It would be a travesty to feign that I can more concisely convey the fact of objective truth so well as Amy Welborn.
Consequently, this post shall be a summation, much aided by direct quotation, from her book, Prove It: God.
Essentially, Welborn uses logic to convince, or aid in convincing, the reader that there is an objective truth, which we live by, whether we admit it or not.
" 'What's true for you may not be true for me.'
'All opinions are equally valuable and deserve respect.'
'It doesn't matter what god you believe in, as long as you believe in something'
' All religions are equally true. '
Sound familiar? Probably. Sound reasonable? If nothing else, you have to admit, it's a pretty cagey way to end an uncomfortable discussion about what's true: suddenly declaring there's no such thing as truth. But if you take a second to think about the inevitable conclusion of those views: 'Nothing's true, but everything's true, and it's all just opinion anyway'-the whole thing pretty much collapses into absurdity . "
And it does sound truely absurd, thank you Miss. Welborn, for putting the matter into perspective.
Another, though blatant to you and me perhaps point Amy makes- a point that she thinks you might want to call the attention of any adversary of truth you may come upon to,
"Could it just be that some people declare there's no truth, simply because, deep down, they don't want to face - the Truth?"
Strike at the core, Amy says, and establish truth,
"Plato defined truth as 'that which is.' Pointing to a cat and calling it a rock isn't true, because a cat isn't a rock. Saying 'I love you' when you don't is a terrible, hurtful lie.
There are a couple of other words that will come in handy when you try to tease all of this apart. The first is 'objective.' To talk about 'objective reality' or 'objective truth' is to describe things as they are, in and of themselves, without our opinions shading our descriptions, just as an objective evaluation of you would attempt to describe you as you are, without regard to whether the person doing the evaluating liked you or not. The opposite of 'objective' is 'subjective.' A subjective view on a matter incorporates our opinions."
A slew of examples later and Miss Amy arrives at what she terms, the next step.
"Okay, let's go to the next step, beyond that easy level of identifying objects and events.
...
The next time you're in a discussion about truth and values, and Mr. Relativist tries to cop out with the declaration that there's no such thing as truth anyway, try the following arguments.
1. Hey, I really like your car. It's mine now. No? But I thought my opinion was as valuable as yours? I thought there was no such things as truth. If that's so, then your idea that there is such a thing as 'personal property' is nothing more than opinion and has no more value than mine. Keys please.
2. Oh, absolutely. I agree. Anyone who believes that moral values have an objective basis and apply equally to everyone is a subhuman piece of trash who shouldn't be allowed to vote, drive cars, or eat anything but uncooked barley and peach pits. You don't think so? Why not? Because it wouldn't be...right? Because its not...right...to treat human beings that way? But I thought...oh, never mind. "
As brilliant are her remaining examples are, we shalt hither forth to her main point,
"Your goal at this point is the move the discussion just a little further down the road. Not the whole way yet, but just to the point where everyone can agree that the existence of things isn't dependent on our opinion or perceptions. Mosquitoes exist whether we want them to or not. So do the concepts of truth, and right and wrong."
Ahhh...concise, and simplified. Thank you Miss. Welborn.
This particular chapter is helpful as concerns objective truth. Then entire books is also well worth reading.
Hope you enjoyed!
