How do we know if something is true or not?
Modern science is basically all about a quest for truth. How do things really work? The goal is to strip away any fiction, bias or preconceived ideas until we find the facts. Repeatable, dependable, testable, predictive, trust-able facts. Science looks for truth in how things work and interact with each other and the universe. Ultimately science is a quest to grasp and understand Reality. To find it scientists rely on reason, observation, detail, experiments, proofs and a host of tools to find and build confidence that it has found true reality. For any of it to work, (and it works very well) It must assumes and rely on certain things about the Universe, it’s laws and everything within it. It must rest on the foundation idea that everything is reasonable, logical, understandable and ordered. Reality follows rules or laws that can’t be broken. It is not chaotic or random (until we get to the quantum level anyway)
It might to surprise you that the test for truth in the Bible is no different.
In fact, the whole concept of knowing truth, that it is real and that it is knowable is an idea that is counter to Ancient Near East mindset that was nearly universal (within mans thinking) when the Old Testament was written. The understanding of nearly the entirety of the ANE world was that There were many god, (from a few for important things like war, love, fertility, weather etc. (Polytheism), to a god for just about everything we see, feel and do. Like snakes, cats, dogs, cows, trees, rocks, water, along with the already mentions deities – (pantheism) In many ANE cultures their idea of god was not that much different from the idea of the Force, in the Star Wars movies, where “God” is the force of life that is all around us, in us and everything that makes up the world. It’s impersonal, UN-aware, with no volition or purpose. It just is and is everywhere.
Further, there was no understanding progressing history or options for a better future. No intellectual or theological sense of action/reactions, or logical thinking – You could make up any story and it was as good as truth if it carried a welcome message of truth in it, even if it was built on fantasy or a lie! And there was no recognition that our personal actions resulted directly or indirectly in person consequences. Action and consequences were not tied together in the sense that we take for granted to day (we’ll most of us anyway! ;-). History was viewed as a repeating circular or spiraling journey that had no relations to our actions because the gods were in control of it. If there was a drought, war or I was going through hardship, it was because the gods were angry either at me or another god – not because of anything I had done or not done. In fact, there was nothing I could do to change the situation other than wait for the gods to get happy again (maybe a sacrifice or offering would make them happy?) and then everything would be back to normal. If things were bad, I didn’t need to change my behavior, I just needed to wait for the good times to come around again… they always would.
Lastly, the gods of the ANE world were decidedly human like in that they were filled with, motivated by and often driven by human emotions, lusts, desires, jealously, anger, rage and love (mostly for each other) just like humans were. They were, in essence, made in OUR image.
Nobody Saw It Coming
Out of this unlikely culture, history and ideology, sprang up something that was unique from all the world around it. Monotheism (with many other opposite characteristics of the nature of God), a linear understanding of time and history, a uniting of action with consequences and the The Hebrews.
God is truth, so there is truth. God is knowable so we can know truth. And since God created everything, we can know it and count on it’s truths too. this concept of God and an ordered, structured creation is the DNA that formed the foundation for modern science.
We lost or trust for one, but it’s turning out that we never needed to. We just needed to learn more about both!
So, how do we know if something in the bible, or something I write here is “true?”
I’ve devised a fiendishly simple set of Truth Tests that you can apply to… almost anything!
I’m not a professional theologian, philosopher or scientist. So bear in mind the source, but I think you’ll find these simple tests useful in your study of the bible and else where in your life.
When ever I want to know if something is true, I run it through a list of tests. The more tests it passes, the more confidence I can have that it is in fact, true. Some of these you can only apply to life. Some only to science. Some only to the Bible. But what you’ll find is that when you can apply tests from all three pillars to something and it passes all of them, the likely hood that it is true is very high.
Also, when I say does it “ring true” with I mean does it agree, harmonize with or if there is no apparent connection, does it at least not create dissidence with other things?
There may be things that peacefully coexist, or complement each other, or even contrast each other, but they shouldn’t conflict with each other. Some opposites conflict, it’s either/or, but some opposites might appear to conflict at first, but upon closer inspection will turn out to show two sides of the same coin.
Special Revelation
General Revelation
Progressive Revelation of God in the OT
Science is in a state of near constant change. what was once generally accepted “truth” can be overturned or largely updated weekly! We have come to expect this as and view it as one of the strong points of science, that it is free to move from old understanding to much better understanding as new evidence or interpretation of existing evidence it comes along.
It might surprise you, and it seems to be virtually un-known among religious critics, that biblical interpretation and theology are much the same.
Biblical understanding and interpretation is actually much more of a science, and depends on the many of the same assumptions and tools that science uses to a pretty large degree, when done well.
The study, understanding and interpretation of biblical texts, when done correctly (by correctly I mean so that the results are predictable, repeatable, dependable, reasonable, and in agreement with other sound scientific thinking and methods), and includes at least the following process and “rules”
Sound Biblical Hermanutics (involves Inductive reasoning rather than deductive reasoning which can be prone to bias and subjective opinions driving our interpretation. See Methodical Bible Study by Robert A. Traina)
Historical context (other history accounts, archaeology)
Cultural context
Geographical context
Literary Context, literary structure (climax for example), type of literature writing (historic narrative, logical discourse, dramatic prose, poetic, musical, wisdom, etc.)
