The Perspective Graphic
I’ve seen this picture floating around facebook. A lot. Allow me to explain what’s happening:
This picture fails its own test. If what this picture says is true, then it only an opinion and not fact – just a mere perspective and not truth (whatever is “not truth” is “false”). And if what the picture says is not true, then it is false.Either way, the picture should be ignored. Hope this clarifies some things (And this is not an opinion or perspective. It is truth).
What confuses us is that society tries to place “opinion” in a realm that is untouched by truth. As if “opinion” is “beyond” or “outside” truth. People often say “I’m entitled to my opinion.” However, opinions are testable. We can test opinions to see how well they correspond to reality. Even when someone says something like “in my opinion, chocolate ice cream is the best.” What they are actually declaring is their personal favorite ice cream or simply, which ice cream they like the best. Because if I were to say this, and my wife were to reply, “you liar! You hate chocolate! You only eat vanilla!” Though I have stated my opinion about chocolate, the evidence proves the contrary, and my opinion is false IN SO FAR AS it relates to my personal preferences.
Some might say, “Well, what ice cream is the best?” The question is ambiguous because it’s a truncated question. Such a question is actually asking perhaps: which ice cream do PEOPLE GENERALLY LIKE the best (which is testable). or which one is MADE the best (according to ice cream procedures, shelf life, nutritional value, and other objective data).
FINALLY: this is important because as Christians, if facts are unknowable and everything in opinion, then Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead. This is only another perspective claim and we are lost in our sins with no hopes of redemption (at best we could claim that FROM OUR PERSPECTIVE we have salvation, but we could never declare it as fact).