Chris' Corner -- Sunday, August 1, 2021
"What is true for you is not true for everyone." How often do we hear this? The validity of this statement depends on if we are talking about subjective truth or objective truth. Subjective truth will be different from person to person because it comes from within. Objective truth is true for everyone. It never changes regardless of what anyone thinks or believes. It is absolute truth.
Subjective truth never overrules objective truth. If we want to be logical and rational, we must make personal, subjective truth conform to the absolute truth standard. If anyone questions this, they might argue with their bank that 2 + 2 is anything other than 4. Multiply this view by how many customers the bank has, and we can imagine the chaos!
Religious truth is the same. There is an objective standard of truth that the great Creator gave us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Any other measure is insufficient and false.
Christians are required to "Test all things, hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Test or prove (KJV) means examining, verifying, scrutinizing (to see whether a thing is genuine or not), as with metals. No one could do this without objective truth.
If we used subjective standards, every time we compared or tested something, the results would keep changing. No one would agree to such when spending money on everyday products and services.
The choice in the garden was between "You shall surely die" and "You shall not surely die." Subjective reasoning took over Eve's thoughts, and she made the wrong choice. God is straightforward in the command not to add to or take away from His word. "Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:5, 6).
Christians today are commanded, "And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him" (Colossians 3:17). Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says that the "name" recognizes the authority. Jesus told His disciples, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18; cf. Matthew 18:20; Ephesians 5:20).
It ought to be clear; it is not a matter of subjectivity, no matter how passionately we hold to a particular belief. It is a matter of objective authority from God. We must do everything that is, and nothing that is not, authorized by Christ in the His Word, the New Testament.
We all hold to subjective truths. This is acceptable as long as we know when to surrender those truths and replace them with objective ones. We should have no problem understanding this principle because it is proven repeatedly in our physical and secular world. How much more valuable is this understanding in God's religious and spiritual realm of absolute truth?