On Truth and Falsity

                                God is Truth

The skeptics admit that humans have appearances, but they suspend all judgment as to whether appearances are real or not real. Nevertheless, they admit that appearances exist as appearances. But then, they propound in their entire philosophy that nothing can exist. And yet, they also assert that it is absurd to say that anything can both exist and non-exist at the same time. pb. OP p.233. Thus, the skeptics judge their own philosophy as being absurd.

The skeptics also seem to believe that when something appears, all that is connected to it that does not immediately appear must non-exist. For example, they contend that if a ten becomes reduced to nine, then the ten no longer exists. pb. OP p.226. When day appears, then night does not appear, and therefore, night does not exist. To the skeptics, only immediate appearances can exist, and only as something which may or may not be real, and everything which does not immediately appear cannot exist. Yet, they also argue that no thing can come into or go out of existence. pb. OP p.227. They also maintain that something cannot be produced by nothing. They seem to argue against themselves that appearances cannot appear. But since the skeptics admit that humans do have appearances, then they must believe that both humans and their appearances had to have come from nothing even though they also contend that this is impossible.  

All of this begs the question: What is the purpose of the skeptics philosophy? The skeptics propounded arguments for the non-existence of God. pb. OP ps.186-190. It is plain from the context of their arguments that they had in mind an omnipotent and omniscient God and not one of their mythical gods. The aim of the entire philosophy of the skeptics was to try to prove that God does not exist. If no thing can be real, then God cannot be real. They knew that if God exists, He would have created a true and good reality including all humans. Genesis 1:31 (KJB). They tacitly admitted that they knew that God had to be good when they argued that if God existed He would not have created evil. They tried to subject the existence of God to man's puny reasoning powers when God happens to be far greater than any such limited reasoning. Romans 11:33 (KJB).

The skeptics knew that if truth existed at all, it would have to be eternal and changeless. Truth could never be something that fleets in and out of existence. The wisest dogmatists were beginning to get a hold on these facts. Plato's Ideals contained a glimpse into the eternal contents of the Mind of God. Aristotle's idea of the first mover contained a glimpse into the eternal power of God.

Truth and reality can only be an infinite and changeless set of Ideas in the Mind of God. Anything less than that cannot be truth. When God created humans, He gave them the ability, and the free will, to use some of those ideas to invent creative systems or false and destructive systems. For these reasons, the Apostle John could use the Stoics' idea called the Logos, which means an infinite power of reasoning that governs the universe, to declare that the infinite contents of the Mind of God had to be the same as the Power of God. John 1:1 (KJB). Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God. In all areas where the feeble minds of humans would be unable to ever discover the exact Truth, God revealed His Truth to humans through His written Word. God prepared Western civilization to be ready to receive the Truth of His Word when He caused certain wise philosophers to begin a search for the Truth. The Stoics came closest with their idea of the Logos. God meant for humans to make a progress in morals as Western civilization spread to the whole world. God also meant for His gospel of salvation by grace to spread to the entire world with the spread of Western civilization. Acts 16:6-11 (KJB).

But alas, the pernicious influence of the skeptics has persisted within Western civilization and has caused the atheistic philosophies of such men as Hume, Nietzche, Darwin, Marx, and Freud. This influence of evil has caused terrible wars and cruelty to spread within Western civilization. True Christianity has always been opposed to war, except in national defense, and deliberate cruelty of any kind. Christianity caused Western civilization to give up slavery. Christianity established the first hospitals. Christianity started education for the common man. Christianity founded America with its rule of law and the freedom of the individual. But modern Western civilization has begun to return to doubt about truth, and now proclaims a new progressivism which is nothing but the old immorality. It is quite ironic that the skeptics, even to this day, remain content to live in the safety of civilized society made possible by the good systems created by the dogmatists whom they so despise.