This video came out at an astoundingly coincidental time in my life right now. I've been 100% certain in my faith for the past 8 years from high school to the end of college, and through the past few weeks, I've started to fight doubts that have never, ever come before me until now. I've been questioning my faith. I don't disagree with the Church on any moralistic matter at all, as they've explained their stances and it all makes sense theologically and rationally, but my doubt comes from the idea that I should be taking what is said long ago or by some that I don't even know as "true", whether its if God's existence, if my prayers mean something, if everything really has objective meaning, or if nothing matters. I don't want to lose my faith. At all. Without God, there's nothing to live for, and people tell me doubts are normal, but I want to go back to having confidence again; I want to go back to looking at the icons of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother and not feeling guilty or sad, thinking that "maybe there is no God". Please help me, and pray for my eased mind. I want to go back to normal.
Please watch the warning or illumination of conscience by Christine Watkins. Then The Papacy can NOT be destroyed. Then Following Padre Pio. Then Don’t call protestant’s Christian! God bless. Praise Jesus and Mary always!!!
Brother I have gone thru similar thoughts these last couple of weeks as well...all I can say is if you are able, go to confession, and attend mass...pray the Mary undoer of knots novena...and bring all of your worries to God, dont hide a single fear from him...he loves you and he will set you free...May God Bless you! We are in this together!
If you recently finished college you know that there are tests and there are exams. I think this is a test. I’m guessing something profound happened recently where are you were grateful to God or told people about what happened and gave credit or praise to God or something like that. Somehow you shared and magnified your understanding and presence of God in your life. When that happens, never be surprised that something challenging comes right afterward because the devil likes to lie to you. Go back through your life recent or otherwise and remember what God has done for you in the past, saved you from sickness or give you insight when you need it most as to what to do etc.Tell God you remember his love and you need his help as he has given it before.
Take the long road, be patient. The reason you feel uncertainty is because you are in learning mode (we are all most of our lives). God will reveal all in time, just be patient. Praying for your discernment and patience. 👍
@Jennifer McMinn I'm curios to ask, what are some "lies" he has told his followers? From what I know, and being a catholic, he has been right about many things and stands for the objective truth that human live begins at conception and that abortion is murder, thanks!!
That's right. Just like a crime scene for example, the evidence actually points to a singular set of events. There is only one narrative that is true out of many possible narratives. Facts are true but not 'truths' in of themselves.
Again, this is bang on Father Mike! Beautifully explained, and very easy to understand, well put together! It definitely helped me, as I needed to hear this. And it's also comforting, and now I'm a little bit better equipped. May God continue to bless you, Father Mike!
In my prayers this morning, I was asking for clarity around the subject of “your truth” vs “my truth” vs “the truth”. Then this video popped up in my recommended. Thank you Lord and thank you Fr. Mike for making these videos 😇
I think it is difficult accept objective truth when it conflicts with my beliefs, opinions, feelings, or preferences. I really like Father Mike Schmitz.
Thank you Father Mike. Father how do we understand Jesus's statement about Himself when He said I am the Truth. Is it subjective, objective or moral truth? What is moral truth? Thank you. God bless you
As always you went with wisdom and TRUTH, and your description of what could be done for of subjective truth (opinions etc) is the perfect answer especially for today's society trying to pretend like objective truth and facts don't exist because they don't like it or cuz it's not convinient 🙄🙄🤪👏👏
If you ordered pepperoni pizza because that is your truthful preference, and the delivery guy gave you a vegetarian pizza and refuses to refund you for the order because he believes you shouldn't eat meat, then you'll get what Fr. Mike is talking about.
LOL. Get Papa John's AND Dominos. Objective truth is that you have pizza from two different companies, subjective truth is that you like one more than the other... Pizza always solves confusion in my house 😄😄.
People justify breaking relationships and cancelling friendship based on subjective truth(feelings, opinions, preferences). Then they accuse you of being offensive. This is very painful. Thanks for this talk Fr. Mike!
So true! Especially nowadays between people who vaccinate & people who don't want it. 98% recovery rate from covid. People need to care more about each other & their souls 💗🙏✝️
Thank you father Mike. I get so tired of people saying well that’s your truth. I explain to them that there is my experience or my opinion or my preference, as you illustrated here, but there’s only one truth and it comes from God. They don’t like it.
@Mcon There are no secret truths in the Bible. Zero. Real theology comes from the Bible. Everyone and anyone that has Christ can get all the truths they want from God. It is called being led by the Holy Spirit. Mysticism is not on the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When a church takes advice from so-called mystics over the Bible then that church is wrong and lying to the people. What lies are those, that Mary was immaculately born, that she is a mediator to Jesus, that you eat and drink the real blood and flesh of Jesus. Those are all lies of the Catholic religion. None of them are found in the Bible.
@BEN CALVERT oh no, I don’t mean occult mysticism, I am talking about prolific Catholic figures such as St. Augustine, St. Francis, and Thomas Aquinas, people who discovered real theology. Any deep study of them clearly show God as no-thing that is in the universe…and certainly not a old man in the sky who grants wishes. And when you say my church lies a lot I assumed you were Catholic…given you are watching a Catholic priests video lol so if you are not Catholic I’m sorry, keep your truth then, this truth the priest is taking about is strictly for Catholics, other Christian denominations don’t hold any real value to me so we don’t have anything else to talk about.
@Mcon Leviticus 20:6 “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. Hebrews 13:8-9 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. We do not need mystics to tell us anything about God, Jesus, or what is in the Bible. We have the Holy Spirit to do that. Your mystics do not have or know the Holy Spirit.
@Mcon Your church lies a lot. Jesus alone is Truth. Jesus alone is the only truth that leads to God and Salvation. No other religion can do that. Your mystics are lying to you also. 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
@BEN CALVERT The Church does teach that there is truth to be found in all religions, Only that they have the "Fullness" of truth which is arguable, based on your knowledge of God, even Christian Mystics such as Meister Echhart have seen the fullness of truth, which frankly is not what is taught at the pulpit from any catholic priest, and I don't belive he "Helped" create the Universe like some Co-God. Jesus was God so he created, not co-created.
