Is it possible to reach "ground truth" on any issue, void of politics, prejudice, etc?

Question

Or are we too "programmed" by our education, upbringing, local customs, religious beliefs?

Answer 1

The "ground truth" you are looking for is in the beginning of beginnings.

When man was created by God, he was created with no consciousness of good and evil. God also created man with a free choice.

God wanted to be good to man by grace, which means unmerited or undeserved favor. God wanted to bless man apart from what he does. God does not want man to know what is good and evil so that whatever man does, he is not conscious that he is too evil or not good enough for God's goodness.

But God is Holy, being full of justice and righteousness, and cannot be good to man when he does evil or sin, though man does not know it. In fact, His completely just nature demands that He punish man for all sins.

Since He is also Love, He did the most awesome thing as our Creator - He sacrificed His Son Jesus, the Lamb of God, to take all the punishments of all the sins of the world, even before creating the world. That is why the bible says Jesus is the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. This is the GOSPEL (the good news). I believe this is the event recorded in Gen 1:3 as "Let there be light". Jesus is the Light. Notice this happened before anything was created, even before the physical light we know as the sun, moon and stars, which were created on the fourth day. I believe the creation happened outside of time (which is what we know as eternity). I believe time only started when man fell (see below). Rom 16:16 tells us that "the mystery of the gospel was kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest" as Jesus coming physically into this world to take away our sins 2,000 years ago. 1 Pet 1:20 also says Jesus was foreordained to be slain before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times (2,000 years ago) for us to believe.

Back to creation's plan - with the sacrifice of Jesus in place, God is perfectly legal to not regard man's sin, including Adam's, because they have been punished on the Person of Jesus. In fact, man does not even know about Jesus' sacrifice for all his sins which happened before he was created.

That is why many theologians called this period the Dispensation of Innocence. Man does not know law, neither does he know grace.

But when Adam chose to eat from the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, thereby having a conscience of good and evil, man fell, and God cannot continue to be good to man by grace. With the fall, man knows the law (conscience of good and evil). But man has yet to know grace (what Jesus did).

In fact, God used the Ten Commandments (the perfect representation of the knowldge of good and evil) through Moses to show that there is no way man can earn God's approval or goodness by the law. Gal 3:11 says that by the law, no one is justifified (in other words, no one is right before God). By nature, man thinks he can be right with God by his own works, so God gave the Ten Commandments, which no man can ever keep, to force him to give up trying. Gal 3:24 says the law was given to lead us to Jesus (grace).

The only way out is for man to acknowledge that Jesus has done everything to take upon Himself the punishments of all his wrongdoings - and not to relate to or be right with God by doing good and and not doing evil (by the law) but by what Jesus did (by grace).

This is why the bible says in John 1:17, grace came as a Person, Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul preached so strongly in all his epistles, for man not to be under law any more (to know good and evil, and to do good, and not do evil) but under grace (to know that Jesus has taken care of all the punishments of our evil, and even more, He has taken care of all the good God demands from us, by giving us His righteousness).

Today, salvation comes by acknowledging and believing the complete forgiveness for all our sins, past, present and future (remember, His work for us was outside time, even before we were created?), and not live with a conscience of guilt of our sins. That is why Rom 8:1 says the believer must have a "no condemnation" consciousness. And Heb 10:2 says that we should have no more consciousness of sins.

In the New Testament, we are called to repent. In the Greek, repent is the word metanoeo, which means to change our mindset - to change our mindset from law to grace. The Greek word for church is called ekklesia, which means called out ones - that is, we are called out of darkness (law) into light (grace). Recall the creation - darkness in Gen 1:2 and light in Gen 1:3.

There is so much more about this good news, but I tried to answer your question as brief and as best as I can, without being too lengthy or confusing.

I hope the above has blessed you. Feel free to email me if you want to know more.

God truly loves all of us!


Andrew
[e-mail]

Answer 2

I think it is possible, but one would not know it. For example, one could look out a window and see an object, say a bird. Everyone could guess as to the weight of the bird, which at that moment in time, exists. Some might guess the exact weight and others not. There is one answer (i.e. ground truth), but no one would know if they were right or not, simply by looking out the window.

Answer 3

No. We bring all of our history to every investigation. Even when we consciously set aside our most blatant prejudices, there remain those that are so ingrained, we are not actively aware of them.

Humans have "hardwired" in our brains things that are survival mechanisms - fear of snakes or belief in an afterlife, for example - that are as difficult to overcome as any addiction. Our cultural mythologies are universal, even when their expressions differ. Every culture has a flood story, but each tells it differently.

Finally, "ground truth" is defined by the individual seeking it. Your definition of evil or sacred and truth or lie is shaped by the cirucmstances of your life, and you cannot leave them behind.

Answer 4

I would think that it is possible to reach "ground truth," assuming that you mean by that an unbiased view of reality. By definition, truth is that which conforms to reality. Our cultural biases will always color what we see, but reality remains under all our local color.
This assumes the ability to reason.
Isaiah 1:18
"Come now, and let us reason together,"
Says the Lord,
"Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.
So, I would say "yes" to your question.

Answer 5

It's possible with lots of hard work ,dedication,research, and travel.Right now I think no one knows the real truth but the main people that are involved in that situation, we only know what they want us to if could be true or false, and it's up to the people what they want to believe.

Answer 6

We can be objective to a great extent. I understand that our Personal values are difficult to shake off and influence our judgement.

Answer 7

We are all programmed one way or another.