Torch, Spring 1998

mean that all truth-claims (faith commitments from my limited perspective) are unimportant, or even of equal importance. Some faith commitments are very important indeed and, if believed, would radically alter the way one lives one's life. So, while I cannot empirically demonstrate that God exists or that Christianity is true, I can believe, as an object of faith, that these things are in fact objective, timeless truths. And, of course, I believe that the existence of the God of the Bible is the most important truth of all. It is the possible existence of God as an objective truth that is the source of another inconsistency in the "truthless" view. The foundational principle of this view is that we cannot know reality as it is in itself. This being the case, a consistent postmodern thinker must be willing to admit that a part of that reality might very well be the God of Christianity. If the Christian God exists, though humans cannot break out of their subjective states to get to the Truth of God, God could certainly communicate Truth to them. And Christians believe that He has done just that in his Word and through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21 , John 16:13). Indeed, the scripture is always God reaching down to humans, never humans reaching up to God. So the question comes down to this: How will you live in the absence of certainty? Will you live as though Truth does not exist, or as though it does? Even though many today choose the former over the latter, I hope that the preceding thoughts have demonstrated the impossibility of living consistently in truthlessness, and the importance of living in truth. We must recognize our limits, but strive in the power of God to know truth as much as we can and to be set free by it. The phrase "living in truth" is one used by Vaclav Havel, the political dissident who later became president of Czechoslovakia. According to Havel, living in truth is standing courageously against a tide of an untruth. This is applicable whether the tide be the communist totalitarianism Havel faced himself or the postmodern relativism that we face today. The action of one who lives in truth, says Havel, goes "beyond itself, because it illuminate[s] its surroundings."1 This is exactly what we as Christians are called to do-to be lights in the darkness (Matthew 5:14-16). We must live in such a way that our lives would not make sense if God did not exist. If, by faith, we live in truth in this way, the light cast by our lives will call attention to the source of that truth-the eternal power of God reaching down to us. I.J I Havel,Vaclav, "The Power of the Powerless," Living in Truth, Jan Vladislav, ed. (London : Faber & Faber, 1986), 56. Carson, D. A. The Gagging ofGod (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 1996. Craig, William Lane, "Politically Incorrect Salvation," Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World, Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis L. Ockholm, ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 1995. Sire, James, "On Being a Fool for Christ and an Idiot for Nobody," Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World, Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis L. Ockholm, ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 1995. Wells, David. No Place for Truth (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans), 1993. D avid Mills returned to his alma mater in 1994 to join the Cedarville College faculty and currently serves as assistant professor of philosophy in the Department of Bible. A 1992 graduate of the College, he is currently completing his dissertation for the Ph.D. program at Penn State University. Well-versed on the topic of postmodernism, Professor Mills is often called to s~ak on its influence on ethics, · and theories. For Torch 11