Am I naive to think that there is only one truth? Not "your truth" and "my truth"? But only the truth. One truth like one reality.
Still wondering what your definition of truth is,
@Rob Monster.
To get to truth, I think one has to get to the
first cause, i.e. what existed before nothing existed. For some the first cause was a "big bang". However, what caused the big bang? As one follows the chain of first cause, you eventually get to a root first cause.
Whether your leap of faith is a "big bang", or "God", either way one's truth about matter ame into existence is a leap of faith. The main difference is whether you believe the event was intentional.
For me, God is the foundational truth. The Big Bang is an attempt to explain away God. How matter and life came into existence is a foundational truth. I find it categorically implausible that matter, life and consciousness in all their complexity can exist as a product of randomness.
On a more practical level, there are people who research conspiracies. In some cases, they found compelling proof of a deception. This deception is sometimes highly organized. JFK famously talked about the
monolithic and ruthless conspiracy shortly before being assassinated.
If one searches further, one finds that while there
is a Satan. He is the father of lies and the author of confusion and deception. Indeed, the greatest conspiracy of all is that Satan actually exists and that he is the God of this world, iconically symbolized on the US dollar bill as the Eye of Horus, or all seeing eye.
Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been God of this world. He is operating behind the scenes at the top of the monolithic, ruthless and worldwide conspiracy. He has earthly rewards to offer, and has convinced much of humanity that earthly rewards is all there is when it is not.
The atheists and skeptics may brush the idea of a Satan aside as nonsense. And yet pedophilia, infanticide, licentiousness, and the general "do as thou wilt" mindset that pervades much of humanity, has a first mover as well, and that first mover is Satan, who desires for every human to die in their sins.
The Creator God, YHWH, who is sovereign over all, knows the end from the beginning and is outside of space and time, did provision a savior to atone for the sins of man. Jesus Christ, lamb of God, celebrated on Passover, was the final sacrifice. He rose again on the 3rd day and his reward is eternal life.
The Bible is my authority. I am confident that it is the inspired word of God. The prophets of the OT and apostles of the NT were able to document it. Mankind preserved it, word for word, to the present day. The Bible happens to give us a very clear duality of the works of the spirit and the works of the flesh:
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)
On the other hand, we have the carnal state of man:
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, carousing. (Galatians 5:19-21)
I get that there are those who believe that they can through sheer force of will be more like the former and less like the latter. The point is that much human behavior can be explained by this duality. When someone finds the truth, I believe they finally begin to understand why the world works the way it does.
The search for TRUTH is ultimately a search for MEANING, i.e. why are we here. This search is ultimately a search for GOD. As stated prior, I believe there is absolutely nothing in this life, or on this earth, that is more noble or worthwhile than the search for that universal and all-encompassing truth.
Hope that helps someone.
