What is Truth?

I came across a passage in the New Testament recently that, somehow, I had never noticed before. So, naturally, I thought I'd write a post about it. 

When being judged by Pilate, Jesus said, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Then Pilate asks the critical question of the Savior: "What is truth?" (John 18:27-38). 

In talking about this very passage, John Vandenburg said, "Pilate left Jesus standing alone, without granting Him the courtesy of reply. One wonders why. Such action leads one to believe that Pilate feared the truth, perhaps as others might fear it--not being willing to face up to it, not wishing to take upon themselves the discipline and responsibility demanded by truth" ("What Is Truth?", April 1978). 

I have learned by sad experience that Elder Vandenburg is right. There are many who fear the truth. There are many who have no desire to even find out what the truth is. It breaks my heart, because I know this truth is the most important and life-changing thing they could ever know. 

Early in my mission, I remember talking with a man who said, very condescendingly, something along these lines: "Truth is personalized and unique for each individual. I have searched and found my own truth -- what's right for me." He was in no way interested in hearing what we had to say. We walked away, and my mind was turning. On what planet is that the definition of truth? In actuality, "truth is a knowledge of things as they really are, were, and will be. It does not change with conditions or time. Truth is the same in every age and culture" (Preach My Gospel 75).

In computer programming, there are things called Boolean variables, represented by 1s and 0s. With booleans, a condition is either true or false, yes or no, on or off. There's no 0.5 for "sort of true". That's the way truth is. Either something is true, or it's not. Either 2+2=4, or it doesn't (see 1984 by George Orwell). Either gravity exists, or it doesn't (see Christofferson, "Free Forever, to Act for Themselves"). Either Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God, or he wasn't. He couldn't have been just a good man or a prophet. If he wasn't the Son of God, then he was a liar, a blasphemer -- everything the Pharisees said he was. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, or he wasn't. He, too, couldn't have just been a good man. If he wasn't a prophet, if he didn't see what he said he saw, he, too, was a liar and a blasphemer -- everything the mobs said he was. Either the Book of Mormon is true, or it isn't. Truth is absolute. It is in no way personalized, unique, or individual. It is universal. 

I know for myself that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true, and that this is the only true church on the earth. And everyone can find out these truths for themselves, because God is the Source of all truth, and he will not lie. He can not lie. He promises us in the scriptures, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). We have to be willing to "try the experiment of its goodness" (Alma 32). "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God..." (John 7:17). "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, ye may know the truth of all things" (Moroni 10:5).

My invitation is to seek the truth. Pray to find it out. Search it in the scriptures. If you haven't before, meet with your local missionaries, or chat with them online. "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32).