How to know Divine Truth?

People who believe in "Divine Truth" often disagree when it comes to what it is and how it is found.

There are mainly two groups of people we can characterize: one is the group of those who follow - what they believe to be - Divine Revelation; the other is the group which relies upon what I would call gnosis, i.e. knowledge (such knowledge is attained with one's own abilities).

So one group of people believes that Divine Truth is God and that all truths we know about God are not attained with our own abilities, but rather are revealed to us by God. God is transcendent and thus cannot be the object of any empirial observation, not of any scientific tests. We therefore cannot know anything about Him unless He reveals certain things to us.
This group is one that demonstrates a bond of dependence between the creature and the Creator, between man and God. This bond is commonly known as religion. Such a religion cannot be without a system as the divinely revealed truths are seen as binding upon all believers.


The other group believes that one may find the way to Truth using one's own abilities. One is not dependent upon any type of deity - which is why this group is not necessarily theistic. Often times, people who belong to this group believe in an abstract and non-personal understanding of "Divine Truth". Many also try to reach "enlightenment" either through ascetism, self-discipline, years of studies, or meditation. A good example of adherents of this group would be Buddhists. This group is also one that may exist with or without a system. Compare a Buddhist monk to someone who follows no religion, but only his own "personal path".


The first group is always tied to a personal God. The second group includes a wide array of differing thoughts.

The most obvious difference between the two becomes clear when one thinks in terms of objectivity or subjectivity. The group which follows Divine Revelation believes in objective truths whsoe source alone is God who is the simple union of all complex truths. The people who follow the other group hold what they have come to realize as the truth. There can be those who claim to know what is right and those who claim that "each individual as his own path". The more common position is that of subjectivism and relativism.


Truth, however, is intrinsically objective. It does not rely upon opinions, but simply is. Likewise God is (He did introduce Himself as "I am that is"). Therefore, we can conclude that the second group is following an objectively flawed path.