Father, I have been banging my head for a few years already around this topic... Truth.. universal truth. Is there any blog or forum where this question can be discussed in a rigorous manner?. Please extend the discussion in a future video!
I wish I could have expressed this as clearly as you have. In a “discussion” with my adult daughter, she said it depends on her “prism”. I said that doesn’t make it true. I should have said it is not an objective fact that is true.☺️
This is a really important topic today and vital to proper evangelism. I'm going to use many of these principles in my faith formation classes this fall! Thank you Fr. Mike and Ascension!
@Samuel Blakeney Well if there's good reason to be convinced, then I'll be convinced. The question I'm interested in though is why you're convinced, my opinion doesn't really matter here. That's fine if you don't feel comfortable sharing, I'd just encourage you to really think deeply about whether you have good reason to think those experiences were actually caused by God.
@Tom Andrews well, again. That's faith, isn't it? You didn't experience it so who's to say you'd believe what I have to say. That being said, I am always encouraged to help share my faith. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable sharing my experiences in a CHclip comment section. They have all felt private, but that may be me just being selfish. I have so much to learn and a long way to grow. I feel my story is similar to that of another Samuel in that I am continually being called by God to do something. I'll pray on this and if I feel like I'm meant to share my experiences I will. I'll pray that your faith and mine are strengthened together through this. John 20: 29 "...Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed." .
@Samuel Blakeney Can you describe these first hand manifestations and miracles? I don't disbelieve that you have experienced something, but what is your evidence that it was actually God manifesting, or that the miracles were produced by God?
@Tom Andrews I'm honestly not sure how I'd feel or change if given proof that historical accounts were untrue. However, the personal accounts are my own. I have been blessed with first hand manifestations and small but undeniable miracles that cannot be proven false, because I experienced them. Even with that, I still struggle with faith, as we all do. That's why an increase in faith is part of my daily prayers.
@Samuel Blakeney If it were shown that these historical accounts or personal testimonies were not true or didn't really happen (I'm not say they aren't, I'm just asking hypothetically) would you still maintain your faith that all of Christianity is true?
@BEN CALVERT Well Ben while i might not be real smart, I know where to get the best interpretations Fr mike is one of my favorites and also Fr Barron. But sense God is Truth there can be only one correct interpretation. Your explanation of Noah is not right because Our God is not contradictory and God would not harm not even one of his little innocent children. But your close to understanding the Noah story when you wrote "it was a Small world back there not millions of people"
As a firm believer in objective truth, an understander of subjective preferences, and a hater of the misleading sin of moral relativity, I have a few thoughts to add for conversation sake: 1.) In the human, material sense I do believe things cannot be 2 opposing things at one (non-contradiction), but I do want to throw out the reality that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. Now, I don’t say this to prove non-contradiction is wrong with this reality, but to add to the divine mystery of the nature of God. Being the creator of our ability to even come up with the term “non-contradiction” shows us something...something that can be understood by relinquishing the perfect ability to understand the Trinity. What I’m clarifying is that paradox may seem like contradiction, but don’t confuse it with that. Paradox is in fact true and what I believe to be the gateway to Wisdom. Food for thought. On that note, my next point. 2.) The visible doesn’t totally constitute what is real. I believe Chesterton touches on this when he writes about how the most rational men leave space for the irrational-what he was describing is the virtue of humility which is the gateway of faith. To illustrate the same point, but in a more rational approach, let’s think of what a philosopher would say and how an empiricist would respond. A philosopher would say that the world is 99% invisible, invisible meaning, the space in-between everything-the void, space. A scientist would say “yes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be seen or understood, we just haven’t figured out the means to test it yet.” I’m saying all this because I’ve observed the tendency in American Catholicism, which has sadly become more of a political orientation, to bind to the realities of material objective truth. I would say this is much more of a conservative point of view. Not necessarily wrong, but not necessarily right. On the other hand there are those that prescribe much more to the “invisible” truths as absolutes. Think of the tendency of the left- winged ideologies to glorify emotion over objective, more “material” truths (an example of a fetus not being considered human upon conception because people would rather worship comfort of not having responsibility over the reality that can be proven that a fetus, even in the earliest stage of its existence, is in fact a human being). What I’m getting at is that there is the middle way, the path in-between, where the subjective truth and the objective truths can align, but it takes a soul who seeks wisdom rationale. Wisdom being the attitude “I don’t know so many things because the world is in fact mostly invisible, I am not God, and I am a feeble human,” while rationale is the attitude of “things can be known and I do in-fact know things because I see them right in front of me.” Again, I don’t think the necessarily disprove non-contradiction, but proves paradox to be something to ponder and contemplate. These are my thoughts! Thank you for the video, father.
What a long lead-in up to 8:10 as to what this has to do with religion. It was worth the buildup. Thanks, Father Mike. You have a beautiful heart and a beautiful brain. Oh, and a beautiful Spirit too. 🤗
The truth is what is. Based on that (great) definition, there is neither "one's truth" nor "subjective truth". Those are personal opinions, perceptions, bias and tastes, making "objective truth" nothing more than a pleonasm. But firstly, there is the Truth, Who Is.
I wish the Lord would make a million Father Mike clones and send them to every parish in the world. But wait, that's exactly what he's doing with the Father Mike on our screens 🤔
Fr. Mike you said, "A statement that is true if it is in accord with reality." Since God is the Absolute Reality then, anything consistent with God is the Truth.
Here are some more examples of subjective truth and objective truth: “I think Father Mike is a really cool guy!” Well, this is entirely my opinion, and therefore subjective. You can totally disagree with me. It’s also highly probable that you will agree with me as you may already be a fan of his. Either way, my opinion of Father Mike doesn’t have to be true for you for me to have that opinion. This is the essence of subjectivity. “Father Mike has blue eyes.” This is objectively true. If you didn’t see it watching the video the first time, go look again. Also, whether or not you are even able to see the color of a person’s eyes, it doesn’t affect that person’s eye color at all. A genuinely colorblind person might not know their own eye color, and it doesn’t change their eye color. (There are random, rare, and obscure conditions that can change a person’s eye color. If your eyes ever change color, go find a doctor-you’ll need one.)
