Those who deny that objective truth exists (or those who deny that something may be known about reality) are themselves making a truth claim, namely the claim that there is no such thing as objective truth (or that real knowledge of the world is not possible). This self-inflicted incoherence is a sign of irrationalism, of course, the abandonment of reason, which perhaps is the ulterior motive for such manner of thinking, after all. The person who denies truth does so to escape the demands of truth – to flee from personal responsibility before moral and spiritual Reality. It is a form of “wish-fulfillment” to say that people are not responsible for what they believe and how they live their lives. Hence our culture’s obsessive “busyness,” its craving for ongoing diversion, entertainment, fantasy, escapism, and so on.
Our generation finds evil in “boredom” and finds nothing of lasting interest because it has forsaken the big questions of life and the pursuit of truth. Popular culture encourages apathy, indifference, and seeks to enslave people to thrills (and fears) of the present moment… The ancient pagan world at least esteemed honor and believed in the pursuit of virtue and truth, but today’s post-Christian world is nihilistic, anarchist, and therefore marks a return to barbarism.
What you say about the present state of mankind is true: indeed it is even worse than you say. For they neglect not only the Law of Christ, but even the Law of Nature as known by the Pagans. For now they do not blush at adultery, treachery perjury, theft and other crimes, which I will not say Christian doctors, but the Pagans and Barbarians have themselves denounced. They err who say: “The world is turning pagan again.” Would that it were! The truth is, we are falling into a much worse state. Post-Christian man is not the same as pre-Christian man. He is as far removed as a virgin from a widow … there is a great difference between a spouse-to-come and a spouse sent away. (C.S. Lewis: Latin Letter 23, 1953)
The unintelligible claim that truth does not exist is not unlike the the incoherent claim that there is no God, no Supreme Being, and no Primordial Intelligent Cause for all that exists. For an atheist to seriously claim there is no being in any possible world that fits the description of “God,” he or she would have to be omniscient, omnipotent, and indeed exercise the very attributes of the Being which is denied to anywhere exist…
Hebrew Lesson:
