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Truth
An impossible exercise?
Can it be
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Sp
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Can you truly find absolute spiritual truth?
Do consequences exist if you don’t?
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Sp
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Truth
Found?
Can it be
© Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
Sp
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Truth
Found?
Can it be
© Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
Sp
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Truth
Found?
Can it be
The Questions/Assertions…
Why so many religions?
All religions teach the same thing…
Belief in God means checking your brains at the door…
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The most common belief systems:
Which, if any, are really true?
• Agnosticism (Hard and Soft)
• Atheism
• Cultic systems (Mormon, etc.)
• Deism
• Finite Godism
• Pantheism (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, New Age, etc.)
• Pluralism
• Polytheism
• Postmodernism
• Skepticism
• Theism (Judaism, Islam, Christianity)
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Sp
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A look at the oldest (bad) analogy of spiritual truth
Six blind men approach an elephant. One believes it to be a snake (grabs
the trunk), one believes it to be a fan (grabs an ear), another thinks it’s a
tree (grabs a leg), and so on. Notice…
• They were all wrong.
• Someone knows enough to know it was an elephant to tell the story.
• The absolute truth is known and it exists (it’s an elephant).
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All religions have similarities, right…?
Yes, but so does a counterfeit and real $50 bill
• Just because something looks right on the surface doesn’t
mean it is the real thing.
• Differences matter and must be uncovered to find the truth.
• Fakes aren’t acceptable.
How do spiritual claims differ – just in the small stuff?
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Some voices claim no God and others many gods…
Some similarities but they differ in areas of…
• The person of God.
• The person of Christ.
• Areas of personal morality.
• The way of salvation.
• What happens after you die.
They differ in the things that matter – and matter greatly
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Are there consequences for making a wrong choice?
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So if differences exist, and those differences matter,
then all roads cannot lead to the top of the mountain.
Bottom line: Spiritual truth exists – we need to find it. But
how?
• From Culture? Some cultures act kindly toward their neighbor, but
other cultures they eat them.
• From Majority Rule? The majority can be wrong.
• From each Individual? We call people crazy who lose touch with
what reality really is and just invent their own.
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The Importance of a Systematic Methodology
Does the scientist go into the lab and haphazardly throw
stuff together in the pursuit of scientific truth?
Why think the pursuit of spiritual truth should be treated
any differently? The study of God – Theology – must be
approached in a systematic way.
© Confident Christians – www.confidentchristians.org
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Arriving at error does not mean the truth does not exist
Sit a group of students down and give them a challenging
math problem – it’s a fair bet that many will get the answer
wrong. But that doesn’t mean a correct answer doesn’t
exist.
Just because many faiths may have different answers to
the question of God doesn’t mean that one true answer
doesn’t exist.
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Navigating the worldview maze to spiritual truth requires:
And just what are the right questions…?
• Asking the right questions
• Thinking logically
• Examining converging lines of evidence
• Excluding what is false
• Embracing what remains
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Sp
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Steps/questions that lead to spiritual truth:
1. Does absolute truth exist?
2. Do reason and religion mix?
3. Does God exist?
4. Can we know God?
5. Is Jesus God?
6. Does God care about me?
The end result is a coherent set of answers to the big four areas of life:
origin, ethics, meaning, and destiny.
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Finding spiritual truth answers the big four questions
• Origins – where did I come
from?
• Ethics – how should I live?
• Meaning – what is the purpose of
my life?
• Destiny – where am I going when
I did?
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1. Does absolute truth exist?
If it doesn’t, then we can be sure of nothing and
cannot go any further. But if it does, then we
can continue through the maze…
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2. Do reason and religion mix?
1. Law of non-contradiction – something cannot be “A” and “non-A”
at the same time and in the same sense.
2. Law of the excluded middle – something is either “A” or “non-A”.
3. Law of rational inference – e.g. All men are mortal, John is a man,
therefore John is mortal.
4. Law of identity – “A” is really “A”.
Logic is critical in rational thinking – recognizing that the opposite of true
is false.
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3. Does God exist?
If a supernatural Creator does not exist, then
atheism is true and we can stop. But if we can
show that a Creator does exist, then we need to
find out what that Creator is like.
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4. Can we know God?
Can we discover what God is like? What kind of
God exists? Has He revealed Himself to us in
some way? If not, then we can stop.
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5. Is Jesus God?
Jesus stands as the central spiritual figure in all
of history (no matter the faith). Who is Jesus? Is
He just a man, a prophet of God, or is He God
Himself?
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6. Does God care about me?
If God exists, then does He actually care about
me? Does this supernatural Creator have a plan
and purpose for my existence?
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Working through the maze:
Absolute
Truth?
Yes
No
Yes
No
God
Exist?
Yes
No
Know
God?
Yes
No
Jesus
God?
Yes
No
God
Care?
Yes
No
Agnosticism
PluralismAtheism Deism
Christianity
Reason/
Religion?
Agnosticism
DeismVarious
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Sp
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Answering Life’s Questions:
Absolute
Truth?
Yes
No
Reason/
Religion?
Yes
No
God
Exist?
Yes
No
Know
God?
No
Jesus
God?
Yes
No
God
Care?
No
Agnosticism
PluralismUncertainty
Agnosticism
DeismDeism
Yes
Yes Yes
Yes
Origin EthicsMeaning
Destiny
Various
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Sp
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Hard question: Do you want to know the truth?
“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up
in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.
You take the red pill, you stay in wonderland and I
show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. I’m only
offering you The Truth… Nothing more.”
“It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments.”
- Nietzsche
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Why spiritual truth matters
Simply because…
“For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if
Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your
sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If
we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be
pitied. ”- The Apostle Paul
Eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong.
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Do all roads lead to God?
… Actually, they do…
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Because God exists, when you die you will meet Him.
Whatever road you’re currently on… Whatever path you’ve
chosen… You will meet God.
But what then?
Yes, all roads lead to God. But only one road leads to His
forgiveness and eternal life – Christianity – whereas all the
other roads lead to His judgment and eternal separation from
Him.
D o
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Truth
Yes, it can.
Can it be