Often when I see some kind of Christian apologetics, there is often a few mentions of absolute truth. What is this absolute truth and what does it have to do with Christianity?
A common tenet of fundamentalist demoninations is biblical inerrancy. The Bible is absolute truth because God wrote it. How do they know that? Because it says so in the Bible.
There is no god, everyone goes to hell.
“Absolute truth” is the reason fundamentalist religion exists.
It promises its adherents that they can know something, and something that positions itself to be of central importance to the major questions of life, with absolute certainty.
There is something within people that wants to know and understand things, with more emotional intensity as the importance of the subject matter increases, and it reaches its logical pinnacle around major questions of life. Therefore the inability to know the answers with absolute certainty while still having to make decisions and life life anyhow is something everyone has to come to terms with somehow.
The fundamentalists gild a book and enshrine and enfable the memory of a seeker’s life and offer folks the notion that with one blind leap of faith they can have absolute certainty and never be troubled about it again.
On the mirror-image opposite end are people who deal with the situation as Adman describes – perhaps in jest in Adman’s case, or perhaps not, but certainly there are those who resolve the situation by deciding that there ain’t no answers or that even if there are you can’t have them, and they are not seeking.
Then there are those who enshrine the process, who say that you can never arrive at certainty but should always seek to know, always wanting to understand better than you do right now, yet always questioning what you think you know as well. Depending on what you consider to be the “major questions of life” you may or may not find yourself nodding and thinking “scientist”. For me, and for others for whom the major questions have to do with ethics and how to live individually and politics and how to live collectively and what is life and identity and mortality all about and so forth, this same way of thinking that some consider “scientific” is considered appropriate to the realms of inquiry usually thought of as “spiritual”. Some of us nevertheless describe ourselves as atheist (not using the word “God” to this process); others “agnostic” and yet others identify as participants in minor peripheral (e.g., Wicca or Druidism) or major established religions (including Christianity). Seldom as “fundamentalist”, though.
No, it was just a joke.
I like the take Douglas Adams had in The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. In short he postulated that if anyone ever figured out the the answer to the Ultimate Question (or rather had the Ultimate Answer and the Ultimate Question at the same time) then the universe would instantly cease to exist and be replaced by something even more bizarrely improbable.
According to Adams the answer is 42. We just need to figure out the question so the answer makes sense ;).
As a serious answer to the OP I think AHunter3 did an excellent job that answers the OP well. I doubt I could improve upon it or elaborate in a substantial way.
Tsk tsk! Ford and Arthur GOT the answer. Why does nobody remember that? I thought we were fighting ignorance around here. The question is [spoiler]What do you get when you multiply six times nine?
[/quote]
2+2=4
Not even GOD can change that.
Hell, I can change that without delusions of diety.
2 + 2 = 11
(in base 3)
**
[/QUOTE]
I remember that but it couldn’t have been correct since the Universe remained and was not replaced with something even stranger.
The absolute truth is that the Absolute Truth will vary from sect to sect and even from person to person, which makes this more of a Great Debates thing.
Correct me if I am wrong, but 6 times 9 is 54…
AHA!
The question and answer of life, universe and everything is in base 13.
6 * 9 = 42 (base 13)
54 in base ten is 4 * 13 + 2
Thats why everyone is afraid of the number 13, it is too cosmic.
The book was goofing around trying to insuate that the universe is far more screwed up than we generally give it credit for such that we think 6*9=54 when in fact the answer is 42.
I went to a book reading festuring Douglas Adams and someone asked him about ‘42’ being The Answer and what meaning it held for him. He said he was aware of all the mathematical and philosophical shenanigans surrounding this number (due to his book). However, for his part he said that while writing the book he needed a number to insert, paused a moment and looked out the window and decided randomly that 42 seemed like a good choice.
If you haven’t read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy then I highly recommend it. Even people who don’t like sci-fi enjoy this book. It’s very funny and in no way meant to be taken seriously.
Sorry for going a bit OT here.