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- Truth About Reality is Knowable

For information on the following presentation, see Credits at the end of this document.
Many of us demand truth for almost every facet of life that affects our money, relationships, safety, or health.
For example, we demand truth from:

Loved ones. No one wants lies from a dear friend, spouse, or a child.
Doctors. We want the right medicine prescribed and the right operations performed.
Stock brokers. We demand they tell us the truth about companies they recommend.
Courts. We want them to convict only the truly guilty.
Employers. We want them to tell us the truth and pay us fairly.
Airlines. We demand truly safe airplanes and truly sober pilots.

We also expect to be told the truth when we pick up a reference book, read an article, or watch a news story;
we want the truth from advertisers, teachers, and politicians; we assume road signs, medicine bottles, and
food labels reveal the truth.
Likewise, should we seek truth in worldview or interpretative system, which includes morality?
Why do many people demand truth in everything but morality, religion, or worldview? Why do they say,
Thats true for you but not for me, when they talk about morality or worldview, but they never think of
such nonsense when they talk to a stock broker about their money or a doctor about their health?
We owe others and ourselves to find the real truth, and then act on it. To start, perhaps we can address the
following questions regarding truth:

What is truth?

Can truth be known?

So what? Who cares about truth?

What is truth? Truth is Telling it like it is. It is defined as the actual fact or facts about a matter.1
Truth is absolute. If something is true, it is true for all people, at all times, and in all places. All truth claims
are absolute, narrow, and exclusive. For example, consider the claim everything is true. That is an
absolute, narrow, and exclusive claim as it excludes its opposite. That is, it claims the statement everything
is not true is false.
Other truths about truth include the following:

Truth is discovered, not invented. It exists independent of anyones knowledge of it. For example,
gravity existed prior to Newton.
Truth is transcultural; if something is true, it is true for all people, in all places, at all times. For
example, 2 + 2 = 4 for everyone, everywhere, at every time.
Truth is unchanging even though our beliefs about truth change. For example, when people began
to believe the Earth revolves around the Sun instead of the Sun revolving around the Earth, the
truth about the Earths rotation did not change, only peoples belief about the Earth movement
changed.
Beliefs cannot change a fact, no matter how sincerely they are held. Someone can sincerely believe
the Sun revolves around the Earth, but that only makes that person sincerely mistaken.
Truth is not affected by the attitude of the one professing it. An arrogant person does not make the
truth he professes false. A humble person does not make the error he professes true.

1 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Dictionaries Online, American English, dictionary.cambridge.org.

All truths are absolute truths. Even truths appearing to be relative are really absolute truths. For
example, I feel tired on April 9, 2015 may appear to be a relative truth, but it is actually
absolutely true for everyone, everywhere that I had the sensation of weariness on that day.

To summarize, contrary beliefs are possible, but contrary truths are not possible. We can believe everything
is true, but we cannot make everything true.
The first two verification tests for truth are: Whatever is undeniable is true and whatever is self-defeating is
false.
A self-defeating statement is one that fails to meet its own standard. By turning a self-defeating statement
on itself, one can expose it for the nonsense it is. This tactic helps the person making a self-defeating
statement realize their arguments cannot sustain their own weight. Examples of self-defeating assertions
and follow-up questions exposing them are:

Self-defeating assertion
There is no truth.

There is no truth.

All truth is relative

You cant know truth.`
There are no absolutes
Its true for you but not for
me!
You cannot know anything
for sure.
You ought not question
someones beliefs.

You ought not question

someones beliefs.

You ought not question

someones beliefs.
You ought not to judge.

Only material things exist.

Everything has a physical

cause.
Intentionality does not
exist.

Nature is not goal-directed.

No one has free will.

My thoughts are
determined completely by
the non-rational laws of
physics.

Follow-up expos or revelation

Is that true? Is this a known and absolute truth?
If there really is no truth, then why try to learn anything? Why should
any student listen to any professor? After all, the professor does not
have the truth. What is the point of attending school or college, much
less paying for it? And what is the point of obeying the professors
prohibitions against cheating on tests?
Is that a relative truth?
How do you know that?
Are you absolutely sure?

Is that statement true just for you, or is it true for everyone?

How do you know for sure you cannot know anything for sure?

Is that statement a belief? Is this belief just as exclusive as any belief of

a Christian, secular humanist, or atheist?
Why should we not question beliefs? If so, by which standard? Do you
have any good reasons supporting your belief that we ought not
question beliefs, or is it just your own personal opinion you want to
impose on the rest of us? Unless you can give me good reasons for
such a moral standard, why should I allow you to impose it on us?
Why are you trying to impose your moral position on us anyway?
Are you ready to accept as true the religious beliefs of those who
believe in child sacrifice or other heinous acts?
Is that a judgment?
What about the laws of logic and your immaterial mind you used to
arrive to that conclusion?
So, where did your own thoughts and theories about atheism or
agnosticism come from?
Is that an intentional statement?

Do you depend on the laws of nature to be consistently goal-directed

when you observe scientific experiments?
How did you freely arrive at your conclusion?

