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Authors: Norman L. Geisler, Frank Turek
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because he can see that the blind men are mistaken. Exactly! In fact, he wouldn’t know that the blind men were wrong unless he had an objective perspective of what was right!
So if the person telling the parable can have an objective perspective, why can’t the blind men? They could—if the blind men suddenly could see, they too would realize that they were originally mistaken. That’s really an elephant in front of them and not a wall, fan, or rope.
We too can see the truth in religion. Unfortunately, many of us who deny there’s truth in religion are not actually blind but only willfully blind. We may not want to admit that there’s truth in religion because that truth will convict us. But if we open our eyes and stop hiding behind the self-defeating nonsense that truth cannot be known, then we’ll be able to see the truth as well. And not just truth in the areas where we demand it—money, relationships, health, law, etc.—but truth in religion as well. As the blind man healed by Jesus said, “Once I was blind, but now I see.”
The skeptic may say, “Wait a minute! The elephant parable may be a bad parable, but that still doesn’t prove that truth in religion can be known. You’ve proven that truth can be known, but not necessarily truth in religion. In fact, didn’t David Hume and Immanuel Kant disprove the idea of truth in religion?”
Not at all, and we’ll discuss why in the next chapter.
S UMMARY
1. Despite the relativism that emanates from our culture, truth is absolute, exclusive, and knowable. To deny absolute truth and its knowability is self-defeating.
2. The “Road Runner” tactic turns a statement on itself and helps expose the self-defeating (and thus false) statements that are so common today. These include statements such as, “There is no truth!” (Is that true?); “All truth is relative!” (Is that a relative truth?); and “You can’t know truth!” (Then how do you know that? ). Basically, any statement that is unaf-firmable (because it 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. Contrary to popular opinion, major world religions do not “all teach the same things.” They have essential differences and only superficial agreements. All religions cannot be true, because they teach opposites.
5. Since, logically, all religions cannot be true, we cannot subscribe to the new definition of tolerance that demands that we accept the impossible idea that all religious beliefs are true. We are to respect the beliefs of others, but lovingly 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.
2
Why Should Anyone
Believe Anything At All?
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
—BLAISE PASCAL
AUTHOR AND SPEAKER James Sire conducts an eye-opening interactive seminar for students at colleges and universities across the country. The seminar is called Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?
With such an intriguing title, the event usually attracts a large audience. Sire begins by asking those in attendance this question: “Why do people believe what they believe?” Despite the wide variety of answers, Sire shows that each answer he gets fits into one of these four categories: sociological, psychological, religious, and philosophical. 1
Beginning on the left, Sire goes through the reasons in each category by asking students, “Is that a good reason to believe something?” If he gets sharp students (like he would at Southern Evangelical Seminary!), the dialog might go something like this:
Sire: I see that many of you cited sociological factors. For example, many people have beliefs because their parents have those same beliefs. Do you think
So if the person telling the parable can have an objective perspective, why can’t the blind men? They could—if the blind men suddenly could see, they too would realize that they were originally mistaken. That’s really an elephant in front of them and not a wall, fan, or rope.
We too can see the truth in religion. Unfortunately, many of us who deny there’s truth in religion are not actually blind but only willfully blind. We may not want to admit that there’s truth in religion because that truth will convict us. But if we open our eyes and stop hiding behind the self-defeating nonsense that truth cannot be known, then we’ll be able to see the truth as well. And not just truth in the areas where we demand it—money, relationships, health, law, etc.—but truth in religion as well. As the blind man healed by Jesus said, “Once I was blind, but now I see.”
The skeptic may say, “Wait a minute! The elephant parable may be a bad parable, but that still doesn’t prove that truth in religion can be known. You’ve proven that truth can be known, but not necessarily truth in religion. In fact, didn’t David Hume and Immanuel Kant disprove the idea of truth in religion?”
Not at all, and we’ll discuss why in the next chapter.
S UMMARY
1. Despite the relativism that emanates from our culture, truth is absolute, exclusive, and knowable. To deny absolute truth and its knowability is self-defeating.
2. The “Road Runner” tactic turns a statement on itself and helps expose the self-defeating (and thus false) statements that are so common today. These include statements such as, “There is no truth!” (Is that true?); “All truth is relative!” (Is that a relative truth?); and “You can’t know truth!” (Then how do you know that? ). Basically, any statement that is unaf-firmable (because it 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. Contrary to popular opinion, major world religions do not “all teach the same things.” They have essential differences and only superficial agreements. All religions cannot be true, because they teach opposites.
5. Since, logically, all religions cannot be true, we cannot subscribe to the new definition of tolerance that demands that we accept the impossible idea that all religious beliefs are true. We are to respect the beliefs of others, but lovingly 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.
2
Why Should Anyone
Believe Anything At All?
People almost invariably arrive at their beliefs not on the basis of proof but on the basis of what they find attractive.
—BLAISE PASCAL
AUTHOR AND SPEAKER James Sire conducts an eye-opening interactive seminar for students at colleges and universities across the country. The seminar is called Why Should Anyone Believe Anything At All?
With such an intriguing title, the event usually attracts a large audience. Sire begins by asking those in attendance this question: “Why do people believe what they believe?” Despite the wide variety of answers, Sire shows that each answer he gets fits into one of these four categories: sociological, psychological, religious, and philosophical. 1
Beginning on the left, Sire goes through the reasons in each category by asking students, “Is that a good reason to believe something?” If he gets sharp students (like he would at Southern Evangelical Seminary!), the dialog might go something like this:
Sire: I see that many of you cited sociological factors. For example, many people have beliefs because their parents have those same beliefs. Do you think
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