p. 98 | WHAT IS TRUTH? by C. P. Bollman

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 17, 1888

"WHAT IS TRUTH?"

By C. P. Bollman

THIS question, whether originally asked in good faith or in derision, is of the utmost importance to every one of us; and sooner or later it will force itself upon our individual attention. We may feel that we do not care to consider it now; but let us beware lest we put it off till we have in our hearts no love for the truth, and no disposition to seek after it. The time is not far distant when all such will be given over to "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie." 2 Thess. 2:11, 12.

This question, "What is truth," may be answered very briefly: God's word is truth. The prophet Isaiah exclaims, "O Lord, thou art my God; . . . thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth." The psalmist bears testimony that the law of God is the truth; while in his prayer to the Father, the Saviour says: "Sanctify them through the truth; thy word is truth." The Scriptures warrant us, then, in believing that all that God has spoken, or has inspired men to write, is the truth, whether it be in command or in revelation. There are probably few, comparatively, in so-called Christian lands who deny, in explicit terms, that the words of God are true; but in effect very many do deny this very thing. "The carnal mind is enmity against God;" it is full of unbelief and rebellion. The wise man said, "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions;" and in nothing have men shown themselves more cunning and perverse than in perverting the word of God, and in making it of none effect by their traditions and theories.

The apostle tells us that "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear;" but men discredit the simple, unvarnished Bible account of creation and teach that the worlds were formed of pre-existent matter!

How long the matter had existed, and what first brought it into existence, even the wisest of them find themselves utterly unable to explain; the origin of matter is something of which they are absolutely ignorant. But believers in the word of God can reverently say: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made." "He spake and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast."

Men may try to reason out creation, but they fail. They may attempt to comprehend the Infinite, but they are invariably forced to answer Zophar's question in the negative: "Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection?" It is true that "the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork;" yet now, as anciently, men esteeming themselves wise become fools, and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator. Nature indeed tells us that there is a God; but revelation alone teaches us what he requires at our hands, and how we may approach and serve him acceptably.

"Without faith," we are told, "it is impossible to please" God; so all that come unto him "must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of all them that diligently seek him." But how can we believe this unless we believe the revelation which he has given us of himself in both Old and New Testaments? Thousands profess to believe that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life," who cavil at and doubt some of the very statements of the Old Testament which are indorsed by Christ and his apostles.

Christ said, "Before Abraham was, I am;" he knew, therefore, of the truth or falsity of the Old Testament scriptures; and yet he indorsed the very things which he most doubted to-day.

Take for instance the writings of Moses; no part of the Bible has been more bitterly assailed by infidels, or more weakly defended by Christians, than has his account of the creation, the flood, and the exode; and yet no part of the Scriptures was ever more heartily indorsed by our Saviour. He even made belief in the writings of Moses a test of faith, for he said: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." And again he places the seal of truth upon the Mosaic narrative of the flood when he says: "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be," etc.

Thousands who profess the utmost faith in Christ, and in the New Testament generally, feel that they must apologize for Moses and other Old Testament writers. They stop and hesitate, and blush, and stammer if the days of creation are spoken of, or if Joshua's battle with the Amorites, when the day was lengthened, is mentioned, or if allusion is made to the crossing of the Red Sea; they are ashamed to avow their belief in these things as the Saviour did whom they profess to follow. Multitudes profess to believe in an intelligent, all-wise and all-powerful God, who rules the universe, and yet they quail before the assaults of infidelity, and too often tacitly admit that after all God could not do the things which the Bible tells us that he did do! They have no real faith in God, and yet profess to believe in his Son Jesus Christ! But how can such persons have any real faith in Christ? for "if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Christ did rise from the dead, but we know it only by faith, just as we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God; and if we doubt the account of creation, of the fall, of the flood, and of the exode, how can we believe the record that God has given us of his Son?

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen;" and that which picks and chooses in the word of God, and believes this and rejects that, is not faith. The gift of God for the salvation of man, the incarnation, and death of Christ, are the most wonderful things recorded in all the Bible; and he who believes or professes to believe these things and refuses to believe the facts recorded in the Old Testament is surely governed by caprice rather than by reason. The plan of salvation is so intimately connected with the creation, the garden, the fall, the flood, and the exode that if they are not true, it is not true. We must believe the record that God has given us of these things, or else we can have no real faith in the record that he has given us of his Son Jesus Christ. If we recognize God as the intelligent Creator and Ruler of the universe, we can easily believe all that the Bible tells us of him, but if we regard him as only the embodiment of laws over which he himself has no control, how can we have faith in him as the author of the plan of redemption, the loving Father who gave his Son to die for us? C. P. BOLLMAN.