Thank you Father for speaking Truth. I pray that all priests and teachers will teach "what is" - objective truth - rather than subjective truth. The Church is becoming more and more divided today by both traditionalists and progressives because of the subjective truth that many teachers preach and the people that follow them. Luther and Calvin were right about some things, but they clung to their own subjective truths to the point of dividing the Church. St. Paul had to battle with "super apostles" who either wanted the church to return to the old religious practices and not embrace the Gospel of Jesus, rejecting the Apostles, or heretics that wanted to go beyond the Gospel of Jesus, claiming to be greater than God. I pray that the faithful will always love the Church and the Magisterium, even though the church has always included both saints and sinners. I hope we will all pray for Pope Francis, all of our Bishops (good and bad), and all our priests; as well as for Luther and Calvin.
When I search CHclip, I find your chanel. I feel very happy because I can learn new words by watching videos. I come from Vietnam which belongs to Southeast Asia and I am a student at Sao Bien Major Seminary. I want to improve my English skills, so Can you help me? God bless you.
I'd love to see a video on how Jesus can be fully human and fully divine - I struggle to tie this concept in with everything else that was just discussed
@Angela Lemos Here is some verses and what the catholic church has to say:Jn 1:14,18,10:33, Mt 11:27, Lk2:52, 1Tim 3:16, Phil 2:5-11, Heb 4:15, CCC456,461,463-477. 480-483
Coincidence...yesterday I wore a shirt my sister gave me years ago, that I haven't worn for years. On the front it says, "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes!".
There are a lot more options than voting, punching, and walking away... Like drinking our favorite coffees in peace and happiness while chatting over how much we each love coffee. Man I love coffee.
Seek the truth of God’s nature to understand Him - His nature of endless love, kindness, patience, selflessness - and truth. As we learn His truths, we are drawn closer to him. Seek the truth. Seek all that is Him. People don’t do this enough. Shun all that is not him such as deception, lies and pride. Be totally truthful with each other. Do not tell partial truths. Do not withhold some truths to someone if you have the opportunity to tell them all truths. If you withhold even some information to somebody that would have helped them, then you have sinned because now they will suffer in some way because of your inaction. In other words; love others then you will want to treat them as you want to be treated yourself. These are God’s laws. To follow them will bring you in good favor of Him.
Question for Fr. Mike: how can a good thing come from a sin? For example, if two people have sex outside of marriage, and the girl gets pregnant, how can we explain how this "good thing" of life and of pregnancy came from this "bad thing" of fornication
Because the child is completely separate from the reason as to how she got here. She is an innocent soul. You also don't know what the person will become and do for the family and others. You don't know how the parents will be affected positively from the relationship etc I'm not Mike but I know the answer
I agree with this video more than any other video that you have made. And more than any other video this video makes the most cogent argument against the existence of god. But first, Schodingler’s Cat would take exception to your argument on the principle of non-contradiction, that a thing can be and not be at the same time, it’s academic to you but life and death to the cat. To your point that god exists or he doesn’t exist based on the principle of non-contradiction. You believe that god exists is an objective truth because you believe, as a Catholic, that god exists. If god exists “all Christians are right”, but if god does not exist all Christians are wrong. So, your “club” swings both ways. Early on in the video you define objective truth as something that “is” independent of “whether I know it, like it or believe it”. This argument to can be phrased differently. An objective truth can be false whether you know it, like it, or believe it. In one of your examples (05:21) someone says it is snowing outside in August. Objectively, it is either snowing or not snowing. Why is, “it’s snowing in August” objectively true? It’s not objectively true because someone told me, it’s objectively true because I can prove it. “Prove it”, the chant that is the bane of all religions. If something exists, you can prove it. If you can’t prove god exists, you can’t say god objectively exists. Therefore, in your own words, god’s existence is a subjective not an objective truth. You believe that god exists because you grew up in a Catholic household. If you had grown up in a Muslim household, you’d be an Imam, in a Buddhist household, a monk, and if you grew up in a Jewish household, you’d be a Rabbi. It’s not about objective truth it’s about subjective perception. The response to “prove it” is almost universally, I have faith that god exists. Using the definition of faith as a “belief that is not based on proof”, belief in god is subjective. I don’t think that the difference between objective and subjective truth is a winning argument for you. All subjective truth is objective to the true believer. The winning argument is whether you like Starbucks or Seattle’s Best. Which ever you like best is objectively true to you. You can argue for your choice’s objectivity. But please, for god’s sake, don’t kill anyone or go to war over it. Also, your definition of mob rule is also called Democracy.
The truth will ultimately lead to the ultimate, that is divine, good, who is God. If God is not good, or if some fools say there is no god, the only good is only wishful thinking and there is no point in searching for truth, because we have almost no power and authority over everything. Either things lead to God or not, and that is either they lead to the truth of and by Jesus Christ or not, that will tell you the truth. Because we have very very limited understanding and knowledge as humans, we have to believe from what is given and taught from the truth Himself, and He is God who is the divine ultimate good.
Jesus is true in a different way. He transcends subject/object distinction. He is the Eternal One. Thank you, God bless🌹 "He is everywhere and nowhere, he is everything and nothing." -St. Gregory Palamas
It depends on what one means by “my truth”, I would say. There is really only “THE truth” and “your opinion”. The phrase “my truth” is confusing, and doesn’t quite make sense when you think about it. People use the phrase “my truth” to talk about their unique beliefs. For example, a young girl may proclaim that her truth is that she is a boy, while THEE truth is that she is, in fact, a girl. So her truth is not truth at all, but rather her belief, which is at odds with the objective truth, aka, reality. So “my truth” and “my opinion” are different in that my truth means the belief I strongly hold, and “my opinion” is my thoughts on a thing that is subject to change. But they are the same in that they’re both not the objective truth, but a subjective thing.
