V - Absolutes

(2 Timothy 2:16)  "But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness."

A statement used frequently as a premise by those who would challenge truth is: “There are no absolutes.”  If you accept this premise, it allows room for doubt about what we believe to be absolute. The ego/vanity of men assumes that their reasoning and intellect can discern the Truth through reason alone. I give you Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. These are men that many today still follow. “There is a way which seemeth right…” May I say that because some of what a man says is true, it does not follow that everything he says is true. The best lie is 99 percent truth!

A truth, though not readily apparent, is still truth. Ungodly philosophers like to cloud truth with reason. Truth upholds reason, but not all reason upholds truth. Faith is not rational. It believes in the “unseen” with nothing more to go on than God’s Word. Men rationalize truth into a lie, because it’s more convenient. Situational ethics is a good example of how men use reason to hide the Truth. If a woman is raped it’s O.K. to murder the baby. One crime is used to justify another.

(Isaiah 5:20)  "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

“Even the one who says, “There are no absolutes” contradicts himself because his statement in and of itself represents an “absolute.”  He is saying, “Absolutely there are no absolutes!”

 - William Holko

(Proverbs 16:25)  "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

The statement, “There are no absolutes” in and of itself denies itself. It masquerades as an absolute, yet logic dictates that the only thing absolute about it is that it is an absolute lie. Who is the “father” of all liars? God’s Word again enlightens us.

(John 8:44)  "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

The opposite statement, “There are absolutes.” is an absolute. An absolute is an absolute even before it is known to exist. An absolute is eternally true. God’s Word is absolute. God spoke it.

(Titus 1:2)  "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;"

Let me give you a simple example: “…and God divided the light from the darkness.” (Gen.1:4b) A small phrase of God’s Word, yet it is absolute! God divided the light from darkness, and I defy you to put them together. The laws of the universe were created by God. How about the Law of Gravity, the laws of thermodynamics? Can any of these be changed? The very nature of flight depends on gravity to hold the air molecules in place. We need gravity to resist it. Tremendous amounts of energy must be expended, yet gravity simply is! We can trust God. We can accept God’s Word absolutely. God said it, and that settles it!

(Psalms 119:89)  "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven."

If you reject God’s Word you have immediately made God your enemy. Sadly, the very thing you reject will be your destruction.

(Revelation 2:16)  "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."

There are no second chances after death. You must believe before you die.

(Hebrews 9:27)  "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:"

Those who think to find a contradiction in God’s Word are vain in their imagination. They are blind men trying to explain light and color. They assume their own intellect equal to the omniscience of the Being who “spoke” the known universe and everything in it into existence from absolute NOTHING! They side with Lucifer, who said,

“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Is. 14:12-15)

God’s Word is so powerful that even if something did or didn’t exist, it would exist or cease to exist if God said so. The mere utterance of the sound of His Voice transforms nothing into substance, and substance into nothing. When He whispers, His child is reassured!  When He speaks, enemies vaporize and worlds collide! When He thunders, existence flees! Yet, foolish men dare to challenge Him! Amazing arrogance!

(Romans 1:25)  "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen."

(Isaiah 5:21-24)  "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! …Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."

 As I said before, “An absolute is an absolute even before it is known to exist. An absolute is eternally true.”

(Romans 12:19b) “…for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Everyone knows what they know because of people or books or experience. Experiences can deceive, as anyone who has ever watched a magician knows. Don’t base your faith in experience, base it in Truth. People lie. A person’s veracity is determined by how reality matches their words. The truth of a book is determined by application, by doing. Who better to explain a book than its author? Who better to guide the “doing?” If we come with a faithful heart, the Holy Spirit is our guide as we study the Word of God. If we do not come to God’s Word in spirit and truth we cannot follow. We must come in truth, and be willing to follow Truth.

(John 4:24)  "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

(John 6:37b) “…and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

(John 16:13)  “… When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth..."

(John 8:32)  "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Knowing Truth frees us from error and death. Those who trust God never pass through death, only its shadow.

(Psalms 23:4)  "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Faith in God frees us from death and its sting! What we do in life will be free of error, if we do it “by the Book.”

(John 8:36)  "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."