creature rather

than the Creator and exchange the

truth

of

God

for a lie,

they are totally inexcusable before

God

their Creator and

Lawgiver, Romans 2:14-15.

God

has also revealed Himself

incarnationally

in

the

Lord

Jesus Christ, John 1:18, who

not

only speaks the truth, but who is Himself, the Truth,

John 14:6. And God has revealed Himself verbally and

propositionally in

the Bible, which

is the

written Word

of

God, produced by

God not

man,

II

Timothy 3:15f. It

is

a

book

of

Spirit-produced thoughts

from the mind

of

God, written

in

Spirit-produced words, I Corinthians 2:13.

Therefore, the Bible is in its entirety the Word

of

God

and

therefore in its entirety is the truth of God. Jesus prayed:

we affirm

that

the Bible is a revelation from God, we do

not

simply assert tha t

God

as a person

is

known in and through

it. We also mean that

God

has revealed understandable,

objectively true propositions. ...God has revealed

truth

to us

and

not

just Himself.' O

Second, Objective truth exists and is knowable. The

claim that

God

has revealed Himself to

us

presupposes

objective truth as the cognitive content of revelation. God

is the source of objective

truth

about Himself and His

creation. ...But

truth

is also objective because

God

is the

final court of appeal, the source of all truth, by virtue of

His nature and His will. Objective

truth is

truth that is not

dependent

on

any creature's subjective feelings, desires or

beliefs. ...God's

truth is not

dependent

upon

any individual's

or

group's experiences

or

interpretations, however strongly

felt

or

culturally entrenched they may be."l1 As the aposde

Paul said in Romans 3:3-4 -

What

if

some did

not

have

faith? Will

their lack

of faith nullify

God's faithfulness?

Not at all

Let God be true,

and

every

person a liar.

Sanctify them in

the Truth; Thy

Word

is

Truth,John

17:17.

It is

the divinely-revealed

and divinely-inspired inerrant standard of

divine authority by which

ll truth

claims by

Third, revealed

truth

is absolute

in

nature.

It is

invariant,

of

universal and unchanging authority.

It

is true

without exception.

It

is unrevisable, unalterable,

in

need

________

L

__________

of

no

supplementation, correction or

abridgement, Deuteronomy 12:32. t is not

subject to criticism

or

veto by individuals

or

societies. This insistence on tru th as

absolute is a massive and sharp stumbling

block for postmoderns - given their absolute

abhorrence of the absolute - but it cannot

The Creator o the

man are to be evaluated.

The Creator of the universe has spoken to us

in

words and sentences that are meaningful

to Him

and meaningful to us in accord with

the facts of the universe as

He

has created

them. By means

of

this spoken, written

Word we can understand the truth, meaning

and

purpose

of

life

in

the universe.

universe has

spoken to us in

words nd

sentences th t are

meaningful to us

be softened

or

avoided if believers are

to

remain faithful to the truth of God."12

Fourth, revealed

truth

is of

comprehensive

authority and

universal

The

Christian worldview, contra postmodernism,

understands language

not

as a self-referential, merely human

and ultimately arbitrary system of signs that is reducable to

contingent cultural factors,

but

as the gift of a rational

God

entrusted to beings made in His own image and likeness,

Genesis 1:26. In the beginning was the

WORD,

and the

WORD

was

with

God and

the

WORD was

God,

John 1:

1-2. Communication has eternally existed between

all

the

members of the Trinity and continues as

God

speaks to us

- through creation, conscience and Scripture and as we

speak truth to each other and to God. Human language has

been wounded by the fall and fractured by the judgment at

Babel, Genesis 11, but it is

not

thrown down for the count.

Language

is

God's vehicle for conveying truth, although

it

may be clouded in much of our experience (as evidenced

by the density and outright unintelligibility of much

postmodernis t writing.)

"God's disclosure of Himself through revelation

is not

an

existential experience devoid of rational, knowable content.

God

reveals objective

truth

about Himself.

J.P.

