1.  Conversation: From Truth is subjective to Truth is objective and can be discovered.

I am glad for your friendship and willingness to talk.       As a Christian I want to do all I can to help people find the Truth.

I know and I appreciate that about you.  It is important for everybody to have a philosophy of life they feel good about.  I will talk with you… but I feel you think I need to change.  I think I am a good person.  I think you are a good person and I do not want to change you. I don’t know – maybe we should not talk.  It might hurt our friendship.

I have no interest in trying to find fault with you.  That is not going to happen.  I like you and respect you and I am probably as sensitive as you are.  But in talking, we will learn more about what we think is important and why and see how that compares to Truth.  The Bible Truth is too good a thing to be ignored. 

Stop right there.  I do not need you to interpret the Bible for me.  You do not need me to interpret it for you. I have read the Bible.  I know it works for lots of  people – although most of those Christians on television are so sure of themselves.  I don’t want to be like them and they don’t want to be like me.  And that’s O.K!  Everyone finds what works for them.

But will everyone discover Truth?

Who is to say what is true?  Every person, every culture has their own. 

So you are saying there is probably no Truth with a capital T and if there is, we can never be sure about it.

Exactly!  It is obvious.  Nothing  in the realm of religion is universally true.

Except that statement: “Nothing…is universally true!”   Really, you are open to the possibility that there are Truths and a God from whom they came??

In theory yes, but we will never know.  We live with the truths we have accepted.  Personal truths.

I understand.  Everybody has things that work for them.  Two people on a hot day need refreshment. One person jumps into the pool.  He can swim and his truth is the pool will bring refreshment.  A non swimmer will stay in the shade.   Two ways, two personal truths about cooling off.  But there are greater Truths about floating and breathing in water that apply to everybody and for all time and have nothing to do with preference.   What I am getting at is that there is Knowledge with a capital  K  outside my experience and preference.  

How can you be so sure?

Believe me, I do not have all the answers.  But there are things to be known outside what I have experienced.  Truth does not hinge on whether or not I experience it. You  have heard the riddle:  If a tree falls in the wilderness, does it make sound?               Either the sound is in the falling tree or  it is the vibrations in my inner ear sending the sensation of sound to my brain?

I know.  It could go either way.

Not really!  As long as there is an atmosphere for the sound waves to travel on there is sound, even if I am deaf.    But in space, cymbals make no sound.  No air.    My point:  What you hear is “your hearing… your truth.”   It does not change the actual sound.   So, what I consider true can be no reflection on the real Truth.

Alright, so maybe what I call “true” should not be very important because it is just according to me.  Then what you call “True” should not matter to me either.  This is where we are stuck.  We cannot take it any further.

You have your idea of good.  I have mine.  Big deal!  What is it that prevents us  believing an objective GOOD exists?  Same with love… or  justice.  Why not think our sense of beauty and awe come from something greater outside ourselves?

Why is that necessary?  Just let me enjoy the sunset.

Is a sunset visible light passing though the atmosphere or is it the handiwork of God.  That kind of thing matters to me.

Yes, according to you.  That is my point!

Alright let me try an opposite approach.  Serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy at the time thought they were doing what was right - for them.  Really!  But we say their murder and cannibalism were truly wrong, regardless of their warped explanations.  Agree?

Agreed.  But look, this is getting “deeper” than it needs to be. Is there Truth.  Is there objective GOOD?  My mind is not that complicated, asking all these questions.

So is your mind closed? 

Excuse me??

No offense but if there is a true God, if there is a Knowledge beyond the physical world (as the Greek philosophers – people without Bibles – concluded) your statements about relative thinking has permanently boxed God out.  You say, Because (1) ultimate Truth either cannot be or be known, or (2) because of the Big Bang, or (3) because of existentialism is right, God cannot be known or proven.

Well, you are also closed minded in your own way.         You believe what you believe and no one can talk you out of it.  So we are even.

No.  I am willing to follow the evidence.  Reason and Faith are friends, not enemies.  My faith tells me good news like there is life after death, but I have got reasons for it as well.

                Like what?

I hope we will get into that.   I just want you to know that reason matters just as much as faith.

We all have to make up our own minds.

Every person, every hour, every day and for all time make up their minds!  We all make decisions.   This is not the reason for denying God. 

 

Sometimes I feel like there is no God, but if there is I think I will go to heaven.  Many roads lead to God.

Or none.  Or one.  That is where an investigation comes in. 

You just cannot expect everybody to believe as you do. 

True followers of Jesus never have.  We acknowledge your free will.  We just want to make clear that there is real Truth.  And we CAN know it.  There is a God and we can know Him.  Its much more than a personal subjective experience.  It is making contact with Him and He with you.

I still do not think I will ever believe as you do… or should I.

Believing as I do is not the point.    My point is that you are free to discover Truth and God but that begins by wanting to.  Lots of people do not want to discover Truth or God because they do not think its there to be found.  The philosophy of Skepticism is like cancer.  A good skeptic can always argue against belief and will never change until he/she first wants to.  Then comes the  investigation. Force and manipulation don’t work.

So maybe I will decide Buddha is right, or Mohammed.

I am convinced….

Is this a personal opinion or objective Truth?

I am convinced - personal opinion-  no adult comes to the Truth and stays with it without investigating the reasons to believe.  We will take our chances on the Mohammed comparison. 

Lets just say I am ready to investigate this God thing.  What do I do?

Well, first, you do this because it really matters.  In the Truth that is out there may be (and I would say “is”) information about your purpose in life. 

Accepting that purpose will result in a conversion. 

If that is off the table, the conversation is just academic. 

But its my hope we both get closer to the Truth and then  the changes that  come will all be good.

But what about Hindus in India?

You were born in America – we grew up with the teaching that science will explain everything and people have no objective purpose.   Every culture presents its unique obstacles.

What about miracles?  Why do innocent people die?

I have my questions too.  Don’t let all your “what abouts” prevent you from learning more about God and the reasons given to believe.  We will not answer all questions but there is lots more to know about most everything.  Just remember there are  answers to be found “out there” not “in our minds.”  We do not create Truth. We discover it.  It is waiting to be discovered.

If true, that sounds good.  What do you think someone like me would  have to gain?

Certainly not “no more problems.”  Hopefully the keys to living… more understanding, peace, a sense of purpose… maybe a relationship with God!

You have been fair.  I will see you next week. 

CONTINUE WITH CONVERSATIONS, 2.