A friend asked me that a few days ago after attending a lecture on myth in the Bible. It’s one of those questions that has consumed theologians and philosophers for centuries. Expecting a coherent answer out of me was a case of high expectation and low probability of success.
Still, if I can, I want to describe a fact without using the word true. To start, let’s limit facts to the ordinary experiences of daily life—steering clear of subatomic physics and such. Let’s keep it very simple: tables as facts.
As a mostly blind guy, I might walk into a room and become aware of a large object. “What is that?” I might ask. The answer: “It’s a table.” I know what a table is. I can now perceive it as a table, I can touch it, and I can discover that I can use it as a table. Therefore, it is a fact. But the fact of its presence and our mutual agreement that it is a table, provides no meaning in itself—and it is in meaning that truth lies.
The meaning of the table has to do with its purpose, the value someone places on its design or heritage, and what the owner says about it. Dianna and I travel a fair amount and generally stay in a Marriott of one kind or another. There are few variations in the design of a Marriott hotel. Each room is filled with the usual objects—the facts of the room: a bed, counter space, drawers, one or two chairs, perhaps a couch, a wall-mounted television, etc. These are facts. But they carry very little meaning until we put them to use—and that use personalizes them. Meaning arises from our experience. The true story of our stay in that room depends on the meaning we give to our use of it, regardless of the facts that are present.
This is an overly simple model, but it illustrates a central point: a fact by itself cannot contain truth. Yet truth cannot be revealed without facts on which to build the meaning that illuminates, if not defines, truth.
The question came up in the first place because it seems impossible that a myth could reveal truth—if, by definition, a myth is not factual. Myths are not intended to be taken literally but they are not without facts. The myth in question was from the first three chapters of Genesis—the origin stories of God’s people.
And yes, they do contain facts: the Earth and all its features and creatures are here. We are here. These are facts. But where did we come from? Why are we here? What is our purpose? How are we supposed to relate to everything around us? These are questions that cannot be answered by the mere existence of facts. Yet they must be answered for truth to be revealed.
I doubt there is any culture not anchored in its own set of origin myths. As far as I know, each of them is specific to the particular people who hold them.
The curious thing about the biblical myths is their universality. They are not just about how this place was created, but how the entire universe came to be. They are not just about how our tribe was formed, but how all humanity came to be. Most important, they are about who we are in all our strengths and weaknesses, and what right relationships with one another should be. And finally, they reveal a God who is not just another thing in the universe, but the power through which everything exists and is sustained.
Moreover, God is revealed as one who is lovingly engaged with creation—including humanity—for the good of all. It is a story of such profound truth that we have never fully plumbed its depths. It was told and retold over many generations until it could be written down for us.
And one thing they were certain of: it is only through God’s self-revelation that we have the story.
Science has since added an abundance of new facts. We are learning more about the processes that brought us to where we are today. We are also learning how our own behavior has contributed to the abuse of the creation that has been given into our care.
Yet the truth of the origin myths remains as profoundly powerful and divinely awesome as ever.