Greater theological context of the chapter/book/whole bible.
specific vocabulary choices in context and similar usages elsewhere both biblical and extra biblical.
Many difficult passages that have perplexed and been the focus of debate for centuries are now easily understood with high confidence and seemless consistency with the rest of scriptures teaching on similar topics thanks to discoveries in archaeology and a better understanding of historical context of the writers.
For example, some churches today still teach that women should not be allowed to teach (preach) men. Because of Paul write to to Timothy.
“A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness. But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.” I Tim 2:11-12
But thanks to new discoveries in archaeological evidence in the 1990’s we know know that this passage has been miss translated for centuries. we’ve all gone along with it either by embracing it or ignoring it because we knew at a heart level that something was going on there that we didn’t understand and didn’t fit well with the rest of scriptures teaching on the subject (it didn’t pass two or more of our tests) Then thanks to a book by a married couple of scholarly researchers we now realize what is going on and what Paul is really saying to Timothy. There was never a “problem” with the passage… only a gap in our understanding of what was being said due to missing history and archaeology, and so past generations took a stab at it and missed rather glaringly. I’ll post about this someday because it’s still an issue in churches nearly 30 years later! But if you would like to dig in yourself check out I Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking I Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence by Richard Clark Kroeger & Catherine Clark Kroeger, February 1, 1998
The point is that even today, after nearly 2000 years of study, we are still learning things that can dramatically change our understanding of some passages. To be sure, 95% or more is well and clearly understood, but there are some that are still shrouded by missing history. And some, while not changing dramatically are occasionally refined by new discoveries.
Good translations and interpretations of some biblical passages (most have enough already) come from having a few sources supportive information, whether physical, historical, or inferred from known facts. The larger that pool of information is, the better, and it’s growing all the time still today.
Another example is that up until about 2008, nearly all “respectable” archaeologist, and thus all of modern liberal scholars (those who fundamentally believe that the miracles, many of the people, kings and events in the bible have no basis in reality – They are myth, made up stories. This goes as far as the exodus stories, including Moses, Joseph, Captivity, exile in the wilderness and the conquest of the land God gave them, none really existed or they were minor desert wanderers of no import and that the stores they tell never actually happened. They have even gone so far as to believe that King David either didn’t’ exist, or was never more than a small nomadic tent dweller with a few hundred tribe members.
Why? Because after over 100 years of digging for archaeological evidence, many of the places, people and events recorded in the bible have no evidence in the earth that collaborates many of its grand stories.
But predictably (for me at least), One lone archaeologists, Eilat Mazar, changed all that in 2005 when she discovered the palace of King David. For over 30 years it’s been considered yet another “myth” of the Bible the vast majority of her peers (even all the 20+ Hebrew archaeology scholars at the Tel Aaviv University who gave up looking for it and anything to do with it or David’s Son, Solomon decades ago). They had even gone so far as to move Mazar’s office into a broom closet.
Since then, there have been more discoveries that confirm her finding and other findings in other cities that bare the record of the historicity of David the King
We should expect it to change, improve, clarify and adjust as new evidence from archaeology, linguistics, history, and even theology improve and gain new evidence and insights over time. In fact, this happens all the time in biblical studies too, like weekly!
But the common complaint is that the teachings and “truths” that the Bible contains are out dated, factually incorrect or wholly un-substantiated by any physical evidence. Actually, that’s not even close to reality. It’s just that people who make these statements are 50 years behind the progress of biblical interpretation and archaeological discoveries. They are making a claim that is not viable today. There is a large and ever growing amount of physical evidence to support many many biblical accounts and they in fact do support them.
I would only be reasonable to give biblical scholarship the same grace that we so happily grant science. If you we do, we’ll see that both have come a long, long way and both are constantly on the move.
So, aside from all of the above sources of evidence based reasoning that I’ve mentioned above. When we come to our conclusions about a given passages original intent or meaning, and then try to reasonably apply that to our modern day lives, I find that over and over again, I ask myself this simple test question about my results:
Does it ring true with the rest of the body of scripture in general and in similar topics? I have the assumption that if all scripture is actually inspired by God, then it should all fit together in a cohesive way. That doesn’t mean that one passage can’t have some expanding of meaning that may bring tension in our understanding, but it does mean that when rightly understood, passages won’t fundamentally contradict each other.
Does it ring true with the laws of nature (Science)?
Does it ring true with our everyday experience of life?
Does it ring true in our heart and our reasonable minds?
Does putting it to use produce the claimed results?
If something passes all of these (and more) test, the chances are very good that whatever we have tested… is true! It’s real. It’s trustworthy.
If you are interested in why believers are to be rational and reasonable in their thinking and faith? Guess what… we are commanded to be in the Old and New Testament! Check out this great list of verses:
https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/the-reasonable-evidential-nature-of-christian-faith/
I encourage you, as you read the articles, thoughts and ideas on this site, to put them to the test. see if they ring true, not just in concept, but in actual practice in your life and see if it brings good results.
Psalm 34:8 says, “O taste and see that the Lord is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!”
Lastly, I welcome questions!
1 Peter 3:15
“… always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…”
So ask away!