The Complex World of Truth and AI

In a World of AI, Lies, & Confusion, Can We Still Know TRUTH?

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Summary

In an era dominated by rapid technological advancements, the concept of truth has become increasingly complex. Matthew Mittelberg delves into the intricate nature of truth, exploring philosophical questions and the challenges posed by AI-generated content and differing personal beliefs. He challenges the notion of relativism and asserts that universal truths do exist, despite personal perceptions. Mittelberg encourages an exploration of truth, not only as a philosophical pursuit but as a spiritual journey towards understanding God's existence and the nature of our relationship with the divine. With a blend of humor and gravity, he emphasizes that truth is both a tangible and spiritual construct that requires earnest seeking.

Highlights

Truth is not only philosophical but has spiritual dimensions, especially regarding God. 🙌
AI advancements challenge our ability to discern truth, highlighting the need for critical thinking. 🧠
Relativism argues for subjective truth but contradicts the existence of universal truths like moral imperatives. 📏
Despite advanced technology, universal truths can be known and understood through earnest seeking. 🔍
Philosophical and moral truths are often self-evident, transcending cultural and personal biases. 🌐
God wants us to know the truth, encouraging a personal relationship with the divine. 🌈

Key Takeaways

Truth can often be complex and muddled by technology and personal biases. 🤔
Relativism suggests that truth is subjective, but universal truths do exist. 🌍
AI advances complicate our perception of truth, making discernment crucial. 💡
Spiritual truth carries eternal significance, and seeking it is vital. 🙏
Philosophical truths, though sometimes hard to accept, lay foundational understanding. 📚
God's existence and spiritual truths are universal, transcending personal beliefs. ✨

Overview

In a world increasingly governed by artificial intelligence and diverse personal truths, the pursuit of truth becomes a profound journey. Matthew Mittelberg addresses these complexities by defining truth not only as an abstract idea but as a reflection of reality. He challenges the prevalent notion of relativism, which suggests that truth is exclusively personal and subjective, urging us to consider the existence of universal truths.

Mittelberg humorously dissects the ways in which AI technologies have muddied the waters of what is perceived as true, from altered photos to deepfake videos. He stresses the importance of critical thinking and maintaining a keen awareness of our own biases and external influences. As AI continues to evolve, our approach to truth must adapt accordingly.

Beyond the philosophical debate, Mittelberg emphasizes the spiritual implications of truth. He posits that truth is not solely a construct to be debated but a divine force represented through a relationship with God. By understanding truth as an ever-present, living force, Mittelberg advocates for a deeper connection with the spiritual truths that govern our existence.

Chapters

00:00 - 01:30: Introduction to Truth The chapter 'Introduction to Truth' explores the concept and subjective nature of truth. It emphasizes that truth can vary from person to person and is often perceived from individual perspectives. The idea presented is that each individual holds their own version of truth, which they speak and live. The narrative urges facing the truth, maintaining one's personal truth with integrity and honor, and recognizes a divine aspect to truth.
01:30 - 06:30: Complexity of Truth The chapter titled 'Complexity of Truth' explores the nuanced nature of truth. It delves into the idea that truth isn't always absolute and can vary depending on circumstances and perspectives, suggesting that truth can be both relative and universal. The discussion also touches on the subjective interpretation of 'good' and 'bad,' emphasizing that one person's truth may not align with another's truth. The narrative highlights the idea that truth may not be straightforward, using examples and metaphors like the recommendation to try Belgian ale and the repeated assertion 'you can't handle the truth,' to illustrate the complexities and challenges in accepting or confronting the truth.
06:30 - 13:00: Truth and Relativism The chapter titled 'Truth and Relativism' delves into the complex and age-old philosophical inquiry about the nature of truth. It opens with the acknowledgment of widespread confusion surrounding the concept of truth, posing fundamental questions like 'What is truth?' and 'Can we know truth?'. The discussion indicates that these questions are not only ancient, having been explored since the dawn of philosophical thought, but they remain relevant in modern discourse as well. The chapter sets the stage for an exploration of these enduring questions, hinting at a deeper investigation into how truth can be understood and recognized.
