We live in a culture that prioritizes “my truth.” People are encouraged to “live your truth” and believe that “what’s true for you isn’t necessarily true for me.” To the society at large, “truth” is a subjective concept. There is no right and wrong answer or belief system. There is no “objective truth.” You can believe whatever you want to believe with virtually no consequences.
Though this idea is certainly in vogue these days, it’s actually rather ridiculous. It is simply not logical to say truth can be whatever you want it to be. Truth is truth. Period. In her aptly named book, Live Your Truth (and Other Lies), author and apologist Alisa Childers wrote,
“Truth is a thought, statement, or opinion that lines up with reality. That’s it…Truth is true for all people in all places and times.”[1]
Perhaps you read those three sentences and balked. Well, that’s just one person’s opinion, one person’s truth. Many people, including some Christians, don’t like to say that a person’s belief system is right or wrong, especially since religious beliefs tend to be very personal. But instead of listening to our feelings or cultural mores, we, as Christians, ought to take our cues on this issue from our supreme source of truth, the Word of our sovereign and omniscient God.
So, what does the Bible have to say about this? Is religious belief personal or objective?
First, it’s important to define the purpose of religion. Every person in the world would probably provide a different answer to this question, but a simple answer is that religion offers a meaning for life and a way to salvation. No matter which religion one follows—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or Buddhism—the follower is expected to believe and/or do certain things to achieve salvation and gain freedom from what is evil.
The Bible, being Christianity’s primary and only religious text, talks about salvation at length. In the book of Acts, it says,
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12, ESV
This name the verse refers to is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Savior of humanity (Acts 4:11). The Bible clearly and objectively states that salvation is found in Christ, not in Muhammad, Buddha, or the Pope. Believing or following these earthly men will not change our fates or save our souls. Only Jesus can reconcile us to God, forgive us of our sins, and free us from the clutches of death.
But is God the only god who can save? Is Jesus the only savior who can restore the broken fellowship between humanity and the divine? According to the Bible, it’s a resounding yes. The first letter to Timothy speaks plainly,
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” 1 Timothy 2:5
There is only one God. One. Not a few. Not a dozen. Not an entire pantheon. Just the one. And the only way we can get to God is through Jesus. Not a prophet who claims to receive dreams and visions from God. Not a priest who claims to speak and forgive sins on God’s behalf. Just Jesus, God incarnate.
But Jesus isn’t the only way, right? Surely, God wouldn’t be so exclusive. After all, the verse says Jesus is one mediator. Isn’t it possible for there to be another mediator, another way to God? Don’t all roads lead to Rome?
Wrong. There are not multiple ways to get into God’s good graces. Jesus Himself affirmed that there is just one way—through Him.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6
Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. No one can come to God except through Him, and in another passage, Jesus declared that those who did not follow Him would remain in God’s wrath (John 3:36). It doesn’t get more objective and exclusive than that.
According to Scripture, religious belief is objective, not personal, because there is only one truth about why things are the way they are today and how they can be fixed. Our world was created by God, and it was good (Genesis 1:31). But the first humans disobeyed their Creator, introducing sin and death and destruction into the world (Genesis 3:17). Our sinful natures separate us from our holy and righteous God, and we’re unable to save ourselves or come to Him on our own (Romans 3:23). We deserve punishment for our crimes against divinity, but God showed grace and mercy to us by sending His own Son, Jesus, to take on our sins and die in our place (Romans 6:23). By placing faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we can be forgiven of our sins and reconciled to our Father (Romans 10:9). And one day, Jesus will come again to rid this earth of sin and death and establish a New Earth that will be eternally perfect and sinless (Revelation 21:1-4).
This is the truth. This is the gospel. And this is why we, as Christians, must stand up for the fact that there is such a thing as objective truth, that there is one right belief system amongst all the false religions of our day. As Alisa Childers said later in her book,
“Defending the gospel requires defending objective truth. There’s no way around it. Christianity is based on truth.”[2]
There is no my truth. There is no your truth. There is only the truth. Unlike other religions, the message of the Christian gospel is objectively true, and we ought to proclaim it whenever we have the opportunity.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” 1 Corinthians 15:3-4
[1] Alisa Childers, Live Your Truth (and Other Lies): Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted, and Self-Obsessed (Carol Stream: Tyndale Momentum, 2022), 25.
[2] Ibid., 30.
