‘Your truth’ doesn’t exist; there’s only ‘the truth.’
I often hear the nails-on-the-chalkboard phrase propagated—or for me it’s that cringe-worthy sound when people rub marbles together—when people are telling their experience regarding a particular issue, and the commenters, supporters or celebrities get up and say something to the effect of, “That’s right! Speak your truth!” or, as Oprah Winfrey once stated; “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” The blatant problem with this is that your truth doesn’t exist; there is only the truth.
This phrase is often used inside the LGBTQIA+ community to oppose traditional religious beliefs and doctrines about appropriate relationships, sexual relations, and gender roles. Those within the community essentially say, “Because I experience this [whatever it is], then it’s true, and negates your backward, archaic worldview or religion. What’s true for me is true for me, and what’s true for you is true for you,” thus making all “truths” relative, and each as valid and morally correct as any other. Except it doesn’t work this way at all. Merely having a nuanced experience does not make a new truth; it’s just a small part of a much larger picture.
Then-President Uchtdorf described this same point by expounding an ancient parable about six blind men, who went to observe an elephant (What is Truth?; Uchtdorf, 2013). Each of them feel different parts of the elephant—the tail, tusk, leg, ear, etc.—and make varied conclusions about what the elephant must be like, based off of their individual experiences (Chandogya Upanishad; 5.18.1). But since none of them could see the whole elephant, they each had partly-true, although incorrect, perceptions as to what the truth was.
As much as you or I might believe that the elephant is a spear, because of our vivid experience feeling the tusk; the elephant is not a spear. It’s an elephant. To quote Elder Uchtdorf again, “We can say west is north and north is west all day long and even believe it with all our heart, but if, for example, we want to fly from Quito, Ecuador, to New York City in the United States, there is only one direction that will lead us there, and that is north—west just won’t do.” Likewise, we can believe with all our hearts that gay marriages are blessed by God or that we are the opposite gender trapped in the wrong body, and speak this as “our truth.” So, when people describe “their truth,” what they’re essentially doing is mistaking their sincere experience, their opinion, or their belief as “truth.”
Beliefs and opinions are not necessarily always correct. “I felt the elephant, and I know it’s like a spear. I felt it, and I know it’s true,” we might declare. But this is just one faulty perspective, based off of partial knowledge. Although partly true, partial truth is not the truth. The thing about truth is that it exists outside of personal experience or belief. Truth is truth, even if the whole of society and culture says otherwise.
I want to make it clear that I am not discrediting some individuals’ very real, poignant experiences; and the often raw emotions and feelings that result from them. I know some people have some deeply transformative experiences that seem to surpass mortal understanding. These events can become the source of many compelling beliefs, although untrue. “Sometimes untrue claims or information are presented in such a way that they appear quite credible. However, when [we] are confronted with information that is in conflict with the revealed word of God,” we can know that it’s false, President Uchtdorf teaches. Truth will never contradict the teachings of the Holy Scriptures or the words of ancient and modern prophets and apostles of the Lord.
The Holy Spirit is the ultimate witness of truth. It is through his witnesses that we can know for ourselves that the scriptures and the teachings of the prophets are true. “The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in [Jesus’] name, he will teach [us] all things and bring to [our] remembrance all that [Jesus has] said to [us]” (John 14:26). He will teach us the full truth, as God sees it, rather than being deceived by the partial-truths and sophistries of the world.
