Torch, Spring 1998

of us that we worship Him in truth (John 4:24) . He also requires us to communicate the truth of His Word to others (Matt. 28:19-20). Given contemporary culture's view of truth, how can we maintain our belief in such truth, and how do we share that truth with others who believe that truth is inaccessible or nonexistent? In order to provide a basis from which to answer these questions, we must first look at the foundations of the current view of truth. From there, we must critique those foundations and the view itself from a theistic point of view. This will reveal some of the fundamental weaknesses of the current view of truth and give us the confidence to state our own position. The aim is to help us recognize and lovingly provide a critique of the viewpoints of those who would embrace a position of truthlessness . To begin, then , what forces have brought about the current culture of truthlessness? Today's view of truth is largely a reaction to the spirit of Modem philosophy, which began in the 1600s. For the most part, Modem philosophers believed that the autonomous human being, using unaided human reason, could come to completely certain knowledge of all of reality. True propositions would be those that correspond to reality as it is in itself. These truths could then be used to improve the human condition, leading to the perfection of humanity and its environment. These thinkers dreamed of a utopian world without disease, sin, war, or corruption of any kind. And this world would be one which we would make for ourselves . We would know the truth, and the truth would set us free (although certainly not in the scriptural sense!). The reaction against this view is often labeled "postmodemism." Postmodern thinkers claim the truth sought by Modernists is unattainable. They maintain that everyone views the world from a certain perspective. Most Modem philosophers, for instance, were white, male, upper-class Europeans with Catholic educations, living in the 1600s and 1700s. Their Eurocentrism, postmodemists would say, prevented these men from seeing the world as it actually is . Even the foundational principles of reason cherished by many in philosophy, mathematics, and science are culturally biased principles lacking universal application. Given this, since all hopes of human perfectibility are pinned on gaining a true vision of reality through human reason, utopian dreams of freedom and perfection must be abandoned. Further, those who persist in their utopian agendas, even though limited by their particular socio– temporal situation, end up universally enforcing their particularly narrow "truths," thereby marginalizing (sometimes even demonizing) those who fail to see these "truths ." Violence to others is the inevitable result of universal truth claims. In summary, postmodemism maintains that every attempt to know truth is made from a particular perspective. We are influenced, perhaps even produced, by our cultural environment and language, and thus we can never gain access to absolute Truth. All truths are really just perspectives or interpretations based on predisposition. In light of these beliefs, many thinkers advocate that we stop talking about truth altogether. We should embrace truthlessness , stop worrying about whether or not our statements correspond to reality, and instead worry only about what works. What gets us what we want? What helps us to survive? These questions, and not questions about the "true nature of reality," are the important questions . From this perspective, a proposition is considered true if it works, and only for so long as it works. Truth is not something we discover. It is something we create. Thus, what is true for you or me may not be true for someone else, for what works for us in our situation may not work for others in theirs. Torch 7