@Ben Thomsen That's dishonest argumentation. Even if the cosmological argument were valid/sound, it would only show that a first cause exists. You don't then get to claim that the Christian God exists because it is the first cause. The hard part is actually showing the supposed first cause is your Christian God. It's like saying that Bob the Bigfoot exists because we proved that hairy animals live in the woods. The conclusion doesn't follow.
@Tom Andrews it does, but im not sure the CHclip comments are the best place to argue that out effectively. For reference check out the Summa Theologicae PI, Q2 A2 if you want a place to start out looking at why as it's meant to be a beginners guide to rational theology. Long story short though is the necessary/first principle of motion/principle of being has to be being and being means what at least Catholics mean by the word 'God'.
I’d push back on objective truth, because certain groups didn’t like being slaves or being segregated back in the day. So they fought for their rights, and now have the same access as other people here in America. So I would say objectively things can change whether you like it or not. It’s not always 100%
You mentioned more power. I could shut you up. I was doing something one day and realized that God has all this power and he doesn't abuse it. Awesomeness! My point is i wish people would leave the power to God and perhaps realize they don't have any real power. Mob rules? It does happen. I believe and I'm glad I am not the only one. My line of thought is political these days. In my own way I see the wrong becoming the right. The darkness becoming the normal. It isn't and I am glad my Master woke me up. Thank you Lord. Oh, I am not a Catholic. I am a believer.. Thanks for a good talk.
There is no such thing as "subjective truth". The truth itself is an objective value. The example given about coffee is not an example of truth, just a matter of opinion.
Objective truth is grounded only in God. Without God there is no objective truth or moral law. ...yet yet we all know when we're subjectively 'wronged'. So, yes this is a proof of an objective truth, which is a proof of God. 'Our hearts are restless unless they rest in thee'
I wonder if he ever accidentally ends the video with “My name’s Father Mike and I can not wait to see you tomorrow” like in the daily podcast and then has to redo the whole thing
Is this in contrast to positive psychology ? I will put forth a hot button topic and would like to discuss, how do we apply the thinking methods by Fr.Mike in this video to this? Alex is having a discussion with Brian about pre-marital sex and morality. Alex could say that sex before marriage is objectively wrong but Brian could say it is good because it feels good, it bonds the couple together and it is a great stress reliever. The latter is right and wrong but wrong in this context because it is not done in the state of married life. A parallel analogy would be killing someone in cold blood VS killing an enemy in war.
This video came out at an astoundingly coincidental time in my life right now.
I've been 100% certain in my faith for the past 8 years from high school to the end of college, and through the past few weeks, I've started to fight doubts that have never, ever come before me until now.
I've been questioning my faith. I don't disagree with the Church on any moralistic matter at all, as they've explained their stances and it all makes sense theologically and rationally, but my doubt comes from the idea that I should be taking what is said long ago or by some that I don't even know as "true", whether its if God's existence, if my prayers mean something, if everything really has objective meaning, or if nothing matters.
I don't want to lose my faith. At all. Without God, there's nothing to live for, and people tell me doubts are normal, but I want to go back to having confidence again; I want to go back to looking at the icons of Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother and not feeling guilty or sad, thinking that "maybe there is no God".
Please help me, and pray for my eased mind. I want to go back to normal.
Please watch the warning or illumination of conscience by Christine Watkins. Then The Papacy can NOT be destroyed. Then Following Padre Pio. Then Don’t call protestant’s Christian! God bless. Praise Jesus and Mary always!!!
Going through the exact same thing. I'll pray for you
Brother I have gone thru similar thoughts these last couple of weeks as well...all I can say is if you are able, go to confession, and attend mass...pray the Mary undoer of knots novena...and bring all of your worries to God, dont hide a single fear from him...he loves you and he will set you free...May God Bless you! We are in this together!
If you recently finished college you know that there are tests and there are exams. I think this is a test. I’m guessing something profound happened recently where are you were grateful to God or told people about what happened and gave credit or praise to God or something like that. Somehow you shared and magnified your understanding and presence of God in your life. When that happens, never be surprised that something challenging comes right afterward because the devil likes to lie to you. Go back through your life recent or otherwise and remember what God has done for you in the past, saved you from sickness or give you insight when you need it most as to what to do etc.Tell God you remember his love and you need his help as he has given it before.
Take the long road, be patient. The reason you feel uncertainty is because you are in learning mode (we are all most of our lives). God will reveal all in time, just be patient. Praying for your discernment and patience. 👍
Jesus bless all those who read this.
@Karen B remember, Jesus hung out with the sinners more than anyone
Jesus bless you❤️
And even the people that downvote it
Thank you, may blessings be upon you as well.
Bless
"Truth cannot be manufactured, it can only be discovered."
@Jennifer McMinn
I'm curios to ask, what are some "lies" he has told his followers? From what I know, and being a catholic, he has been right about many things and stands for the objective truth that human live begins at conception and that abortion is murder, thanks!!
@Jennifer McMinn Let's not make this political lol. We're talking about the faith. Not Trump, or Biden or any of that.
I definitely have to listen to this again but I think it is that Truth is Truth even if no one believes it!!!
That's right. Just like a crime scene for example, the evidence actually points to a singular set of events. There is only one narrative that is true out of many possible narratives.
Facts are true but not 'truths' in of themselves.
Exactly!
God bless you abundantly father🙏
Day one of bible in a year
Hey guys pray for me and I am praying for you❤️🙏🏼✝️
Thank you for doing this video. I talked to girl the other day, and she was arguing that all truth is subjective. I will share this immediately.
Please do
Again, this is bang on Father Mike! Beautifully explained, and very easy to understand, well put together! It definitely helped me, as I needed to hear this. And it's also comforting, and now I'm a little bit better equipped. May God continue to bless you, Father Mike!