13:00 - 21:00: Universal and Personal Truths The chapter titled 'Universal and Personal Truths' delves into the increasing challenges to truth in contemporary culture. As these challenges persist, the need to understand and find clarity in truth becomes imperative. The narrative asks whether it is possible to truly know truth, emphasizing that the nature of truth could be a matter of life and death. The chapter appears to encourage active engagement with the subject, asking readers to take notes as they navigate through the complexities surrounding the concept of truth. The discussion sets the stage for transitioning from confusion to clarity regarding truth, highlighting its critical importance.
21:00 - 30:00: Knowledge of Truth The chapter 'Knowledge of Truth' draws an analogy between the critical difference of jumping out of a plane with a parachute versus a backpack, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between what is genuinely life-saving and what is not. It humorously suggests that without this knowledge, one might hope to enjoy a sandwich during the fall. The chapter then transitions to underline the significance of truth, particularly in the context of spiritual beliefs, suggesting that understanding and recognizing truth is crucial in all facets of life, but especially in spiritual matters.
30:00 - 37:30: Truth in Spiritual Context The chapter titled 'Truth in Spiritual Context' opens with a series of profound questions about the existence of God, the possibility of knowing and having a relationship with Him, His disposition towards humanity, and the existence of an afterlife. These questions are framed as having potentially eternal significance. The speaker indicates an intention to outline and discuss these topics in detail, suggesting a structured approach to exploring what they describe as 'the truth'.
37:30 - 40:00: Conclusion: Seeking Truth The chapter discusses the complexities surrounding the concept of truth, acknowledging that it's a multifaceted issue. Despite the challenges, the chapter argues that truth persists and remains attainable. It uses an interactive segment to engage with the audience on evaluating perspectives related to truth.

In a World of AI, Lies, & Confusion, Can We Still Know TRUTH? Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 What is the truth? Maybe the only truth in this world is right here. It's the only truth I know. It's my church. You better listen to this. This is the truth. And it's about time we all face. I'm not lying to you. This is the truth. So what I told you was true from a certain point of view. You live your truth, baby. Now, Mrs. Stanwell, and you will speak your truth for me. I will maintain my truth and honor firmly. For God, what is the truth? The truth will
00:30 - 01:00 out truth. Whose truth? We vis sometimes truth isn't good enough. Truth is a matter of circumstances. But the truth is you really ought to try that Belgian ale man cuz you can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth. You can't handle the truth. The truth is relative. The truth is universal. So there's no good and bad because the truth is relative. Just because your truth isn't a true truth
01:00 - 01:30 doesn't mean there is no truth, Ruth. All right. Well, clearly there is a lot of confusion about truth. What is truth? Can we know truth? And uh that's what I'm going to be talking about tonight is can we know truth? And this is a it's an ancient question that philosophers have been asking since the beginning of philosophy. What is truth? And can we even know it? But it's also a modern
01:30 - 02:00 question that we are asking more and more as challenges to truth rise in our culture. And we need to get answers to these questions because if there's a truth out there, then we want to know it. So hopefully tonight we can go some from some confusion to clarity on this issue. So I'd encourage you guys to take some notes as we think about this subject. So can we know truth? Uh I think this question is worth asking because truth is a matter of life or death. Right? If you are about to jump
02:00 - 02:30 out of a plane, you need to know if you are wearing a backpack or a parachute. Right? Actually look at look at all these parachutes up there. Look actually there's only one parachute. It's this one right here. All of the rest of those are backpacks, right? And so if you if you pick one of those up as you're jumping out of the plane, you better hope there's a sandwich in it because uh that's the only thing you're going to enjoy on the way down. Okay? So the truth matters and it matters in a situation like that, but it especially matters in issues of spiritual truth. Is
02:30 - 03:00 there a God? If so, can we know him? Can we have a relationship with him? Are we rightly related to him? Is he angry at us? Is there an afterlife? These sorts of questions really matter because they potentially have eternal consequences. The stakes literally could not be higher. So here's a road map of what I want to discuss tonight. Okay. So we've got point number one. The truth is
