“All men are liars.” (Ps. 116:11, NKJV)
This statement, made by the Psalmist, is a great leveller. The rational minds among us will notice that the statement is a Cretan paradox, because if it is true that all people are liars, and the speaker is a person, then what he is saying is by definition also a lie, and which thus means that all people cannot be liars. It is interesting that this paradox does indeed come from the Word, and specifically from Titus 1:12: “One of them, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’” But because Paul knew that the philosophers of his time were always looking for word games, linguistic puzzles, literary conventions, ambiguous metaphors, etc, he brings this great leveller in the next verse, Tit. 1:13 – “This testimony is true.”
Contemporary philosophers of postmodernism argue from the position that there is no external point of original reference. God, for instance, can not be an external reference point of Truth to which all things can be tested to see if they are true, or false.
The Dutch Reformed theologian, dr Ben du Toit, made the following statement in his controversial book God? Faith in a post modern time, which links to the thoughts of the German theologian Rudolf Bultmann: “Through the demythologising of the New Testament the modern person, who is familiar with science and technology, can no longer be confronted with pages from the Bible in which a worldview of wonders and evil spirits, of a devil, and rising from the dead, is a reality. The possibility that God, through Jesus truly ‘descended’ and became a man, is, just like the idea that he was raised from the dead (which is actually the result of church theology), part of the mythological worldview of that time.” (p 142).
If God is not the regulating reference point of all things, the Origin, there could be no absolutes such as truth/lie. Rom. 11:36 for instance proclaims, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” But even greater than this – Jesus, the one from whom all things have come (John 1:3; Col. 1:16-17), his Name (and thus identity), is “Truth” (John 14:6). Because his identity is that of truth (John 1:14), He cannot lie (Num. 23:19), and thus becomes that which opposes the “father of the lie” (John 8:44).
Postmodernism largely originated from the philosopher Nietzsche’s nihilistic worldview that “God is dead”. Whether postmodernism is merely the thought construct of our time, or whether theologians choose to side with the demonic elements it engenders, still does not render moot the psalmist’s statement – all people are liars.
1 Tim. 4:1-2 speaks of the fact that many “will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons”, that has NOTHING to do with the gospel of truth (Col. 1:15). Strictly speaking they merely affirm “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2), and echoes their lies (Ps. 12:2).
- Selah: Explain the term postmodernism to someone.
- Read: 11-13
- Memorise: 12:8
- For a more in-depth understanding: Read chapter 3 of Norman Grubb’s The deep things of God.