This spoke right into my heart. Thank you Fr. Mike.
Love you way of explaining things! Simple yet profound!
I love Fr Mike's enthusiasm and his smile !
Praying for you Fr Mike and all the people at Ascension. You guys are awesome!
Pray for me and also pray for the people in China.
@Yeg0r7 Ikr nothing wrong with people in china. People always have bad stereotype with the communist party....
Why for the people in China?
🙏
I forward your videos to so many people. Even if I know the answer to a question, I know that you'll answer it far more charitably than I will!
In my prayers this morning, I was asking for clarity around the subject of “your truth” vs “my truth” vs “the truth”. Then this video popped up in my recommended. Thank you Lord and thank you Fr. Mike for making these videos 😇
Thank you, Fr. Mike! God bless everyone!
I think it is difficult accept objective truth when it conflicts with my beliefs, opinions, feelings, or preferences.
I really like Father Mike Schmitz.
@Kaye Stover Is that pride that causes that? Sometimes I think feelings, emotions, opinions, and preferences are useless
Truth certainly can hurt.
Thank you Father Mike. Father how do we understand Jesus's statement about Himself when He said I am the Truth. Is it subjective, objective or moral truth? What is moral truth? Thank you. God bless you
As always you went with wisdom and TRUTH, and your description of what could be done for of subjective truth (opinions etc) is the perfect answer especially for today's society trying to pretend like objective truth and facts don't exist because they don't like it or cuz it's not convinient 🙄🙄🤪👏👏
Pray for India, we are still in lockdown 😔
Thank You Father Mike💜✝️💜
True...
God bless all Fr Mike's viewers. I guess you need it. 🙏🏻
I’m really not sure I understand what Fr. Mike is talking about, but I think I’m suppose to order a pizza and re-watch this video.
If you ordered pepperoni pizza because that is your truthful preference, and the delivery guy gave you a vegetarian pizza and refuses to refund you for the order because he believes you shouldn't eat meat, then you'll get what Fr. Mike is talking about.
Lol
LOL. Get Papa John's AND Dominos. Objective truth is that you have pizza from two different companies, subjective truth is that you like one more than the other... Pizza always solves confusion in my house 😄😄.
LOL! 🍕🍕🍕
😂😂😂"wisdom Speaks...!" Father Mike you are so hilarious... yet can convey it to the point..😘!
Very well explained Fr. God bless you for revealing truely what is truth?
Love this explanation.....and Dr.Sri's commentary on Pilate asking the same question! No Greater Love Study ❤
Thank You father Mike. God Bless You!
Truth helps clarify the reality. Thanks Fr. Mike for explaining in detail.
Thanks a lot father!
May God bless you!
Thanks for all the videos father they really help
GOD bless this man.
People justify breaking relationships and cancelling friendship based on subjective truth(feelings, opinions, preferences). Then they accuse you of being offensive. This is very painful. Thanks for this talk Fr. Mike!
So true! Especially nowadays between people who vaccinate & people who don't want it. 98% recovery rate from covid. People need to care more about each other & their souls 💗🙏✝️
Hello Fr. Mike. I've been wondering this for a while if someone had some questions they wanted to ask you what would be the best way to do it?
Thank you father Mike. I get so tired of people saying well that’s your truth. I explain to them that there is my experience or my opinion or my preference, as you illustrated here, but there’s only one truth and it comes from God. They don’t like it.
Brilliant! I think I now understand the subjective/objective thing but I may have to watch again to make sure. God needs everyone.
Great topic and discussion. God Bless.
Love that you talked about philosophy and logic.
I was just making a comment about this to my wife when we were watching the senate confirmation hearings today. Ask and you shall receive!
No such thing as "This is my truth" relating to reality.
@Mcon There are no secret truths in the Bible. Zero. Real theology comes from the Bible. Everyone and anyone that has Christ can get all the truths they want from God. It is called being led by the Holy Spirit. Mysticism is not on the list of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. When a church takes advice from so-called mystics over the Bible then that church is wrong and lying to the people. What lies are those, that Mary was immaculately born, that she is a mediator to Jesus, that you eat and drink the real blood and flesh of Jesus. Those are all lies of the Catholic religion. None of them are found in the Bible.
@BEN CALVERT oh no, I don’t mean occult mysticism, I am talking about prolific Catholic figures such as St. Augustine, St. Francis, and Thomas Aquinas, people who discovered real theology. Any deep study of them clearly show God as no-thing that is in the universe…and certainly not a old man in the sky who grants wishes. And when you say my church lies a lot I assumed you were Catholic…given you are watching a Catholic priests video lol so if you are not Catholic I’m sorry, keep your truth then, this truth the priest is taking about is strictly for Catholics, other Christian denominations don’t hold any real value to me so we don’t have anything else to talk about.
@Mcon Leviticus 20:6
“If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.
Hebrews 13:8-9 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
We do not need mystics to tell us anything about God, Jesus, or what is in the Bible. We have the Holy Spirit to do that. Your mystics do not have or know the Holy Spirit.
@Mcon Your church lies a lot. Jesus alone is Truth. Jesus alone is the only truth that leads to God and Salvation. No other religion can do that. Your mystics are lying to you also.
1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
Deuteronomy 18:10-12 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
@BEN CALVERT The Church does teach that there is truth to be found in all religions, Only that they have the "Fullness" of truth which is arguable, based on your knowledge of God, even Christian Mystics such as Meister Echhart have seen the fullness of truth, which frankly is not what is taught at the pulpit from any catholic priest, and I don't belive he "Helped" create the Universe like some Co-God. Jesus was God so he created, not co-created.
Very nice, thank you ❤
Perfect starting point, thanks father 👍
Great job explaining
Father, I have been banging my head for a few years already around this topic... Truth.. universal truth. Is there any blog or forum where this question can be discussed in a rigorous manner?. Please extend the discussion in a future video!
Thank you for this!!!!