03:00 - 03:30 complicated. We'll talk about some of the issues, some of the challenges, some of the reasons that truth is complicated. Then we'll talk about why I think the truth is still alive despite those challenges. and then we'll discuss why the truth I believe is accessible. So, we're diving into the deep end tonight. Point number one, the truth is complicated. All right, let's play a quick game here. Uh, and we're going to have you raise your hand for A and then raise your hand for B. Okay, so which of
03:30 - 04:00 these is real? Okay, which is the real photograph of Muhammad Ali? Is it A? Raise your hand. Okay. Is it B? Raise your hand. Okay. Everybody says it's B. It is A. A is the real photo. All right. Pretty pretty wild. All right. Uh, this one right here, Maya Angelou. Uh, which one? Who Who says A is the real photo? Who says B is the real photo? All right. It's B. It's B. Nice. Most of you got
04:00 - 04:30 that one. Uh, Abe Lincoln. All right. A. A. I'll I'll give you a second to look. I'll give you a second to look. All right. A and B. Okay. It's B. B is the real one. Pretty wild. That's a Yeah, that's a wild one. All right. Charlie Chaplain. Um, Charlie Chaplain. They both look fake. Uh, all right. Uh,
04:30 - 05:00 A and B. All right. is A on that one. A is the real one. Yeah. All right. Two more here. Winston Churchill. All right. A. Which one? A. Okay. B. All right. B. B is right. Nicely. Nicely done. Last one here. Eleanor Roosevelt. All right. A. Oh, only a few takers. Okay.
05:00 - 05:30 B is B. Yeah, it was B. Nice. All right. Now, this is this is challenging, guys. You guys you guys did pretty good. Maybe even a little better than I did on this challenge. I think I got about 5050 right and wrong on this one. Um, and this was actually from an article in Bloomberg more than a year ago. So, the the AI has already advanced so much of the last year. Uh, I'm going to update this this uh presentation soon with some videos because now AI video is so good that you cannot tell that it's not real.
05:30 - 06:00 So, um, but it's getting harder and harder to distinguish fact from fiction. The truth is getting more and more complicated. And it gets even more complicated when we realize that people have agendas, right? Politicians, businesses, people want power over you. And they're willing to lie to get you to believe what they want you to believe. So, the truth is hard. They distort. They use halftruths. And on top of all of that, people disagree. They disagree
06:00 - 06:30 with each other. If you if you haven't noticed, the internet seems like maybe it was a bad idea. Like maybe we should have just not done that. Um because everyone just retreated to their own siloed group. And so now if you're, you know, if you're conservative, you're on X. And if you're a liberal, you're on blue sky. And you don't talk to each other. And if you do talk to each other, boy, you're going to be you're going to be yelling and you're not going to be convincing each other. And on top of all of that, absolute proof seems impossible. We're always free to decide what we want to believe about any sort
06:30 - 07:00 of issue. So, some look at this this huge scenario and they kind of conclude, I think truth is dead, right? Truth's dead. We we just we can conclude that there is no truth or if there is a truth out there, we can't know it. Some that say that you can have your truth and I can have my truth and your truth isn't my truth and my truth isn't your truth. This is called relativism. And relativism is a very important term to understand. Truth is relative to the
07:00 - 07:30 person and there's no universal truth that is true for everyone everywhere. Some say that truth just isn't even worth worrying about. We shouldn't really focus on truth. uh we should just focus on what works and what what we can get done uh what we what we can use to get stuff done. Uh Katherine Mer of uh the CEO of the massive news or organization NPR recently said this in a viral TED talk video that perhaps for
07:30 - 08:00 our most tricky disagreements seeking the truth and seeking to convince others of the truth might not be the right place to start. In fact, a reverence for the truth might be a distraction that's getting in the way of finding common ground and getting things done. Now, that is not to say that the truth doesn't exist. Nor is it to say that the truth isn't important. Clearly, the search for the truth has led us to do great things, to learn great things. But I think if I were to really ask you to think about this, one of the things that
08:00 - 08:30 we could all acknowledge is that part of the reason we have such glorious chronicles to the human experience and all forms of culture is because we acknowledge there are many different truths. And so in the spirit of that, I'm certain that the truth exists for you and probably for the person sitting next to you. But this may not be the same truth. This is because the truth of the matter is very often for many people what happens when we merge facts about the world with our beliefs about the world. So we all have different truths. They're based on things like where we come from, how we were raised, and how other people perceive us.
