Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:07] This is Rick. Welcome back to the Nomad Pastor Podcast.
[00:00:10] I'm glad you're here today. I'm glad you're listening.
[00:00:14] Today we're going to talk about something that I think matters more.
[00:00:22] It probably matters more than a lot of conversations that we talk about.
[00:00:26] And to me, that's truth.
[00:00:32] And when I say truth, I don't mean whether your opinion is right or wrong, whether your opinion is good or bad about the latest thing on social media.
[00:00:43] But I want to talk about kind of a deeper question.
[00:00:47] And that deeper question is, what is truth?
[00:00:51] Is truth something that we can invent ourselves?
[00:00:55] Or is it something that stands apart? Right, True. True for everyone, true for everywhere. True at all times.
[00:01:04] And, you know, excuse me, in today's culture, you've probably heard this countless times, right? I don't know how many times I've heard it where somebody says, well, that's my truth, or live your truth or truth is personal.
[00:01:20] And some of those phrases sound compassionate, right? That's my truth. I get it. People want to be heard.
[00:01:27] People want to matter. They want their opinions to matter.
[00:01:31] But what I really want to do is dig deeper into that, and I want to look at objective truth versus subjective truth. And we're going to talk about why it matters for real life today, not just philosophers, but for your family, for your marriage, for recovery, for your soul. Why does it matter what objective truth versus subjective truth is?
[00:02:01] So I want you to sit down and settle in, because we're going to walk through this, and I think before we start to argue about things, we should define them.
[00:02:16] Before we argue about objective truth or subjective truth, we need to define that.
[00:02:25] So objective truth is a truth that exists independent of what anybody thinks, independent of what you think, or independent of what I think. It doesn't change with the majority. It doesn't change because your mood is different today. It's not negotiable, right? If you think about math, right? Two plus two equals four.
[00:02:48] That can't change.
[00:02:52] Numbers don't care.
[00:02:55] Two plus two will always equal four. That is the objective truth.
[00:03:01] And if we look at it spiritually, Jesus calls himself truth. In John 14:6, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
[00:03:12] Not I am one truth among many.
[00:03:16] Not I am true. For some people, Christ said, I am the truth.
[00:03:25] And that claim points to objective reality, a reality bigger than our frustrations, a reality bigger than things that we want or what our feelings are.
[00:03:39] Subjective truth is personal.
[00:03:43] It's what's true for a specific subject, right? It's Filtered through experience or pain or culture or even preference, saying, my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip. So if I say mint chocolate chip is the best ice cream, that's subjective because to me, it is the best. That's the truth for me. It's a subjective truth.
[00:04:11] It's not the same as saying murder is okay, right? Because one is a personal preference and the other is a claim about the way things should be for everyone.
[00:04:25] And, and where people get into trouble is when they take a subjective truth, what they feel, what they decide for themselves. Like for me, mint chocolate chip ice cream is the best and use it to justify things that have consequences for other people.
[00:04:45] That's where our conversations change. That's where they get real, and that's where they get hard.
[00:04:51] So that's the part I really want to slow down on, because it's not theoretical.
[00:04:58] If you have a false subjective truth, those things can lead to real horrors and they have led to real problems in our history.
[00:05:11] When a person believes their personal or ideological truth is, is the only truth, they act on it and it harms other people.
[00:05:23] And that by itself.
[00:05:26] By itself becomes dangerous.
[00:05:29] And we can look at one of the clearest examples of that in modern history. And that example is Adolf Hitler. Hitler had a belief, a truth to him that Jewish people were dangerous, that Jewish people were subhuman, and that those people should be removed from society.
[00:05:52] He built an entire political, social and military program around that false truth, that subjective truth.
[00:06:04] I do want to be very clear and say this.
[00:06:07] That belief was absolutely false. It was a lie, it was evil, it was from the devil.
[00:06:17] But because it was treated like an objective reality by millions, it led to the Holocaust.
[00:06:24] It led to an organized campaign of mass murder.
[00:06:30] Millions of innocent people were murdered because a lie was elevated into policy.
[00:06:37] That, that forced violence and it was enforced by violence.
[00:06:48] I bring that up because it should be a wake up call. It should be a wake up call that this my truth and your truth and my feelings. That is a lie from the enemy.
[00:07:03] Subjective feelings do not create moral reality.
[00:07:09] They can create action.
[00:07:11] And when that action is separated from an objective moral truth, the result can be catastrophic.
[00:07:24] And I just don't want to be casual about this. I'm not trying to be sensational.
[00:07:31] I'm not trying to say whatever you believe is true for you, but others treat their views as the only truth.
[00:07:42] I'm saying when our culture says whatever you believe is true for you, but others treat their view as the only truth, that's where oppression begins.
[00:07:59] When culture Loses its sense of an objective moral value.
[00:08:05] The things that say murder is wrong, the things that say we protect the vulnerable people, we do not dehumanize our neighbors.