I wish I could have expressed this as clearly as you have. In a “discussion” with my adult daughter, she said it depends on her “prism”. I said that doesn’t make it true. I should have said it is not an objective fact that is true.☺️
This is a really important topic today and vital to proper evangelism. I'm going to use many of these principles in my faith formation classes this fall! Thank you Fr. Mike and Ascension!
@Samuel Blakeney Well if there's good reason to be convinced, then I'll be convinced. The question I'm interested in though is why you're convinced, my opinion doesn't really matter here. That's fine if you don't feel comfortable sharing, I'd just encourage you to really think deeply about whether you have good reason to think those experiences were actually caused by God.
@Tom Andrews well, again. That's faith, isn't it? You didn't experience it so who's to say you'd believe what I have to say. That being said, I am always encouraged to help share my faith. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable sharing my experiences in a CHclip comment section. They have all felt private, but that may be me just being selfish. I have so much to learn and a long way to grow. I feel my story is similar to that of another Samuel in that I am continually being called by God to do something. I'll pray on this and if I feel like I'm meant to share my experiences I will.
I'll pray that your faith and mine are strengthened together through this.
John 20: 29 "...Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed."
.
@Samuel Blakeney Can you describe these first hand manifestations and miracles? I don't disbelieve that you have experienced something, but what is your evidence that it was actually God manifesting, or that the miracles were produced by God?
@Tom Andrews I'm honestly not sure how I'd feel or change if given proof that historical accounts were untrue. However, the personal accounts are my own. I have been blessed with first hand manifestations and small but undeniable miracles that cannot be proven false, because I experienced them. Even with that, I still struggle with faith, as we all do. That's why an increase in faith is part of my daily prayers.
@Samuel Blakeney If it were shown that these historical accounts or personal testimonies were not true or didn't really happen (I'm not say they aren't, I'm just asking hypothetically) would you still maintain your faith that all of Christianity is true?
The Word of God is truth. Nothing else.
@BEN CALVERT Well Ben while i might not be real smart, I know where to get the best interpretations Fr mike is one of my favorites and also Fr Barron. But sense God is Truth there can be only one correct interpretation. Your explanation of Noah is not right because Our God is not contradictory and God would not harm not even one of his little innocent children. But your close to understanding the Noah story when you wrote "it was a Small world back there not millions of people"
@john paul I replied to your statement about Noah.
@john paul There doesn't needs to be a God for 1+1 to equal 2. Truth is truth...
@Gaza Gxrl \x/ no because God is the original author of all truths
@BEN CALVERT Your right i'm not very smart.
As a firm believer in objective truth, an understander of subjective preferences, and a hater of the misleading sin of moral relativity, I have a few thoughts to add for conversation sake:
1.) In the human, material sense I do believe things cannot be 2 opposing things at one (non-contradiction), but I do want to throw out the reality that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. Now, I don’t say this to prove non-contradiction is wrong with this reality, but to add to the divine mystery of the nature of God. Being the creator of our ability to even come up with the term “non-contradiction” shows us something...something that can be understood by relinquishing the perfect ability to understand the Trinity. What I’m clarifying is that paradox may seem like contradiction, but don’t confuse it with that. Paradox is in fact true and what I believe to be the gateway to Wisdom. Food for thought. On that note, my next point.
2.) The visible doesn’t totally constitute what is real. I believe Chesterton touches on this when he writes about how the most rational men leave space for the irrational-what he was describing is the virtue of humility which is the gateway of faith. To illustrate the same point, but in a more rational approach, let’s think of what a philosopher would say and how an empiricist would respond.
A philosopher would say that the world is 99% invisible, invisible meaning, the space in-between everything-the void, space. A scientist would say “yes, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be seen or understood, we just haven’t figured out the means to test it yet.”
I’m saying all this because I’ve observed the tendency in American Catholicism, which has sadly become more of a political orientation, to bind to the realities of material objective truth. I would say this is much more of a conservative point of view. Not necessarily wrong, but not necessarily right.
On the other hand there are those that prescribe much more to the “invisible” truths as absolutes. Think of the tendency of the left- winged ideologies to glorify emotion over objective, more “material” truths (an example of a fetus not being considered human upon conception because people would rather worship comfort of not having responsibility over the reality that can be proven that a fetus, even in the earliest stage of its existence, is in fact a human being).
What I’m getting at is that there is the middle way, the path in-between, where the subjective truth and the objective truths can align, but it takes a soul who seeks wisdom rationale. Wisdom being the attitude “I don’t know so many things because the world is in fact mostly invisible, I am not God, and I am a feeble human,” while rationale is the attitude of “things can be known and I do in-fact know things because I see them right in front of me.” Again, I don’t think the necessarily disprove non-contradiction, but proves paradox to be something to ponder and contemplate.
These are my thoughts! Thank you for the video, father.
What a long lead-in up to 8:10 as to what this has to do with religion. It was worth the buildup. Thanks, Father Mike. You have a beautiful heart and a beautiful brain. Oh, and a beautiful Spirit too. 🤗
The truth is what is. Based on that (great) definition, there is neither "one's truth" nor "subjective truth". Those are personal opinions, perceptions, bias and tastes, making "objective truth" nothing more than a pleonasm. But firstly, there is the Truth, Who Is.
I wish the Lord would make a million Father Mike clones and send them to every parish in the world.
But wait, that's exactly what he's doing with the Father Mike on our screens 🤔
@Tonino Belimussi No, priest is perfect. Not even Mike.
God is above cloning: He can create a billion perfect priests, no need to clone anyone living.
It isn't the same as face to face though. Don't mistake the "hyper real" for the real
🤯
Fr. Mike you said, "A statement that is true if it is in accord with reality." Since God is the Absolute Reality then, anything consistent with God is the Truth.
Here are some more examples of subjective truth and objective truth:
“I think Father Mike is a really cool guy!” Well, this is entirely my opinion, and therefore subjective. You can totally disagree with me. It’s also highly probable that you will agree with me as you may already be a fan of his. Either way, my opinion of Father Mike doesn’t have to be true for you for me to have that opinion. This is the essence of subjectivity.
