On Truth and Falsity

        In Defense of the Dogmatists continued

When Plato wrote his Republic, he attempted to devise a systematic theory as to how a society should be governed for the benefit of each individual. He thought that his society should be governed by thinkers whom he called "philosopher kings" who would constantly think of new systems they could employ to benefit their fellow citizens. History has shown that some of Plato's political ideas have been beneficial to humanity, whereas others have proven themselves to be useless and have been, or should be, usefully discarded. Plato's idea that humans should practice communism has proven to be detrimental to human well being, and yet, stubborn humans will often cling to useless systems that should be usefully discarded out of sheer pride. Plato also held a theory that perfect Ideas existed, and that all that existed in the world were imperfect copies of those Ideas. If Democritus' atoms could be discovered to be real, then someday Plato's Ideas could also be discovered to be real.

A minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preaches the gospel because he knows that those who hear it will be brought under the conviction of the Holy Spirit that they are lost sinners in need of a Savior who can rescue them from their lost condition. He knows that some of these hearers may repent of their sins and put their faith in Christ to save them from condemnation to the regions of death when they die. He also knows that when sinners repent and believe, then the Holy Spirit will enter into their inner beings and cleanse them of all their sins and evil, and He will recreate them to be much better persons than they were before. In other words, the preacher knows that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ can be of great benefit to humans. Romans 10:17; Romans 10:9-13; II Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 5:22-26.

Even so, a great controversy exists between thinkers as to whether or not God even exists or whether Jesus was ever even on the earth. These are the systems of opinion to which humans apply a search for the truth, just as they searched for Democritus' atoms. God does not desire a proof of His existence. He desires that humans have faith in Him. Hebrews 11:6. Yet, even modern science has discovered a lot of good evidence that God exists. Those who disbelieve in God hold the opinion that the conversion that causes believers to become better humans happens only because of a psychological change of mind. Nevertheless, in either case, the truth exists that humans become better persons through genuine repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As a general and universal rule, three forms of truth and falsity exist. Systems of truth exist because they have been proven to be useful for the benefit of humanity. If these systems are certainly true, then all of the sense objects and thought objects that compose these true systems must also be certainly true and real. Systems of falsity exist, which though always composed of true sense objects and thought objects, have proven to be useless and can be, or ought to be, usefully discarded by humans. Systems of opinion and theories exist which generate controversy among humans as they search for whether or not any truth and reality exists within any of these opinions or theories. The dogmatists search for truth and reality that will benefit humanity. The skeptics have abandoned any hope of ever being able to discover the difference between truth and falsity.