Absolving Pontius Pilate

“... For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18)

Anthropologists and philosophers define postmodernism as denying that absolute objective truth exists, as asserting that truth is subjective and varies as we see things. This is not whether the sun and moon exist. Nor is it Plato defining a table, but it may be his Cave in that how one sees the shadows on the wall depends on where one is sitting in the cave, and when I nap or blink my eyes or sneeze compared to when the man chained next to me blinks his eyes or naps. Or sneezes.

Just so, religiously, how we see, know and experience God, our Truth, may depend on when and where we were born and raised. And our Truth may change. My Anglican Christian Truth will not be the same as my fundamentalist Christian neighbor’s Truth or as my Muslim neighbor’s Truth or my Jewish neighbor’s Truth, or my Hindu or Buddhist friend’s Truth. Or my Yankee friend’s Truth. Or that fool Texan. My septuagenarian Truth isn't even the same as my own college sophomore Truth. Postmodernism would deny that there is an objective truth to be known once I am unchained and released from the Cave, because that cannot happen, at least not in this life. I am and always will be chained.

Contemplating this notion makes me a Doubting Thomas about my other Truths as well. My political views vs yours, and they are not the same. My views on gay marriage, legalizing marijuana, gun control, immigration, capital punishment, racial equality, gill nets and classroom sizes and fast trains in the constitution, it’s for quadruple-double-dog-dee sure that you and I disagree on those issues, and we will never agree. Which of us has the Truth? 

Which of us has Truth? Our Truth depends on so many factors that certitude becomes blind arrogant folly. Our greatest folly is that we hate each other because of our Truths.

Pilate had a point.

TW+