08:30 - 09:00 That's a that was a doozy of statements there. She was getting blasted on uh on social media for a lot of those statements. You see kind of a lot of the ideas of what she's saying here. You know, the truth is kind of a distraction. It distracts from getting things done. Uh you can have your truth, your neighbor might have a different truth. Uh and maybe we shouldn't just focus on the truth at all. And ultimately I think when this thinking is applied to the spiritual realm when the when it comes to the realm about God sometimes people will just say we can't
09:00 - 09:30 know the truth at all. Here's the famous uh YouTuber Rhett McLaclin uh talking about this talk about it and the and then because I don't want to disparage people who have faith you know and it's like there's all it's very difficult to figure out what is going on with the world. It's very difficult to figure out what the nature of this reality is. The thing I have the biggest problem with now is people who say that they know exactly what the nature of God is. What the they know the nature. They know exactly what happens after you die. And
09:30 - 10:00 this is what you need to do to be prepared. At this point, I'm like, nobody knows. Nobody's got it figured out. And and the only thing I have a problem with is if you tell me that you do have it figured out. [Music] Interesting. So, it's not just I don't know. It's not just I'm not sure. It's no one knows. And if you say that, you know, I'm mad at you. That's a that's a whole different level. And so I think there's a famous illustration that sort of represents some of these ideas, this idea of relativism, this idea of kind of a
10:00 - 10:30 post-truth mentality. And it's a famous illustration called the blind men and the elephants. And the story kind of goes like this. There's these blind men that are walking through the jungle and they come up to this object and they all approach it from their own angles. And one of them comes up to the side and says, "Oh, it's it's like a wall. It's like a wall." And and another one comes up from uh from the front and says, "No, it's like a snake. It's like a snake." And another one comes up from an angle and goes like, "Oh, no. It's like a tree. It's like a tree." And uh and what
10:30 - 11:00 what's happening there is they're all right. They're all equally true. They're all just describing things from their own perspective. And so they shouldn't argue with each other. we should just uh not judge what each other believes because they're all equally right. And so in the same way, all religions are all equally true or all equally false. But what's important is just that we all get along and we all see things from our own perspective and my truth isn't your truth and your truth isn't my truth. We should all just hold hands and sing
11:00 - 11:30 kumbaya. I know I know this is a pretty bleak kind of picture of truth that I've painted for us, but I I I want to paint this as fairly as I can just that truth is is going through a hard time right now. There's a lot of challenges to truth. And yet, I have a very modest goal tonight. Okay? I want you to leave tonight completely disagreeing with all of that. Okay? I want you to completely disagree with all of that. And I want you to to know that you can know truth. That truth exists. It's alive. and we
11:30 - 12:00 can know the truth about God. Now, that might might seem hard, uh, but I think we can do it. All right. So, let's go to the truth is alive. Why is the truth alive? Well, what is truth? Let's define truth. Uh, in that CEO of NPR clip, she used the term truth about four different ways without telling anybody. So, what let's let's define what is truth? Truth is an idea that matches reality. Truth
12:00 - 12:30 is an idea that matches reality. So four equals 4 is true, right? It fits. It matches reality. But 2 equals 4 does not fit. It does not match reality. And so I if I have a thought or an idea or a claim, Matthew is on the stage right now that is true. Well, what makes it true? the fact that I am on the stage. I am on the stage, which makes the statement Matthew is on the stage true. If I
12:30 - 13:00 wasn't on the stage, if I said that claim, you know, half an hour from now when Mike's going to be up here, it wouldn't be true anymore. But right now, when I make that claim, it is true because I am here on the stage. The statement, the thought, the idea matches reality. So reality is what makes the idea true. And when you realize how simple this idea is, when you realize how simple this definition is, a lot of the challenges against truth disappear. They they go away. And I I think it's
