When Christ was in the judgment hall, Pilate asked Him the question, "What is truth?" Pilate had a desire to know the truth. His mind was confused. He eagerly grasped the words of the Saviour, and his heart was stirred with a great longing to know what it really was, and how he could obtain it. "What is truth?" he inquired. But he did not wait for an answer.'
How many there are like Pilate, who allow the pressing duties of the present to absorb their attention to the exclusion of the great eternal realities! Because of the noise and the clamor outside, the whisperings of the "still small voice" unheeded and are soon silenced. Christ, the truth personified, was standing before the Roman governor, whose mind was so darkened that he could not comprehend.
While the living Word, the divine Logos, is not here in person today, we may have continual companionship with Him as He speaks to us through His written word. As the living Logos is the truth, so the written Logos contains the truth. In this written revelation the truth is unfolded only to those who in humility of heart are willing to accept its messages in simple faith. "Without an understanding of the Scriptures it is impossible . . . to understand what is truth." 2
To those who ask today, "What is truth?" there come a multitude of voices in response. Ask the theologian and he may tell you that truth is determined by the teaching of the Church Fathers. To him, tradition is the test of truth, the criterion by which the tenets of all religious belief must be judged. This teaching exalts tradition above divine revelation. To make tradition a test of truth is to say that because a doctrine has been honored for many generations it must be right. Should such reasoning be followed to the ultimate, progress would be impossible. On the contrary, progress is often made when long-established customs are forsaken and a new trail of liberty is blazed. Certain followers of religious traditions, however, will not allow their theories to be brought to any other test than that of the fathers of the church. The Council of Trent expressly condemned all interpretations of the Bible "which contradict the past and present interpretation of the Church."2 He who is bound by the chains of tradition is not free, and is therefore not in possession of the truth, because the truth makes one free.
The psychologist may answer, "All that is necessary to arrive at truth is to follow instinct." To appeal to instinct, however, as a guide to truth, is to make the physical dominate the rational and spiritual. Instinctive actions are frequently in conflict with one another. When this situation occurs, to what tribunal can we go for a referendum if instinct is the final court of appeal? Again, instinct is conditionable and is easily influenced by environment. Truth, on the other hand, stands alone and is independent of circumstances.
Feelings and emotions are frequently put forth as a true guide. Emotion has its place in religion and in life, but to exalt it as a criterion for truth is to wrest it from its proper sphere. Emotional responses frequently lead to all kinds of excesses and abuses. When emotion runs riot, then trouble ensues.
The Pragmatic Answer
When confronted with this question, the educator may reply that truth is determined by its practical efficiency in meeting a designated purpose. In other words, that which functions satisfactorily is true. Truth, to him, depends not upon that which is inherent in itself but upon its results. John Dewey enunciated this theory:
The hypothesis that works is the true one; and truth is an abstract noun applied to the collection of cases, actual, foreseen and desired, that receive confirmation in their works and consequences.°
Such reasoning is not only fallacious but often soul-destroying. For example; since a life of stealing without being discovered is profitable for the thief, the conclusion, according to the pragmatic argument, would be that stealing is a correct form of behavior. It is clear that consequences alone cannot be considered as a final test of the truth or falsity of a given proposition. Final results of truth are always satisfactory, but in this life error is often "on the throne" and truth "upon the scaffold." History is replete with examples of noble men and women who, rather than to deny the truth, have made the supreme sacrifice, while others who have catered to public opinion have been lauded as heroes.
The scientist says that truth can be demonstrated in the laboratory. There is no doubt that the scientific method occupies a valuable and important place in the discovery of truth. A brief survey, however, of the history of science emphasizes the fact that the concepts of scientists have undergone drastic changes, and that the so-called truths of yesteryear have been proved false by new discoveries not known to our predecessors. The truths of science, then, should be labeled probabilities, since scientific knowledge is still very limited despite the great advance made in recent years.
Certainly among scientists "true science" means "the best we have to date as developed by our best scientists." In this sense "true science" is not final nor infallible.5
The philosopher attempts to correlate all the knowledge that the sciences have discovered; hence his answer to the question would be that truth is coherence or that which is in agreement with what is known. But "coherence presupposes the existence of a body of truth." Thus the problem of how the first set of truths can be validated is still unsolved.
To the man of faith, the final test of truth is found in revelation. God has given us a divine disclosure in His Book and through His Son. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son." 7 The truth that came through God's revelation of Himself to His "servants the prophets" and by His ultimate manifestation in His Son, is that by which all other assertions of truth must be tested. "If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." This divine revelation must be accepted by faith, for without faith in this Word it is impossible to understand the truth.
There are many today groping in darkness, looking for light; many in the maze of error are asking, "From whence doth the light of truth shine?" If these would come to Him who is the Truth and to His revelation in His blessed Book, their minds would find rest and their souls would be satisfied.
The Bible unfolds truth with a simplicity and a perfect adaptation to the needs and longings of the human heart, that has astonished and charmed the most highly cultivated minds, while it enables the humble and uncultured to discern the way of salvation?'
REFERENCES
1 ELLEN G. WHITE, The Desire of Ages, p. 727.
2 WHITE, Counsels to Parents and Teachers, p. 427.
3 Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 2, p. 545.
John DEWEY, Reconstruction in Philosophy, Enlarged edition. Boston: Beacon Press, 1948, pp. 156, 157.
5 BERNARD RAMM, The Christian View of Science and Scripture. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1955, p. 42.
6 HOMER Dues, Rational Induction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1930, p. 27.
7 Heb. 1:1,2.
8 Amos 3:7.
9 Isa. 8:20.
10 WHITE, Testimonies, vol. 5, p. 700.