Then why should we believe that or anything else you say?

Truth About Reality is Knowable

Self-defeating assertion
Consciousness is an
illusion.
There is no objective
morality.
It is objectively immoral for
you to impose your moral
absolutes on me.
There is no evil.
The Supreme Being is evil.
All truth arrives from
science.
Intelligent design is not
science.

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Follow-up expos or revelation

What about the consciousness you need to say consciousness is an

illusion?
What about all the moral absolutes you advocate?

So, you agree there is objective morality after all?

Then, why do you attempt to use evil to disprove the Supreme Being?
So, you agree evil exists?
Is that a nonscientific claim? What about all the nonscientific truths
you need to do science?
Then why do we use intelligent design in archaeology, cryptology,
biomimetics or biomimicry, and crime detective work? Why do some
individuals use intelligent design to suggest an alien brought life here?

Basically, any un-affirmable statement that contradicts itself must be false. Incidentally, True for you but
not for me may be the mantra of many people today, but it is not how the world really works. For
examples, try saying, True for you but not for me, to your bank teller, police, or the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) and see how far you get.
Following is an interesting conversation involving an atheist. Note self-defeating comments:
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Don said, I dont believe in the Supreme Being, Im an atheist.
Norman replied, Are you absolutely sure there is no Supreme Being or Creator?
Well, no, Im not absolutely sure. I guess its possible there might be a Supreme Being.
So youre not really an atheist, thenyoure an agnostic, because an atheist says, I know there is
no Supreme Being, and an agnostic says I dont know whether there is a Supreme Being.
There are two kinds of agnostics, Norman explained. Theres the ordinary agnostic who says he
doesnt know anything for sure, and then theres the ornery agnostic who says he cant know anything
for sure. What kind of agnostic are you?
Don said, Im the ornery kind. You cant know anything for sure.
Norman asked him, If you say you cant know anything for sure, then how do you know that for
sure? How do you know for sure you cant know anything for sure?
Don relented, I guess I really can know something for sure. I must be an ordinary agnostic.
Norman continued, Since you now admit you can know, why dont you know the Supreme Being
exists?
Don replied, Because nobody has shown me any evidence.
Norman said, Would you be willing to look at some evidence?
Sure, he replied.

At this point in the conversation, Don is the best type of person to talk to: someone who is willing to take an
honest look at the evidence. Being willing is essential. Evidence cannot convince the unwilling.
This conversation shows complete agnosticism or skepticism is self-defeating. Agnostics and skeptics make
the truth claim that truth claims cannot be made. They say truth cannot be known but then claim their view
is true. They cannot have it both ways.
In addition to or beyond agnosticism, major worldviews have essential differences and superficial
agreements. They teach opposites. In fact, worldviews, including religions, have more contradictory beliefs
than complementary ones. The notion all worldviews teach basically the same thing that we ought to love
one another, demonstrates a serious miscomprehension of worldviews. While many worldviews have some

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kind of similar moral code, they disagree on virtually every major issue. Here are a few of those major
differences:

Jews, Christians or Messianics, and Muslims believe in different versions of a theistic Supreme
Being, while most Hindus and New Agers believe everything that exists is part of an impersonal
and pantheistic force they reference as a Supreme Being.
Many Hindus believe evil is a complete illusion, while Christians or Messianics, Muslims, and Jews
believe evil is real.
Christians or Messianics believe people are saved by grace while all other worldviews; if they
believe in salvation at all, teach some kind of salvation by good works. Incidentally, the definition
of good and what one is saved from varies greatly.

We in America and certain countries appreciate worldview liberty and freedom. That is, we believe we
should accept and respect people who have different worldviews because we are well aware of the dangers
of worldview intolerance. Consequently, we value attractive persuasion, voluntary association, and the
Zero-Aggression Principle (ZAP). While we accept and respect people who have different worldviews, we
should personally know mutually exclusive worldview beliefs oppose each other with major disagreements.
We are to respect the beliefs of others, but carefully tell them the truth. After all, if you truly love and respect
people, you will tactfully tell them the truth about information that may have eternal consequences.
Summary
1. Truth is absolute, exclusive, and knowable. To deny absolute truth and its know-ability is self-defeating.
2. Any un-affirmable statement that contradicts itself must be false. Relativists are defeated by their own
logic.
3. Truth is not dependent on our feelings or preferences. Something is true whether we like it or not.
4. Major worldviews have essential differences and superficial agreements. They teach opposites.
5. We are to respect the beliefs of others, but carefully tell them the truth. After all, if you truly love and
respect people, you will tactfully tell them the truth about information that may have eternal
consequences.
Credits
The preceding presentation was influenced, copied, and paraphrased in large part from Norman L. Geisler
and Frank Tureks 2004 book titled I Dont Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist in Chapter 1 titled Can We
Handle the Truth?2 I highly recommend Geisler and Tureks book.

2 Geisler, Norman L., and Turek, Frank, I Dont Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2004), pp.

35-50.