13:00 - 13:30 really really hard to argue against truth. In fact, I think it's impossible to argue against truth because every argument against truth is selfdefeating because it's trying to say something that is true. Let me let me show you what I mean. If I say there is no truth, is that true? Right? Because if it's true, then there is one truth,
13:30 - 14:00 namely that there is no truth. But that is a selfdefeating idea. It's a self-contradicting statement. All you have to do is apply the the claim to itself and it defeats itself. And any any self-defeating claim is necessarily false. And this basically applies to every single claim that you can make, any any kind of argument that you can make against truth. So you can't know truth. Well, do you know that? Right? It's arrogant to say that you know the truth. Are you arrogant when you say
14:00 - 14:30 that? You shouldn't say that somebody else is wrong. Are you saying that I'm wrong when I say that somebody's wrong? Uh you can't trust someone who claims to know the truth. Should I trust you when you say that? Right? All of these statements, all of these arguments can just be applied to themselves and they refute themselves. It's like saying, "Sorry, I can't apologize." Or, "I can't speak a word of English, right? The the the very
14:30 - 15:00 utterances of those things defeat the claim that they're trying to make. The statement disproves itself. Truth exists. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe in it or not, truth is alive. Our beliefs and our claims are either true or they're false. And this applies to both universal claims as well as personal truth claims. And I think this is another area where there's a lot of confusion and where a lot of the confusion about truth creeps in. So let's talk about this universal claims
15:00 - 15:30 and uh personal claims. So a universal truth claim is a truth claim about the world. It's either true or false independent of my opinions about it. So in other words, it's objective or universal. So for example, uh everybody uh close your eyes for for a moment here. Close your eyes. And I want everybody with your eyes closed to point in the direction of north. Okay? Point in the direction of north. All right. Uh
15:30 - 16:00 almost everybody some people are not participating yet. You've got to participate. This is uh not optional. All right. Everybody open your eyes. Wow. Uh there's a lot of different opinions in here now. I don't know which direction north is. Probably maybe the pastor knows you. You probably do. You know back there. You actually know it's over there. That way. It's that way. See See, here's the thing. Only one of you can be right, right? If you guys are all disagreeing with each other, only one of
16:00 - 16:30 you can be right. In fact, you might all be wrong. Like maybe north is this way and you've you've all just been really mistaken about it, right? Okay, it is that way is what we're saying. That's great. If it's that way, anybody who didn't point that way is wrong and the people that pointed that way are right. That the direction of north is a universal truth claim. So, we can't all be right about this if our answers contradict each other. It's not determined by us. The direction of north is a universal truth
16:30 - 17:00 claim. But a personal truth claim is a truth claim that is dependent on the person. So it's subjective. So for example, uh a favorite flavor of ice cream, right? So for me, my favorite flavor of ice cream is chocolate chip cookie dough with caramel. Okay? I just think that's delicious and amazing. Now, if you say to me, "No, Matthew, your favorite flavor of ice cream is peanut butter." I would say, number one, what is wrong with you? Um you should probably get your taste buds checked out
17:00 - 17:30 by a doctor. Okay. But number two, no, you're you're just wrong. Like that's not my favorite flavor of ice cream. The idea that peanut butter is my favorite flavor of ice cream is false. Your fl favorite flavor might be something else, which would be a truth about you. But even that, it wouldn't be your truth. It's just the truth about you, about the person that is you. And I think this is really important because we've become so
17:30 - 18:00 confused about truth in our world and that the words that we use to communicate these ideas matter. You and I can help to bring clarity to people as we think about these issues. So something can't be true for me but not for you. Something can only be true about me but not about you. Let me say that one more time. Something can't be true for me and not for you. Something can only be true about me and not about you. So, let's play another game here. Okay. Are each of these truth