[00:08:16] When we lose those things, when we lose that objective moral value, we create an opportunity to. For these type of atrocities.
[00:08:32] And if you take that on a much smaller scale, you'll see that a subjective truth can wreck marriages, it can wreck families, it can wreck lives.
[00:08:44] If someone says to you, my version of the truth allows me to cheat. My version of the truth allows me to lie. My version of the truth allows me to. To be an addict.
[00:08:59] And then we justify those choices.
[00:09:04] The damage is very real.
[00:09:08] We have addiction and families hurting and broken trust and communities traumatized, all because we said my version of the truth.
[00:09:19] When we take that subjective truth and. And elevate it so we have to ask some questions, right? What are you anchored in?
[00:09:32] What anchors us? What anchors you?
[00:09:35] Because if we're not anchored in something, we. We drift away.
[00:09:39] If a boat's not anchored in the ocean, it drifts away or in the lake or wherever. Wherever that boat is.
[00:09:48] If we drift well, then we get swept away by this powerful voice that claims to speak truth.
[00:09:58] But that powerful voice is actually spreading lies to destroy people. That's his goal.
[00:10:05] And scripture warns us about it. Scripture warns us about this falsehood.
[00:10:11] Isaiah says that human words vanish, but God's word stands.
[00:10:17] Jesus warned about the narrow way and the broad way.
[00:10:21] And for all of us who follow Christ, the call is to measure everything against the standard of God. That is the objective truth, A standard that protects the weak and honors the dignity of every person.
[00:10:38] We remember history, not to point fingers. I bring up the Hitler and the Holocaust not to. Not to point fingers, but to learn how fragile truth can be in the hands of people who are proud and powerful.
[00:10:58] Things like the Holocaust. Is part of our moral responsibility to insist on objective truth that defends life, not subjective myths that justify killing.
[00:11:15] It's a hard thing to think about.
[00:11:17] And nobody wants to have my truth or whatever that is. Nobody wants to have their subjective truth compared to Hitler.
[00:11:28] But that's the way it is.
[00:11:34] And if we step away from that painful example into a quieter culture that confuses truth with preference, we're going to run into a whole bunch of little problems that become a big problem, Right? And in our culture today, we hear those slogans, live your truth. We hear follow your heart. We hear, what's true for you might not be true for me.
[00:12:05] And honestly, it sounds freeing, it sounds nice, but really think about it if two people's truths contradict each other, can both of them be right?
[00:12:21] If my truth says that lying is okay and your truth says lying is wrong, who's right?
[00:12:29] Can both be true at the same time?
[00:12:34] You see, our society today often says yes.
[00:12:39] But the reality of it is no two opposing truths cannot be accurate and right.
[00:12:51] And that's where objective truth becomes so crucial to society.
[00:12:59] And today, one place that confusion shows up the most is in the sex and gender conversation.
[00:13:08] Because today culture says gender is infinitely fluid or self created.
[00:13:15] But the objective biological truth is that humans are created male or female.
[00:13:22] Every cell in our body carries either XX or XY chromosomes.
[00:13:28] That's not a mood, that's not a vote, that's not a trend. That is biology.
[00:13:35] Now look, people can genuinely struggle with identity.
[00:13:41] And those struggles 100% deserve compassion, dignity and patience.
[00:13:49] But let me be clear.
[00:13:51] Compassion doesn't mean denying reality.
[00:13:56] When our feelings try to overrule what's written into our DNA, we're going to set people up for a deeper confusion and pain.
[00:14:06] Jesus himself pointed back to creation.
[00:14:09] He said, have you not read that he who created from the beginning made them male and female?
[00:14:18] God's words tell us in Hebrew 13 Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever.
[00:14:25] That means his truth isn't changing because the culture voted differently or because it's 2025 and not 1925.
[00:14:38] And if you look at the parable that Jesus used in Matthew 7, 24, 27, he says, if you build your house on sand, on shifting, unstable ground, when the storms come, it collapses.
[00:14:50] But if you build it on the rock on him, the unchanging truth, you will stand.
[00:14:58] That's today's culture.
[00:15:01] Most people are building on sand.
[00:15:05] But as believers, we have to build on the rock. We are called to build it on rock.
[00:15:15] So I.
[00:15:18] So I guess one of my questions is why do people push back so hard against objective truth?
[00:15:27] Because it seems like in culture today that's a huge problem.
[00:15:34] And so I think there's several reasons.
[00:15:37] I think the first reason is accountability.
[00:15:41] If truth is objective, then I'm responsible to it.
[00:15:46] If God says something is a sin, I can't just shrug it off and say, well, that's not for me.
[00:15:52] Because objective truth means I answer to something greater than myself.
[00:15:58] I think the second reason is pride.
[00:16:02] And if I'm being honest, I don't like being told I'm wrong. None of us like to be told we're wrong.
