What is truth? (page 4)

These3Words

Truth: Jesus told us to have faith in God not in man.

Are there any questions?

ldrnomo

The borg sometimes calls it "present truth" that way they can change the truth to match the present

But the truth is and always should be absolute!

So when the borg claims somthing is true and it changes, it wasn't really true.

AND THAT'S THE TRUTH!

Truth in the logical sense of the word can be defined as meeting one of the two following criteria: Either a statement is true by definition (A=A type stuff) or is true by empirical verification. This is Ayer's verification principle of logical empiricism.

The traditional response from critics (theists usually) is that the verificaton principle is not true by definition or empirical evidence. The result is an infinite regress of linguistic definitions.

In other words, you can assert the proposition that only things which are verifiable can be called "true." Everything else is AT MOST unverifiable.

The theists in the modern "presuppositionalist" movement. Claim that presupposing God is no less rational than presupposing Logical Empiricism. My argument to them is an evidential one, not a Logical one. The scientific evidence shows that logical empiricism is a FUNCTION of a rational mind. In the same way, we now have good evidence that some religious phenomena and feelings are a function of the mind. So I put the argument in terms of best-fit of function to purpose. This functional argument allows a natural materialist to oppose the claim that "logic itself is a product of Christian metaphysics."

I always tell JW's I debate "If it can't be false, it can't be true." Here are two examples

1. If the preaching work goes up it means the end is near and JW's have the truth as evidenced by their success.

2. If the preaching work goes down it means the end is near and JW's have the truth as evidenced by their persecution and the slowing down of the work.

It's clear to an objective viewer of these two statements that the preaching work has no bearing on deciding the truth of Jehovah's Witnesses because no possible outcome between these two extremes would be considered evidence.

White Dove

I think truth as absolute is a myth. If you change your mind on something, it can become truth or a lie.

darth frosty

Was this like one of the 1st post on JWD. When I first started looking I was like wow all nubies are responding. Nice to have thes jewels still around. I wonder what the very first post on JWD was about?

real one

Jesus Christ is truth!

R. Jerome Harris

At his temptation Jesus answered that question. He said:

Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every utterance coming forth through God’s mouth.

The truth is God's Word. Who is God's spokesman and only one called The Word of God?

Jesus [the] Christ.

And of himself he said at John 14:6:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Of him God says at Luke 9:35:

This is my Son, the one that has been chosen. Listen to him.

Sadly, religious organizations have usurped the role of "the truth" and have made themselves such. They are thieves in that sense.

Fisherman

"Truth is God's Messianic Kingdom."

prologos

If you look at the term "truth" in other languages you get a more complete picture of it.

Dutch : waarheid, formed from the word war, or was, past tense. truth is cast in stone, it has already happened, all we see, hear, feel, are signals from the unchangeable past.

Truth is not what you think it is, fisherman, it is the reality, that messianic Kingdom you think that you are hooked on might not be a good catch, that old line is stuck in a rut instead. or

Truth, from the old english " Through ", we have been through it. we know, because we are through --- with or without you.

CalebInFloroda

Biblical scholars and theologians generally do not read Pilate's words at John 18.38 as a literal question. Pilate's question, "What is truth?" is meant to be narrative irony used by the author as a teaching device.

Pontius Pilate was not interested in Jesus giving him an answer. Pilate is obviously bothered by the whole ordeal of Jesus' arrest. The various Gospel references repeatedly agree that Pilate sees through the intentions of those who are bringing Jesus to trial, and later Pilate even has to argue with these same people in an attempt to release Jesus, seeing no reason for his arrest.

His expression, which in Pilate's native language would have been "Quid est veritas?" was obviously said in frustration upon realizing that Jesus is just some holy man and not a political threat to Rome as his accusers had stated that he was. Pilate doesn't wait around to receive an answer from Jesus, you will notice, but goes out to announce his decision that his investigation is over.

Yet as mentioned before, Biblical exegetes see this as narrative irony. John's gospel is very sentimental by comparison with the other accounts, and more inclined to literary expression as a result. The author is not merely stating that Pilate asked a rhetorical question and stormed off, but that Pilate is missing the fact that "truth" is standing before him (just a few lines earlier Jesus had stated that he was the personification of truth at John 14.6).

The theology of Christianity is one that believes that sacred secrets are hidden from the eyes of average people who see things that are only on the surface. It teaches that the Jews are blinded from understanding hidden patterns and codified expressions found in their own Scriptures. The author is probably reinforcing this idea with this incident because the "incarnation" of truth is actually standing before him and Pilate does not take advantage of this by asking further questions. The author wants the reader to learn from this lesson of Pilate's lost opportunity and not let the "truth" escape them as did Pilate.

While I personally agree with this interpretation of the author's intent, as a Jew I don't subscribe to the New Testament claims regarding revelation. Instead of hidden and secret revelations only given to a few or hidden from the average person's sight, Judaism acknowledge only community revelations such as performed in public by Moses and the prophets. I also find the belief that the Jews don't understand their own texts and that some hidden meanings are found within like some sort of code that requires Christianity to decode it as illogical.

Regadless of my personal convictions, however, I see the narrative device theory as a better likelihood regarding Pilate's question than the idea that it is some literal question that begs to be answered (and left without one in the Scriptural text that follows).

What is truth?