18:00 - 18:30 claims universal or personal? Okay. So, an electron is smaller than an elephant. Is this universal? Universal. Okay. Is this personal? All right. That's that's universal, right? It's a universal scientific claim. All right. My my name is Matthew Middleberg. Is this universal or personal? You guys can just shout it out. Personal. Okay. Good. Personal. It's very personal. Slavery is morally wrong. Universal. Personal. Is it? Is it? All right. I'm
18:30 - 19:00 going to say it's universal. Okay. Slavery is morally wrong. Is a universal truth claim. Now, so slavery is is is wrong for for any individual person, right? But it's not a personal claim. It's not a claim about a person. It's uh it's not saying this is my preference, right? It's not saying like uh don't like slavery, don't don't have a slave, right? It's not
19:00 - 19:30 saying I personally don't believe slavery is okay, but I wouldn't judge somebody else if they wanted to have slaves or something like that. No. Right. Slavery is wrong. It's wrong for everyone everywhere, regardless of what you believe about it. So, it's a universal truth claim. Jesus lived in the first century AD. Universal or P. Personal? Universal. Universal. Okay. It's a historical claim. Ultimate Frisbee is the best claim sport. It's a universal claim. You're all wrong. No, it's a personal claim. Okay.
19:30 - 20:00 I get it. I get it. Even though you're all wrong. Uh I am sleepy. Personal. Okay. Unless you're all sleepy, in which case, well, even then, it's still personal. Um 2 plus 2 equals 4. Universal. Universal. It's a mathematical claim. Tampa is way larger than the United States. Universal. It's a universal claim. It's a false claim. It's not true. Right? Tampa is not bigger than the United States. It's a part of the United
20:00 - 20:30 States. But it's making a claim about the universe, about the world, about an objective truth claims. Each of these are independent facts that don't become true or false just because we believe or disbelieve in it. If they're true, they're true universally or objectively true. It's true for everyone everywhere that 2 plus 2 equals 4. And if they're false, it's the same thing. This means that relativism, the idea that there is no universal truth is false, right? It's a self-defeating claim and it's false
20:30 - 21:00 because there are universal truths. And even personal subjective claims are either true or false. And this is important because some people often act like objective universal claims are personal subjective tr truth claims especially when it comes to the spiritual realm. Especially when it comes to the spiritual realm. People say you have your religion, I have my religion. Well, actually religions contradict each other and they're trying
21:00 - 21:30 to make objective universal truth claims. Because going back to the elephant for example, why can't there's problems with this, right? What the first problem is they're all wrong when they say that it's like a tree or it's like a a snake. Yes, it has those qualities, but they're wrong if they reduce it to those things. It's actually an elephant. There's one objective truth about the nature of this being. And they're all wrong if they try to say that it's only like a wall or it's only like a snake or it's only like
21:30 - 22:00 a tree. And this is important too. The analogy assumes that it's the relativist, the person looking at this scene, looking at this scenario, they're the only person that can see. And all of these religious people, they're they're the blind ones. They're the ones that are stumbling in the dark trying to figure out what spiritual truth is. Why should we believe that? Why should we believe that that is the case? So, in the same way, if there is a God, then there is a truth about him. He would belong in that universal category. It's
22:00 - 22:30 not about me. It's not about my preferences. God's existence isn't just a fact about me. It's he is he is the foundation of all reality, right? So if he exists, then he's real. So if I believe in God, but he's not real, then my belief doesn't cause God to exist, right? No matter how hard I believe in God, if he doesn't exist, I can't cause an omnipotent being to come into existence. And on the same side, uh, on