“Father Mike has blue eyes.” This is objectively true. If you didn’t see it watching the video the first time, go look again. Also, whether or not you are even able to see the color of a person’s eyes, it doesn’t affect that person’s eye color at all. A genuinely colorblind person might not know their own eye color, and it doesn’t change their eye color.
(There are random, rare, and obscure conditions that can change a person’s eye color. If your eyes ever change color, go find a doctor-you’ll need one.)
Favorite Fr. Mike video to date.
Excellent explanation
Good stuff 👏
Thank you Father for speaking Truth. I pray that all priests and teachers will teach "what is" - objective truth - rather than subjective truth. The Church is becoming more and more divided today by both traditionalists and progressives because of the subjective truth that many teachers preach and the people that follow them. Luther and Calvin were right about some things, but they clung to their own subjective truths to the point of dividing the Church. St. Paul had to battle with "super apostles" who either wanted the church to return to the old religious practices and not embrace the Gospel of Jesus, rejecting the Apostles, or heretics that wanted to go beyond the Gospel of Jesus, claiming to be greater than God. I pray that the faithful will always love the Church and the Magisterium, even though the church has always included both saints and sinners. I hope we will all pray for Pope Francis, all of our Bishops (good and bad), and all our priests; as well as for Luther and Calvin.
Thanks Father Mike.
I am an English Instructor at a community college, and students constantly say, "Well, that is not my truth." 🤦🤦🤦🤦
That would be a perfect example of lack of logic in today's society
Yeah, I remember when I was young & stupid too. College kids think that they know everything.
When I search CHclip, I find your chanel. I feel very happy because I can learn new words by watching videos.
I come from Vietnam which belongs to Southeast Asia and I am a student at Sao Bien Major Seminary.
I want to improve my English skills, so Can you help me?
God bless you.
Pray for Father James Altman. One of the true shepherds is under fire from hell's demons.
Father Clay Hunt as well
Amen am already 🌹🌹
I'd love to see a video on how Jesus can be fully human and fully divine - I struggle to tie this concept in with everything else that was just discussed
@Angela Lemos Richard Rohr, also, confirms this.
@Angela Lemos Here is some verses and what the catholic church has to say:Jn 1:14,18,10:33, Mt 11:27, Lk2:52, 1Tim 3:16, Phil 2:5-11, Heb 4:15, CCC456,461,463-477. 480-483
@john paul yes, it's a mystery, we don't know, and that's okay, we don't need to know.
@john paul that makes more sense since you didn't seem to be doubting before thanks for clearing that up
@john paul it's here if this is what you are referring to too 😊
Thankyou Father
So true! There are many relativist young people today who don’t believe absolute truth exists. Jesus is absolutely True!
Coincidence...yesterday I wore a shirt my sister gave me years ago, that I haven't worn for years. On the front it says, "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes!".
John 14:6 , 19:37
Please. Can you put subtitles in the video?
There are a lot more options than voting, punching, and walking away... Like drinking our favorite coffees in peace and happiness while chatting over how much we each love coffee. Man I love coffee.
@Wesley Absolutely.
Hear, hear! Lol life would be much more simple if we all just enjoyed it and each other...
...especially coffee
Seek the truth of God’s nature to understand Him - His nature of endless love, kindness, patience, selflessness - and truth. As we learn His truths, we are drawn closer to him. Seek the truth. Seek all that is Him. People don’t do this enough. Shun all that is not him such as deception, lies and pride. Be totally truthful with each other. Do not tell partial truths. Do not withhold some truths to someone if you have the opportunity to tell them all truths. If you withhold even some information to somebody that would have helped them, then you have sinned because now they will suffer in some way because of your inaction. In other words; love others then you will want to treat them as you want to be treated yourself. These are God’s laws. To follow them will bring you in good favor of Him.
The 8 people who disliked this video better get to confession before they to to church this week. 😉
God is truth
Man can't find truth, he must let the truth find him
God can place within you the desire to seek truth.
@Angela Lemos thx for Sharing
I heard that from the story of saint agustine somewhere
Second part would be incorrect seek and you shall find
Objective truth is factual and subjective truth is opinionated. Sometimes subjective truth is formed based on objective truth, but never vice versa.
Question for Fr. Mike: how can a good thing come from a sin? For example, if two people have sex outside of marriage, and the girl gets pregnant, how can we explain how this "good thing" of life and of pregnancy came from this "bad thing" of fornication
Steve Jobs, Willie Nelson are two modern examples of good things that came from sin. Lots of others to if you do some research on the subject
Because the child is completely separate from the reason as to how she got here. She is an innocent soul. You also don't know what the person will become and do for the family and others. You don't know how the parents will be affected positively from the relationship etc I'm not Mike but I know the answer
THANK YOU for telling people that TRUTH is not adjacent to what people think, know, or like. ♥️♥️♥️♥️
Jesus is Truth..... period...... end of story.
Father Mike driving a little over the speed limit. But just a little ☝🏻
Wow! This was bizarre! 😳 There is Only one Truth...the "Truth" period!
What do you mean by bizarre?
I agree with this video more than any other video that you have made. And more than any other video this video makes the most cogent argument against the existence of god. But first, Schodingler’s Cat would take exception to your argument on the principle of non-contradiction, that a thing can be and not be at the same time, it’s academic to you but life and death to the cat. To your point that god exists or he doesn’t exist based on the principle of non-contradiction.
