So my question to the author of that video would be this:
If you do not know the truth, then how can you know that nobody else does either?
I think that is a major problem with our modern American mindset. We assume that all people are equal. Not created equal, but in the here and now, at this moment, equal. That your idea and my idea are equally valid. That everyone’s idea’s are equally valid. I find this to be madness.
For starters, let me state that I do not believe in thought policing. People, as long as they don’t violate the rights of others, should be able to believe what they want. You want to think the earth is flat? Go for it. That life randomly came together for no reason at all and against the laws of thermodynamics? Sure, why not? That a girl no older than 16 gave birth to a baby without having sex? Hell, I’m already on that bandwagon! My point is, as long as your thoughts and beliefs don’t lead to harming another, I don’t care what you believe. That’s betwixt you and the Lord Almighty.
The problem in our society is that we’ve lost the ability to differentiate between tolerating the beliefs of others and validating them. That I can no longer accept your belief without also accepting it as true, at least in some way (your truth). I can believe that the Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, but only if I also accept that my neighbor believes that there is no God and we’re all just automatons. All opinions are equally valid because we are all equal. And if all opinions are equally valid, then all opinions are equally false.
For instance, I can say that all people must breath in oxygen to survive. No matter what you believe, that is a universal. What I cannot really say, is that JC will return to judge the living and the dead because that would mean that he is going to judge my good neighbor who just happens to be Buddhist. And that would be imposing my beliefs upon my Buddhist friend. So the judging of the living and the dead isn’t really true, as contrasted with the need for oxygen. In is, in real terms, a false statement. Oxygen applies to everyone, JC applies only to those who want him to. Jesus will not really return to judge the living and the dead.
So now that everyone’s belief is equally valid, and therefore equally invalid, we can make the short jump to stating that nobody knows the truth. That all beliefs are, ultimately, false. If they were true, in the same way that need for oxygen is true, then they would be universal. There would be no dissent. And since there is dissent, quite clearly there is no real truth. There is whatever you choose to believe. That’s your truth. That’s your lie. Richard Dawkins, the atheist, can make the argument that because there are multiple religions, that therefore disproves religion (ignoring all the while the various forms atheism takes, which would invalidate his own beliefs if he followed his logic through). The ultimate escape of the multiple equal beliefs allows anyone who wants an escape from an ultimate.
And ultimately, I believe that is a mistake. If there is truth, then it can be discovered. Western civilization was built on this idea, among others. That there is an overarching truth, whatever it may be, would seem to me to be a simple enough conclusion. There is a reality that exists, and there is a statement of truth that most corresponds to that reality. What that reality is may be contested. However, the idea that this truth not only isn’t known, but cannot be known strikes me as madness. It is an appeal to and desire for base ignorance. As long as the truth is unknown, or at least unproven, we should strive to discover it. To throw up our hands in defeat and act as though this is a profound idea just seems silly to me.
After all, we’re all going to die someday. Then the metanarrative will be all that mattered.
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