There are many Incorrect ideas about Truth. Some of the common misconceptions are listed below:

Truth is self-evident.

If truth was self-evident, there would be universally accepted propositions and the search after truth would have ended long ago.

Truth is what we all agree upon.

There is nothing that we all agree upon! (including this statement!)

What is true for me can be false for you.

This person does not have the faintest notion of what Truth means.

All truth is God’s Truth

This is a very pious sounding phrase which is seen again and again in the literature, especially those writings that are trying to reconcile “truths” of science with the Biblical Revelation.

In fact it is the basis of an insidious philosophy which is based on several incorrect and UnBiblical assumptions because the person does not know the correct definition of the word Truth.

Incorrect Assumptions:

1- That there are multiple truths available to mankind which can be known

2- That these truths become evident to any honest seeker

3- That these truths can be known by any thinking person

4- That these truths can be acquired through human efforts

5- That information about creation is of the same significance as True Knowledge of God

6- That True knowledge of God is plainly evident to all

7- That God has revealed True Knowledge of Himself in creation

8- That knowing that a God or Supreme Being exists is the same as Knowing the True God

9- That by studying the creation we can come to know the True nature of the Creator

In other words ...

Revealed Truth is confused with information or facts that most anyone can acquire.

The Correctives to such confusion:

It is imperative to understand that:

a- Eternally True knowledge of God must not be confused with information acquired through our daily experiences;

b- Eternally True knowledge of God  cannot be discovered by any human;

c- Eternally True knowledge of God can only come through the Holy Spirit by grace through faith;

d- Eternally True knowledge of God is revealed knowledge;

e- Eternally True knowledge of God is not available to anyone except the elect;

f- Eternally True knowledge of God does not “reside” in God or “belongs” to God or is separate from Him or is “known” by Him or is “believed” by Him;

g- Eternally True knowledge of God  CANNOT  be known by the natural man;                                       

h- Knowing about God’s unique attributes is Not the same thing as Knowing Truth. Since we usually use the word God in a generic sense, unless we define the word, we ascribe to him attributes that any religious person of any faith usually ascribes to God: That God is faithful, omniscient, omnipotent, etc. are common concepts in all theistic religions, but these ideas are NOT truths;

i- So called General Revelation (as opposed to Special Revelation) is an oxymoron and this phrase should NOT be used by Christians. By definition, Revelation is a ONE WAY flow of knowledge. Information acquired through human efforts is always erroneous and has no resemblance to the Truth.

Truth IS God. Knowing Truth is knowing the only True God.

Truth is what can be proven in the laboratory.

Scientists can never discover truth.

Truth can be easily discovered.

One of the most foolish statements ever recorded.

Truth is what God believes to be True.

Anyone with a basic understanding of the nature of God should know that believing is NOT one of God’s activities. The idea that God believes is repulsive and betrays a lack of understanding of the Nature of Knowledge. Believing is a necessary activity of fallible and ignorant beings.

Believing is what is needed to acquire knowledge. By definition, God does not need to acquire additional knowledge.

Talk of God’s beliefs is of course a danger signal; one who so speaks of God can hardly command serious attention. We may ascribe knowledge to God, but not belief. Belief is a disposition to think and talk and act in various ways; God, who is eternal, can have no dispositions, let alone variable ones.

Peter Geach; Truth & Hope; p77

All we need do is look into ourselves and we will find truth.

There is nothing in us that is true because we are all fallible, changeable, lacking in knowledge, and unable to distinguish the true from the false.

It is indubitably true that I live or exist.

Descartes’ (and Augustine’s) famous dictum “The only secure knowledge is that I exist”, the cogito, which assumes the infallibility of self-consciousness, should have been laughed out of the discussion long ago.  It is without foundation. We can all be the figment of someone’s imagination or the dream of a person who has eaten too much pizza. Furthermore, Descartes never defined what he meant by truth.

Our only assurance that we exist is because we believe in Jesus Christ when He declares that He created us. (John 5:46)

Am I certain that I exist? Yes. Can I prove it? No.
... Our existence cannot be demonstrated... we have no clear and strong consciousness of it that it leaves us no uncertainty; but it is impossible to prove by reasoning.

Rev. James Balmes- Fundamental Philosophy- p105- 1856

  ... what Descartes’ insight establishes is very limited.

First, the cogito is essentially first-personal - my cogito only works for me, yours only for you; it is certainly not beyond the demon’s powers to fool me into thinking that you are thinking (and therefore that you exist).

Second, the cogito is essentially present-tense: it is perfectly compatible with it that I cease to exist when I am not thinking.

Third, the 'I' whose existence is established is extremely attenuated and elusive: I may have none of the biography and other attributes that I believe make me me, and indeed I may still be completely in the clutches of the deceiving demon.

Ben Dupré; 50 Philosophy ideas; 2007; p17 

As Isaac Newton stated, when we discover nature’s laws, we are thinking God’s thoughts after Him. God’s thoughts are always true.

At first sight this sounds very sincere and pious, but on further investigation we see that it is the statement of a person whose arrogance has exceeded his knowledge of God’s nature. To ascribe our thoughts to God is to try to make ourselves equal to God, a terrifying thought.

Verbatim quotes which betray ignorance of the nature of Truth. Their authors shall remain nameless.

- Truth matters because we are the only species we know of that has the ability to find it out.

- An established fact is as sacred as a revealed truth.

- Truth is the perfect correlation of mind and reality.

- Truth for me is what I cannot help believing.

- Truth cannot be found in facts. It can only be derived from removing everything that cannot be true and seeing what is left.

- There is absolute truth, and every person has the internal capacity to figure out just what it is.

- Truth is the judgment and verdict about an issue at stake.

- Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events.

- We must use truth to make truth true.

- Truth is that which the constitution of our nature determines us to believe.

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