Moreland

makes this poin t with respect to Biblical revelation: 'When

application. The

gospel message and

the moral law of God are

not

circumscribed

or

restricted

by cultural conditions." 3 Peter declared in Acts 4:12,

Salvation is

found

in no one else, for

there

is no

other

name

under heaven given to people by which we

must

be saved. Therefore, all individuals and institutions and

societies everywhere ought

to bow to

the claims

of

revealed

truth in Christ and His Word. f they do not they will perish

under His judgment for rejecting the truth, Acts 17:30,31;

II

Thessalonians 1:7f.

Fifth, divinely revealed truth

is eternally

engaging and

momentous,

not

trendy or

superficial.

In

postmodern

times,

our

sensory environments are saturated with bright

images, intrusive words and blaring sounds - all vying for

our

attention (and our funds). Fads, whether

in

advertising,

politics

or

sports, come and go with increasing rapidity.

t

seems that nothing

is

settled

or

rooted or stable over time.

-

...

for many people (and the state), religion is little more

than a hobby, something with which to amuse oneself, a kind

of curiosity for when the

mood

strikes but not something to

take

all

that seriously, especially in matters

of

legality."

14 In

contrast to this postmodern attitude stands the written \ Vord

lhe COUNSEL of

CH LCEDON 21


4/5

The

Reality of mth

ill

a

Postmodem Cllltllre

of Almighty God.

The grass withers

and

the

flower falls,

but the word of God stands forever, Isaiah 40:8. Your

word,

LORD,

is eternal;

it

stands firm

in

the heavens,

Psalm 119:89. The word

of

God

cannot

be broken; it is

eternally relevant and applicable, because its author is One

who said

of

Himself, I

the

LORD do not

change,

Malachi

3:6; Hebrews 13:8.

God's truth is grounded

in

God's eternal being. It has no

expiration date and needs

no

image makeovers. Moreover,

it is a living, personal and dynamic truth - a truth that

transcends the transient trivialities of our age and touches

us at the deepest levels of our beings by including us in an

eternal drama. This truth transforms us, as David knew well:

I

have

hidden Your

word

in

my

heart that I might not

sin against You, Psalm 119:11. - Far from being trivial, the

truth of

God

made known to a rebellious planet is perennially

engaging. .. As

Os

Guinness said, 'Hell is nothing less than

the

truth

known too late. '15

Sixth, revealed truth is exclusive,

specific

and

antithetical. What

is true excludes all

that

opposes it. This

is why

God

declares,

You

shall

have

no other gods

before

Me, Exodus 20:3.

f

there is but one God,

consistent, self-contained, fully self-conscious can produce

truth that is systematic, self-consistent and unified and

comprehensively applicable.

Revealed

truth

must be systematic

if men

are to tllink

intelligently and logically. Without t he concept of systematics

and the

God

it sets forth, we cannot hold to a rational and

understandable universe nor to any meaningful order therein.

Unregenerate man's reason and logic operate against the

background of chaos and meaningless void, so that reason

and logic are in essence more than irrational: they are

absurd. Systematics not only makes reason reasonable, but it

declares tllat there is a necessary and meaningful connection

between all facts, because all facts are the creation of the

sovereign and omnipotent

God

and are thus revelations of

His purpose and order. The idea of preaching the whole

counsel of

God

is only a possibility

if

systematics is a reality.

Otherwise, tllere

is no

necessary and real connection and

unity in the word of God, and we have instead a developing,

changing word and plan under different dispensations. We

have

then

a fragmented word, nor a whole counsel which is a

necessary and authoritative unity. 18

Eighth, revealed truth

is an end,

not

all other claimants are impostors. The

inexorable logic of antithesis is also behind

Jesus' fearful utterance, Enter through

the

narrow gate.

For

wide

is the

gate and

broad

is the

road that

leads

to

destruction,

and

many enter

through

it,

Matthew

7:13.

As

R.J.

Rushdoony commented: 'Truth is

exact and precise, and the slightest depar ture

from the truth

is

the substitution of falsity

for

truth. '16 This means that the Christian

will be wisely confrontational, for

he cannot

rest contented and happy in a world oozing

Without a concept

of

systematics and

the God it

sets

forth

we cannot hold to a

a means to any other end. t should be

desired and obtained for its own value.

