What is truth? What is truth based on? Can truth be based on lies?

It seems to me that many who call themselves "Christian" often accept as truth what is in reality lies. For example, the idea that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ is a complete lie, yet so called "Christians" accept it as truth. Why is that? Don't they care about the truth? Don't they care about what is right?

In II Corinthians 6.16 there is a question. What does the temple of God have to do with idols? While all the historical evidence is plain that Christmas is a holiday that came about because, Liberius, bishop of Rome, wanted to appease the pagans of Rome, Christians will not accept that truth.

It is apparent that the celebration of Christmas has no foundation in the Bible. Nowhere does the Bible authorize the mixing of the birth of Christ with pagan observances. Nowhere do we see an example of the early Christians celebrating Christmas. But, Biblical truth just doesn't seem to matter.

What, then, is Truth? In these days, it seems truth is subjective. It is whatever we believe at the time. There seems to be no standard for truth.

There should be no debates among Christians, for we should all speak the same thing, - I Corinthians 1.10. But, the truth is that we Christians are also human, and as humans we are imperfect, and when dealing with any subject or issue, we deal with it from a position of imperfection. But, we don't need to do that, for we have the written Word of God. The truth is, we need to yield to the truth of the Word of God. Then and only then will we know the truth, even though we might not be able to prove the truth. For example, the creation. The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth in six days. We don't understand that. We can't understand that. We can't comprehend how someone cant create the universe in six days. We simply must accept it by faith. If we all accept the account of creation in Genesis by faith, no proof needed, would there be any reason to disagree? There would not. By acceptance of the account of creation by faith, we can even answer the question; "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

Whatever the subject or issue, we simply accept what the Bible says by faith, and that would minimize disagreement, and we would, for the most part, speak the same thing. So, whatever the question, whatever the issue, we must accept what the Bible says by faith. We may not be able to explain, scientifically, what the Bible says, but, by faith, we will know the truth.

Let's take something that all Christians believe. The resurrection. Not one of us can explain, scientifically, how Jesus was raised from the dead, but we believe it anyway. If we all accept all the truth of God's Word in the same way, we should all then speak the same thing.

People of like-faith will believe the same thing, and therefore, speak the same thing. But, that's not the way things are, is it. All people who claim to be "Christians," do not all believe the same thing. But, why? There is One Word of One God. There is One Lord, One Faith. One propitiation of our sins. Yet, we are not one. It's because we are trying to understand God's Word through our physical senses, which is impossible because the Bible is a spiritual book, and our brother Paul stated that natural man does not understand things of the spirit. So, we can't understand how the heavens and the earth were created in six days through physical means, i.e., scientifically, so why try, just accept it by faith.

The truth is we must accept the truth of God's Word by faith. When we try to understand God's Word through physical means we invariably get it wrong, and we cause division as a result. Going back to creation, Christians have accept a concept known as "intelligent design." Some Christians have accepted the lie that it had to take longer than six literal periods of 24 hours to create the heavens and the earth, so they linked II Peter 3.8 to creation, thus creating the doctrine that it took up to six thousand years for God to create the heavens and the earth. That's what happens when we try to explain the work of God in creation by limited human means. We can't do it, so we create doctrines that we can accept in our limited ability to understand, and a doctrine that will more acceptable to the evolutionists we might be friends with. It is so much easier for us to simply accept what is said in Genesis 1, than to try to appease the evolutionists.

The truth is, the Word of God accepted by faith. So, if the Bible says that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord before God destroyed the surface of the planet, that's what it means. God sent rain for forty days and nights the flooded the entire surface of the earth. That's what the Bible teaches. It's quite unfathomable to understand, but we foolish humans try to make sense of it, so we create false doctrines in an attempt to make the story of the flood more believable, instead of just accepting what the Bible says by faith.

The truth is, what the Bible says is true, whether or not we understand it in our limited capacity to understand. It's okay to explain what we do understand, and accept by faith that which we don't. That is what people of faith should do. And as Christians, are we not people of faith? That's what the Bible teaches, and I do accept what it teaches by faith. That's why I expect other Christians to accept the truth of the Bible as well. But, the truth is, not all who claim to be Christians do accept the truth of God's Word. What a much better world it would be if they would.

John 14.6 states, "Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

Jesus is the truth. You must go through Jesus to get to the Father. Therefore, you must go through the truth to get to the Father. You can not get to the Father without the truth which is Christ. All the truth that we need to get to the Father is in Christ.

Now there is a question. Can we come to the Father with partial truth?

Let's examine that question. Psalm 25.10 states, "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies." Psalm 33.4 states, "For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth." Proverbs 12.17, 19 states, "He who speaks truth declares righteousness, but a false witness, deceit.... The truthful lip shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment." Proverbs 16.6 states, "In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil." According to John 4.23, 24; Jesus said, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."  Seems to me, based on these Scriptures, that truth is very important.

Well, that is actually an easy question. But, now there is another question. How does one determine what the truth is? We already know that Jesus is the truth. So, whatever Jesus said is the truth. We also know from Scripture that God cannot tell a lie. So, if God said it you know it is true. We know that Jesus told the disciples/apostles that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. So, we can be certain that the Holy Spirit guided the disciples/apostles into all truth. And since they wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can be sure that what the apostles wrote is the truth. So, we can be sure that the New Testament is true.

Since the Old Testament was given by the same God that is responsible for giving us Christ and the New Testament, I believe it's safe to say the Old Testament is also true. So, what the Bible says is the truth. So, how can you determine the truth? It's in the Bible. Therefore, the Bible is the way of truth.

All Scripture quotes from the New King James Version, unless otherwise noted.