The Truth of ALL Matter...

I’ve been struggling with the DEFINITION of Absolute Truth lately. It’s sitting up in my head, bounding back and forth through the various brain lobes, (picture the old game of PONG) trying to fit in somewhere and apply itself. Fortunately, my flesh is resistant and will NOT accept it in ANY lobe until it ‘explains itself’ a little more clearly.

I have been questioning my Pastor (thank God He is open to questions and WILLING to explain on a basic core level these queries), with “What IS Absolute Truth?” He has been patient with me and has submitted to me a very BASIC review of a VERY large, long-discussed and debated topic. He is also working to compile a list of possible literature and tangible SOURCES for my journey down this spiraling path.

In the meantime I typed it in my “Yahoo” search line and here is a starting point to ponder:

1) In philosophy, absolute truth generally states what is essential rather than superficial - a description of the Ideal (to use Plato's concept) rather than the merely "real" (which Plato sees as a shadow of the Ideal). Among some religious groups this term is used to describe the source of or authority for a given faith or set of beliefs, such as the Bible.

2) In science, doubt has been cast on the notion of absolutes by theories such as relativity and quantum mechanics. Attempts to tie together all the known facts about the universe into a single unified theory (one example is string theory) could be seen as efforts to discover absolute truth about this set of facts.

3) In pure mathematics, however, there is said to be a proof for the existence of absolute truth. A common tactic in mathematical proofs is the use of reductio ad absurdum, in which the statement to be proved is denied as a premise, and then that premise is shown to lead to a contradiction. When it can be demonstrated that the negation of a statement leads to a contradiction, then the original statement is proved true.

The logical proof of the statement, "There exists an absolute truth," is almost trivial in its simplicity. Suppose we assert the negation of the statement, that is, that there is no such thing as absolute truth. By making that assertion, we claim that the sentence "There exists no absolute truth" is absolutely true. The statement is self-contradictory, so its negation, "There exists an absolute truth," is true.

Who’d have thunk it? Something so simple to roll off the tongue, only 4 syllables, could bring such division and misunderstanding. I do tend to agree with the “logical proof statement above”. The minute I affirm: “There exists NO absolute truth”, as a truth, it is NO longer true as a statement, right? This reminds me of the ‘hell’ just prior to the “AHA” moment of “getting math”.

Remember how it felt to sit there; stunned into silence because you didn’t even know enough to pull together a question? I remember the moment, the exact moment when I finally “got it” and it became so clear and obvious that it seemed unbelievable that anyone could still NOT get it…yet I couldn’t explain it, or teach it…it just came, one day. Thank GOD!

I’m HOPING this is Absolute Truth and its ability to pierce my head and heart with such understanding that while I may never TEACH it, I’ll be able to ACCEPT it and it will house itself somewhere in my cerebral cortex. I hope it doesn’t get “hung up” in my right brain, as it could SO destroy my creative nature!

When I get to the CORE of my own limited understanding, I THINK it must all get down to Faith in God. If I accept, and I do, the definition of Faith in Hebrews 11:1, I ACCEPT “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen…” The word “evidence” troubles me to the extent that this could become “personal” in nature. My evidence may not be your evidence. What I hope for, you may NOT hope for? However, I do believe at the very core of my ABSOLUTE TRUTH exists God and His creation, which includes me.

In continuing on the math picture: Remember subsets and sets:

A = GOD
B = CREATION/UNIVERSE
C = MAN/WOMAN

If God is A, and everything (in this case Creation/Universe and Man/Woman) are IN that larger set. The “B” and “C” exist as subsets of “A”. The “B” and “C” cannot “stand alone and do not EXIST outside of “A”, rather they co-exist INSIDE of “A”. “B” and “C” are a part of “A”. In my understanding, “C” also resides IN “B”…which translates to mean: Humans are a subset of God AND Creation/Universe. Creation/Universe is a SUBSET of God. God is not a SUBSET of anything, but is a SET of its own, with various subsets within it.

*sidenote: I so had a wonderful diagram here but I’m not “blog-worthy” to include it…frustrating!!!! I must learn more about HTML!

Confused yet? This is what meditating (obsessing about) “ABSOLUTE TRUTH” does to my mind. Suffice to say; I accept that GOD is ultimately God of everything and creation/universe and humans and every other THING would not be here, if not for God.

Any thoughts?