This flies in

the face

of

postmodernist

pragmatism, which reduces truth to social

function or personal preference. As Harry

Blamires declared, 'There is no

subtler

perversion of Christian Faith than to treat it

as

a mere means to a worldly end, however

admirable that end in itself may be. The

Christian Faith is important because it is true.

What it

happens to achieve, in ourselves

or

rational

and

understa ndable

universe

..

with error.

When

Paul beheld the idolatry of Athens, he was

greatly

distressed

and so he reasoned

in

the synagogue

with the

Jews and

the

God-fearing Greeks, Acts 17:16-17,

which led to his famous Mars Hill address. 17 In Galatians

Paul's blazing antithetical response to the heresy of the

Judaizers is obvious, Galatians

1:7-8, 11-12.

He is totally

unwilling and unable to synthesize the truth

of

the revealed

Gospel with the

non-truth

of religious and legalistic man.

Seventh,

revealed

truth

is systematic and unified. The

Bible gives us a system of truth that is comprehensive,

unified and logically self-consistent with an orderly structure

in

the context

of

the covenant

in

the

Old

Testament and

the New Testament. Its focus is

on

God as He has revealed

Himself. It is SYSTEMATIC because the

God who

gave it

is sovereign, rational, unchangeable and knowable only by

revelation. Revealed truths

in

the Bible naturally fall into

a system of relationships and harmonies which are perfectly

self-consistent, i.e., coherent, unified and non-contradictory

in perfect harmony with all the facts of creation, and by

which system of

truth all

the facts of creation are to

be

understood. Only a sovereign, unchangeable, totally self-

22 the COUNSEL ofCH LCEDON

in others, is another and, strictly speaking,

secondary matter.' Postmodernist spirituality deems truth

as

malleable and adaptable to one's perceived needs and style.

One's 'God-concept'

or

'personal spirituality' is formed

irrespective of the idea of reality in and of itself. Truth,

religious or otllerwise, is what works for me or for my

social group.

But

Christian Faith teaches that it works (or

bears spiritual fruit) only because it is true. 19

CONCLUSION: Without

a thorough and deeply rooted

understanding of the Biblical view of truth as revealed,

objective, absolute, universal, eternally engaging, antithetical

and exclusive, unified and systematic, and as an end in itself,

the Christian response

to

postmodernism will be muted by

the surrounding culture or will make illicit compromises with

the trutll-impoverished spirit of the age. The

good

news is

that truth is still truth, that it provides a backbone for witness

and ministry

in postmodern

times, and that God's truth will

never

fail. 20


5/5

The Reali )' o

Tm h

ill

a Pos/lI odem CIIi/lire

Joe Morecraft,

III

Th.D. has pastored Chalcedon

Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, for almost

30 years.

He

and his wife Rebecca (Becky to her

friends), have four children,

one

still

at

home, and two

grandchildren. Joe is a

noted

lecturer

on

contemporary political

and historical trends

in

the United States and has published three

books

as

well as hundreds of articles.

ndnotes

1

Quoted

by Francis Schaeffer in

THE GOD WHO

IS

THERE

p.

18.

2

Groothuis, Douglas, TRUTH DECAY:

DEFENDING

CHRISTIANITY AGAINST

THE CHALLENGE OF

POSTMODERNIS1,I (InterVarsity Press, 2000), p. 98.

3

Veith, Gene,

POSTMODERN TIJYIES p. 61.

o Veith, p. 16.

5

Veith, p. 17.

Veith,

p. 18.

7

Bahnsen, Greg, ALWAYS READY, pp. 121-122.

8 This entire section relies heavily upon Groothuis' analysis,

especially pp. 64 and following.

9 Groothuis, p. 64.

III

Groothuis, pp. 66-67.

Groothuis,

p.

67.

2 Groothuis, p. 69.

13

Groothuis,

p. 72.

14 Groodmis,

p. 74.

5

Groothuis, p. 75.

{,

Groodmis,

p. 75.

17 Groothuis,

p. 77.

18 Rushdoony, R.j., SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY

Vol.

I, p. 61.

19 Groothuis, pp. 80-81.

2

Groothuis, pp.

81-82.

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2003 issue 2 - reality of truth in a postmodern culture - counsel of chalcedon

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