What is truth? Part 2
Following up on the previous post about Truth, I just had this talk today with one of the Commanders’ coaches who is starting the process of becoming Catholic. I asked him how do we know objectively that God exists. What evidence would we give to an atheist? We can’t site the Bible because he or she would say that is “our truth”. So, we look at nature and the universe. We point to a tree and say that no man could make that. We point to the enormity and order of the universe and say that there’s no way that that came from a “big bang” in the sky and everything fell into such order. And, by the way, who made the particles that caused the bang? And, the sky? The overwhelming objective evidence around us is that there is a God.
Then, we tackle the question of who God is. That’s where the Bible comes in. Like a Facebook profile, God reveals Himself and who He is in the Bible. There are many reasons for us to believe that the Bible is truly the Word of God along historical, theological, spiritual, and personal reasons. But, I latch on to the last one in saying that my personal experience of life with God is identical to many in the Bible. So, this shows me that there is a strong objective element of Truth to the Bible.
We then go to the person of Jesus Christ. How do we know the Truth about Him? We can’t say to a non-believer that we believe that Jesus is the Son of God just because the Bible says so; they don’t believe in the Bible. We can say again, that our experience with Christ is what people in the Gospel experienced with Him. So many of us, for example, have had the life-changing encounter of love, affirmation, and freedom that the woman at the well (John 4) experienced with Christ. The biggest question of all related to Jesus as the Christ is the Resurrection. There is ample evidence for the Resurrection – empty tomb, garments, witnesses to the Risen Body of Christ (500), and the martyrdom of the Apostles. All of us who have intentionally followed Christ have experienced His life especially in the Eucharist which shows us that He lives and is risen.
Lastly, we get to His Church. How can we know that the Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ? This takes some studying on our part. It’s amazing how many Protestant and Scripture scholars have done this and become Catholic. What they have found is that the early Church of Christianity matches up exactly in terms of Liturgy, Doctrine, and Tradition with the Catholic Church. The oldest historical event of the Church is Pentecost in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles and led them to speak the Truth about Jesus, and we believe that has continued through the leaders of the Church for 2,000 years.
The Church is one with Christ (He is the bridegroom, the Church is the bride) which means She receives the same treatment He did for speaking Truth. Hers (ours) is a daily, personal crucifixion for defending the Truth about God, the sacraments, the Commandments, marriage, life, gender, virtue, and Truth itself. We in the Church care about Truth and like good parents, are willing to be unpopular to hold the line for it. Where there is truth there is love and where there is love there is truth. So, it’s an act of love to speak and live the truth. The fact that the Church has a long history and tradition with Truth is itself objective evidence that it is the true Church of Christ. And, the fact that Truth has been maintained perfectly in faith and morals through imperfect men for 2,000 years shows that the Catholic Church is led by the Spirit of Truth.
