Absolute Truth

"Critical realism is a concept used widely in the context of scientific theory, and it simply affirms the fact that there are many entities which, while they are non-observable, are nevertheless real - electric, magnetic and gravitational fields, for example. In a way they are transcendent, they are beyond our direct observation, hence the only access we have to them is through the use of models or metaphors. When we speak of a gravitational field, we know that there is no actual field; and yet the metaphor does refer to an actual reality, and what is more it informs us as to the nature of that reality. We could say that while models are not literally true, they are truth-depicting and truth-conveying.... we only have perspectives on ultimate truth and not ultimate truth itself - the rest is rhetoric."

- Dave Tomlinson, The Post-Evangelical, pp 97, 102 (in the chapter entitled "The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Something Quite Like the Truth").

Unlike many people, I believe that absolute truth exists. However, I believe that I, a finite human being, am shut off from it by my perception. As C.S. Lewis wrote, in part echoing William Blake:

Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them - never become even conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?

- A Grief Observed

God is not limited in this way, and understands absolute truth. He has conveyed it, inasmuch as he could given human limitations, to us; but because language is part of our limited perception, even through his perfect communication we understand imperfectly.

I write for a living, and at present, I write what other people give me to write - that is, they provide the matter, and I present it. They then review it to ensure that I have conveyed their intent accurately. This has given me insight into the process of divine inspiration (except that there, I believe, the reviewing goes on at the same time as the provision of the material - I may be wrong on this point).

I believe that God, knowing fully, understanding fully, not only possessing absolute truth but being absolute truth, made truth known (by what mechanism is not important) to human beings, to the degree they were able to understand and accept it; and to the degree that they were able to articulate and communicate it, they presented it in what we call the Bible - in more or less human terms (because those are all we can perceive).

Also as a writer, though, I understand the limitations of this process. I struggle even now, as I write this, to communicate by words a portion (not the whole) of what I understand, which is less than the full reality. You, in turn, attempt to understand by my words a portion (not the whole) of what I know.

This dynamic is at work also when I read the Bible. However, because the source is God, I have confidence that the original to which the words point is truth (that is, not false or mistaken); and because God was involved in the process, I have more confidence that the distortions inherent to human communication have been reduced; and if I seek God and his truth in the words, I believe he is able to provide insight to help, also, with that aspect of the process.

So each human element of the process is inherently finite, non-ultimate, but God, infinite and ultimate, is both the beginning of the process and the end of the process and involved at every step in between. (The proviso to this is that if I adopt an attitude which refuses to let him be involved in the step where I read and attempt to understand, he will graciously honour my wish, and not be involved.)

So much for my inchoate thoughts on Absolute Truth.

See also:

Post-Christians and Post-Evangelicals

Synthesis and Synchretism

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