22:30 - 23:00 the flip side, I mean, if someone disbelieves in God and he's real, it doesn't matter how much they disbelieve in him, they can't cause him to cease to exist. So the question is, what is reality? And do my beliefs match reality? Are my beliefs true? So the truth is alive. It exists and it seems inescapable. But can we know the
23:00 - 23:30 truth? And I think people get incredibly confused when talking about the concept of knowledge and truth because they often assume that because there's confusion or disagreement, there is therefore no truth. But just because people disagree with each other doesn't mean that somebody can't be right. So like the direction of north, right? There is a real north. It's that way. Even if we all disagree, even if we all started are arguing with each other about which way it is, there still is
23:30 - 24:00 one truth that's out there. And we can know it, right? We can we can all pull out the compass app on our iPhones and we can we can figure out what direction north really is. Truth and knowledge are two different questions. The real question that we need to answer is, can we know the truth that is out there? So I do believe that we have access to the truth. who can know the truth. And I'm not saying, here's what I'm not saying is that it's always easy. Right? That
24:00 - 24:30 that whole first point that I said that truth is complicated. Truth is complicated. It's hard. And as generative AI gets more and more advanced, it's going to become harder and harder. But some things are easier to know than others. Whole categories of knowledge are easier to know than others. It's like you are in a deep fog. For example, I took this back picture uh back when I lived in Oxford, England. And some of the this was some of the deepest fog that I've ever been in my
24:30 - 25:00 life. It was really, really hard to see. You couldn't see more than a few feet in front of you. But in a fog, some things are clear and easier to see than others. So, for example, let's start on the hard side of categories. Okay? So, some truths might not even be possible for us to know in this life at all. So, are there an odd or even number of planets in the universe? Right? How in the world are we ever going to know that, right? There's there's hundreds of trillions of planets in the universe. We're never going to know the answer to that. Um,
25:00 - 25:30 would Al Alexander the Great have liked authentic Japanese ramen? Uh, probably yes, but we can't really know. Okay. Um, did more people laugh when watching Hot Rod than people cried when watching Lord of the Rings? We don't know, right? We don't know. So there is a truth to each of these, right? There there is a fact about reality that matches up with each of these, but unless we can ask God about them, we will never know the answer. Now, some things might be almost
25:30 - 26:00 impossible, right? Government secrets, conspiracies, what is really in Area 51. Maybe you will be the one that just gets out there and you do enough research and you figure it out and you get to be the maybe the only person in the world that knows the answer to those questions. But I doubt it, right? Some of these things are hidden. They're they're very obscure. They're difficult for us to know. Moving further, some things are hard but possible. Right? I think a lot of science fits into this category. Uh
26:00 - 26:30 in his book, Scientism and Secularism, JP Morland gives the example of the model of the electron. We've gone through about three different models of the electron and we're not even positive about our current model of the electron. Right? So, a lot of science is like that. We have a hypothesis. We perform experiments and we might have some confirming evidence. But it's always open to more experimentation and newer theories. And some things can't even be directly observed. But there's a lot that we can
26:30 - 27:00 know through science, right? It's difficult, but we can be pretty confident about a lot of things. Much much easier and clearer to see our truths about philosophy. And some people are surprised when they hear that. But actually, some truths about philosophy are very easy to know. Some of the things that we've talked about today about truth I think are very easy to know. Uh some truths about morality, right? Um for example, kindness is good and murder is bad, right? We can know those things without any kind of uh
27:00 - 27:30 scientific testing, some kind of hypothesis, right? We can know these things in our souls. Slavery is bad. Racism is bad. These sorts of things are self-evident to us. They're very easy for us to know and we can know these things um without these experiments. We don't need a peer-reviewed study and there won't be some study a 100 years from now. Can you imagine a 100 years from now this the scientists come out of their lab and they're like oh guys oh I'm so sorry we found out that slavery is actually good. Like it's actually a morally really good thing to enslave