You believe that god exists is an objective truth because you believe, as a Catholic, that god exists. If god exists “all Christians are right”, but if god does not exist all Christians are wrong. So, your “club” swings both ways. Early on in the video you define objective truth as something that “is” independent of “whether I know it, like it or believe it”. This argument to can be phrased differently. An objective truth can be false whether you know it, like it, or believe it. In one of your examples (05:21) someone says it is snowing outside in August. Objectively, it is either snowing or not snowing. Why is, “it’s snowing in August” objectively true? It’s not objectively true because someone told me, it’s objectively true because I can prove it. “Prove it”, the chant that is the bane of all religions. If something exists, you can prove it. If you can’t prove god exists, you can’t say god objectively exists. Therefore, in your own words, god’s existence is a subjective not an objective truth. You believe that god exists because you grew up in a Catholic household. If you had grown up in a Muslim household, you’d be an Imam, in a Buddhist household, a monk, and if you grew up in a Jewish household, you’d be a Rabbi. It’s not about objective truth it’s about subjective perception. The response to “prove it” is almost universally, I have faith that god exists. Using the definition of faith as a “belief that is not based on proof”, belief in god is subjective.
I don’t think that the difference between objective and subjective truth is a winning argument for you. All subjective truth is objective to the true believer. The winning argument is whether you like Starbucks or Seattle’s Best. Which ever you like best is objectively true to you. You can argue for your choice’s objectivity. But please, for god’s sake, don’t kill anyone or go to war over it. Also, your definition of mob rule is also called Democracy.
The truth will ultimately lead to the ultimate, that is divine, good, who is God. If God is not good, or if some fools say there is no god, the only good is only wishful thinking and there is no point in searching for truth, because we have almost no power and authority over everything. Either things lead to God or not, and that is either they lead to the truth of and by Jesus Christ or not, that will tell you the truth. Because we have very very limited understanding and knowledge as humans, we have to believe from what is given and taught from the truth Himself, and He is God who is the divine ultimate good.
Would you say the following statement is OBJECTIVELY true? Life begins at the moment of conception.
Yes that is objective people can't have an opinion on that ✝️👍
Jesus is true in a different way. He transcends subject/object distinction. He is the Eternal One.
Thank you, God bless🌹
"He is everywhere and nowhere, he is everything and nothing." -St. Gregory Palamas
Is there a difference between "my truth" and "my opinion", or do they mean the exact same thing?
It depends on what one means by “my truth”, I would say. There is really only “THE truth” and “your opinion”. The phrase “my truth” is confusing, and doesn’t quite make sense when you think about it. People use the phrase “my truth” to talk about their unique beliefs. For example, a young girl may proclaim that her truth is that she is a boy, while THEE truth is that she is, in fact, a girl. So her truth is not truth at all, but rather her belief, which is at odds with the objective truth, aka, reality.
So “my truth” and “my opinion” are different in that my truth means the belief I strongly hold, and “my opinion” is my thoughts on a thing that is subject to change. But they are the same in that they’re both not the objective truth, but a subjective thing.
Could you do a video showing that God exists and that the Church is real? I realize its not a scientific proof but there is lots of evidence right?
@Ben Thomsen That's dishonest argumentation. Even if the cosmological argument were valid/sound, it would only show that a first cause exists. You don't then get to claim that the Christian God exists because it is the first cause. The hard part is actually showing the supposed first cause is your Christian God.
It's like saying that Bob the Bigfoot exists because we proved that hairy animals live in the woods. The conclusion doesn't follow.
@Tom Andrews it does, but im not sure the CHclip comments are the best place to argue that out effectively. For reference check out the Summa Theologicae PI, Q2 A2 if you want a place to start out looking at why as it's meant to be a beginners guide to rational theology. Long story short though is the necessary/first principle of motion/principle of being has to be being and being means what at least Catholics mean by the word 'God'.
@Ben Thomsen The cosmological argument does not address God.
@Come As You Are Catholic Channel no i havnt! I will look into that! Thanks!!
Have you read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis? It’s a great start.
I’d push back on objective truth, because certain groups didn’t like being slaves or being segregated back in the day. So they fought for their rights, and now have the same access as other people here in America. So I would say objectively things can change whether you like it or not. It’s not always 100%
“With God all things are possible” Matthew 19:26. What does that leave out? Nothing.
“What is” sounds like a question to me
Hmmm, lemme rewind and play this again! 😅
MATTHEW VERSE 23 13-15
You mentioned more power. I could shut you up. I was doing something one day and realized that God has all this power and he doesn't abuse it. Awesomeness! My point is i wish people would leave the power to God and perhaps realize they don't have any real power. Mob rules? It does happen. I believe and I'm glad I am not the only one. My line of thought is political these days. In my own way I see the wrong becoming the right. The darkness becoming the normal. It isn't and I am glad my Master woke me up. Thank you Lord. Oh, I am not a Catholic. I am a believer.. Thanks for a good talk.
There is no such thing as "subjective truth". The truth itself is an objective value. The example given about coffee is not an example of truth, just a matter of opinion.
Objective truth is grounded only in God.
Without God there is no objective truth or moral law. ...yet yet we all know when we're subjectively 'wronged'. So, yes this is a proof of an objective truth, which is a proof of God.
'Our hearts are restless unless they rest in thee'
Fr. Mike likes driving a little over the speed limit, so does that mean it is morally okay for me to drive over the speed limit.
Yes, in opinion Truth is true!
I wonder if he ever accidentally ends the video with “My name’s Father Mike and I can not wait to see you tomorrow” like in the daily podcast and then has to redo the whole thing
True 😉
Man oh man 😀
Is this in contrast to positive psychology ? I will put forth a hot button topic and would like to discuss, how do we apply the thinking methods by Fr.Mike in this video to this?
Alex is having a discussion with Brian about pre-marital sex and morality. Alex could say that sex before marriage is objectively wrong but Brian could say it is good because it feels good, it bonds the couple together and it is a great stress reliever. The latter is right and wrong but wrong in this context because it is not done in the state of married life. A parallel analogy would be killing someone in cold blood VS killing an enemy in war.
The Truth is Love.
maybe we can differentiate them by using truth and Truth
Truth is God!!!
I know it’s true that you like to drive a little over the speed limit because I’ve heard you talk about being pulled over in other videos!😂😂😂
Whoever disliked this should practice some extensive introspective.
Lol. Maybe it's their truth hun.