[00:16:08] So it's much easier to say, well, that's not my truth, than for me to admit that I need to repent and change.
[00:16:16] So I think pride's a big thing.
[00:16:20] And then I think the third reason is the fear of judgment.
[00:16:23] If there's a standard, one standard, then I might not measure up.
[00:16:30] That's an uncomfortable place to be.
[00:16:34] So I think in today's society, people would rather deny that there's one standard completely and altogether. They are so afraid of being judged that I am just going to deny it. That is not my truth.
[00:16:49] This has been the enemy's strategy since the very beginning.
[00:16:54] In Genesis 3:1, Satan whispers to Eve, did God really say that?
[00:16:59] Did he really say, don't eat from that?
[00:17:02] In that sentence, he planted doubt about God's objective truth.
[00:17:08] And as humanity, that's what we've been wrestling with ever since, since the beginning.
[00:17:19] So we have to ask ourselves, how do we live by an objective truth in a world that is drowning in subjectivity?
[00:17:31] Well, I'll tell you. We have to anchor ourselves daily in God's word.
[00:17:36] His word is the standard. Not feelings, not social media, not what's trending on TikTok or X or whatever social media platform you're on.
[00:17:49] God's word is the standard.
[00:17:52] We have to align to that.
[00:17:55] Then we have to surround ourselves with people who love us enough to. To speak truth into our life, not just what we want to hear.
[00:18:07] Accountability partners, brothers and sisters, sponsors, if you're in recovery, people who will look you in the eye and say, that's not right, and I love you enough to tell you.
[00:18:21] I think in our culture today, we've forgotten that love doesn't mean acceptance. It doesn't mean that I accept and agree with everything you do as parents. Anybody who's been a parent knows that it is loving to tell your children, no.
[00:18:38] You're telling them no because you love them, because you want what's best for them.
[00:18:45] We need to be held accountable. We need to surround ourselves with people who love us enough to speak truth, not just agree with everything that we want to do, because that's my truth or that's not what I think.
[00:19:00] And then we have to also remember the words that Jesus said in John 8:32.
[00:19:07] Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
[00:19:12] He didn't say your truth.
[00:19:14] He didn't say my truth.
[00:19:17] He said the truth.
[00:19:20] Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
[00:19:28] You know, living in this objective truth and God's truth, it's not easy sometimes. It cost us relationships. It cuts across culture but it's real and it's worth it. And it's the only thing that's real that can set you free.
[00:19:51] Living in subjective truth doesn't mean walking around with a hammer and smashing people with it, because truth without grace is brutal.
[00:20:04] But grace without truth means nothing.
[00:20:07] It's meaningless.
[00:20:11] Jesus came full of grace and truth. Not. Not half of each, full of both.
[00:20:23] You know, I can think about a time when someone has confronted me about things in my life and I didn't want to hear it.
[00:20:33] But here's the thing. They didn't come at me with judgment or arrogance.
[00:20:38] They came at me speaking truth with love, and they did it gently, and it changed me.
[00:20:47] That's how truth works best.
[00:20:50] Truth works best when it's wrapped in grace.
[00:20:55] As we live out objective truth, let's be the people who hold truth firm and extend grace humbly and freely.
[00:21:10] So if I'm to sum this up, objective truth is real. It's unchanging. It's anchored in God, and it protects the weak.
[00:21:22] It values human life, and it calls us to live differently.
[00:21:29] Subjective truth is personal and it's variable, and it's great. For what flavor of ice cream is the best? And it's mint chocolate chip, by the way.
[00:21:39] But it's dangerous when it's used to justify harm.
[00:21:45] So if you've been living by your truth, and that's left you empty, I want you to know right now that you're not in trouble with God. You're invited.
[00:21:55] God's truth is. It's not a prison.
[00:21:58] God's truth is a rescue.
[00:22:00] He offers a foundation that holds when the storms come.
[00:22:07] He offers the rock to build your house on.
[00:22:15] I challenge you to think about a place where your subjective choices have impacted your life or impacted the lives of other people.
[00:22:30] I don't want us to live by those lies. I don't want us to hurt people.
[00:22:35] I don't want us to hurt ourselves.
[00:22:43] It's important to recognize the difference, because that difference can set you free and can give you purpose.
[00:22:59] Think about it.
[00:23:02] Really think about what I'm saying the next time you say, well, that's not my truth, or what's true for you isn't true for me, is what you're talking about something that's subjective, or is it objective?
[00:23:21] Because if I say murder is okay and that's my truth, and you say murder is morally wrong and that's your truth, two things that oppose each other can't both be true?
[00:23:40] Listen, this is Rick with the Nomad Pastor podcast. I appreciate you listening.
[00:23:45] I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email at hello at nomadpastor. Org. I'd love for you to subscribe. Hit the like button. Share this podcast with your friends and family and the most important thing I want you to remember is to love God and love people.