27:30 - 28:00 other people. Like no, right? That's never going to happen. And even if it did happen, we would go no. You're wrong. Like I don't care what your study says. It's wrong to enslave people. Right? So, we can know moral truths very easily. And then there's the the bedrock like super duper easy category of knowledge that some people would call sort of the foundational building blocks of knowledge. The philosopher Thomas Reed called this common sense. Things like I exist and I'm able to perceive the outside world or I'm in control of
28:00 - 28:30 my own thoughts. These are sort of the things that are so uh clear that if you doubt them uh Reed said that if you if you doubt them you you don't need an argument you need psychological help right so these things are so clear that it's almost impossible to not be able to see them so where does knowledge about God fit on this scale of difficult to easy to see you might think it's pretty hard to know the truth about God and
28:30 - 29:00 after all a lot of people disagree there's so many different religions in the world and we're we're all free to believe whatever we want. But even when it's murky, even when it's hard to see, you know what cuts straight through the fog of our uncertainty is the light. And that's why I believe it's possible to know the truth about God. I think it's well within our knowledge, our ability to know the truth about God. God wants us to know the truth about him, right? He wants us to see. He created us for relationship and he made us to know
29:00 - 29:30 himself. So God has provided many reasons to know and Mike's going to talk about that in the next uh talk here. But ultimately he gives us himself. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Jesus said to the people who believed in him, "You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching and you will know the truth and the truth will
29:30 - 30:00 set you free." I believe that truth isn't only an idea that matches reality. Truth is a person. God doesn't want us to just know the truth intellectually. He wants us to know him personally. And I can point to all the arguments and evidences which point to the objective truth of Christianity. We'll discuss some of those because I think that is a good reason to believe. But also, I know Jesus personally. He's my savior, and you can know him, too. You can be personally acquainted with truth, with
30:00 - 30:30 the God who wants you to know truth. Some people will ask the question, well, then why doesn't everyone know the truth about God? Well, there's a lot of reasons, right? Some people don't want to know the truth about God. Some people were hurt by Christians or the church, and they were pushed away by imperfect people. Some people were trained not to know. And for some people, they'd rather just not know. Pontius Pilate, uh, the Roman pontificate who put Jesus on trial, he said one of the most
30:30 - 31:00 heartbreaking things in the entire Bible. Jesus said to him, "I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All those who love all those who love the truth recognize that what I say is true." And Pilate said, "What is truth?" And then he walked away. He had Jesus, the incarnate truth, in front of him. And he asked the best possible question that he could have asked. What is
31:00 - 31:30 truth? And then he walked away because he didn't want to know. He wanted to continue his life without controversy. And he ultimately capitulated to the demands of the crowd because they threatened his career. Have you ever had somebody shine a flashlight in your eyes? It's pretty annoying, right? You'd rather have them flash it at what you want to see. In the same way, God has made the truth visible, but he's not made it blinding. Bla1 Pascal put it this way. He said, "God is willing to appear openly to
31:30 - 32:00 those who seek him with all their heart and to be hidden from those who flee from him with all their heart. There is enough light for those who only desire to see and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition. Do you want to know the truth? Will you seek the truth with your whole heart? If so, then we can trust the promise that Jesus says, "If you seek me, you will find me. When you seek me with all your hearts, I will be found by you, declares the Lord.
32:00 - 32:30 [Music]