n John 14:6, Jesus states,
I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word is the absolute truth.  John 1:14 states,
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
John 1:17 states,
For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
In John 8:26, Jesus exhorts,
He who has sent me is true.
1 John 5:20 states,
We know also that the Son of God has come and give us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true.  And we are in Him who is true – even in his Son Jesus Christ.  He is the true God and eternal life.
The highest degree of certainty appertains to the immediately revealed truths, which come from the Word of God and Paradosis - Divine Tradition.  The belief in these truths is based on the authority of God, through his Divine Word.
The Almighty God is infinite understanding.  God possesses an infinite power of cognition.  As in the subject of cognition, the object of cognition, and the act of cognition, all are identical.  All truth comes from God because God is truth.  It shows that God is the absolute logical truth.
God's moral truth comprehends veracity, God is absolute veracity.  A Baptist minister wrote an article in the paper regarding truth.  He writes that the Word of God is inspired, inerrant and infallible.  This is absolutely true and this is the absolute teaching of the Church.  The Baptist minister writes that postmodern philosophy is subjective and becomes meaningful when one accepts it.  He writes this philosophy is not objective like the Word of God, and is alien to the Biblical absolutes.  He is absolutely correct in his statement regarding post modern philosophy.  In Colossians 2:8, St. Paul castigates vain and deceptive philosophy that negates the Word of God.  Let us never forget that the Apostle Paul castigates deceptive and vain philosophy, and remember that not all philosophy is vain.
What the Baptist pastor forgets to mention is the medieval Christian philosophy, Nominalism, that contradicts the philosophy of the great Doctor of the Church St. Thomas Aquinas.  The philosophical view of Nominalism is an Aristotelian philosophy coming through the works of an Islamic philosophers, Averros and Avicenna, through works called the via moderna, or Nominalist school of philosophy.  This philosophy minimized the absolutes taught by two great Catholic saints, Bonaventure and Aquinas.  Heretical theological errors have risen through the liberal philosophy of Nominalism.  When there is a analysis of the philosophy of Nominalism coming from the early Reformation theological doctrines, there are philosophical problems relevant to coherence and historicity, and practical problems of hermeneutical and subjectivism, factionalism, pastoral discipline, and delegated authority.  Through the philosophy of Nominalism comes the rejection of absolutes, and effect of Nominalistic theology was to remove God from creation so that nature can be seen linked only externally to God.
Through the philosophy of Nominalism comes the heretical doctrines of Sola Fides (Salvation by Faith Alone) and Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone is the sole rule of Faith).  Also traceable to Nominalism is the erroneous doctrine of forensic or extrinsic justification.  The Protestants absolutely misread St. Thomas Aquinas position on nature and grace, and also subscribed to a symbolic view on Sacraments.  The Reformers rejected Paradosis (Divine Tradition) as taught in the Bible.
The truth of Scripture comes through Paradosis.  Alister McGrath, a great English Protestant theologian, has written that the Protestant doctrines I mentioned were a "Theological Novum" - which means that they were a new beginning in Christianity never taught in the first 1500 years in Christianity.  The writings of the Patristic Fathers – the early Church Fathers – absolutely negates the Protestant theological doctrines.
The Baptist pastor stated that truth is person and truth is relational.  He is correct.  Jesus Christ is the Truth, and His delegated Authority and Truth is given to the Church.  In 1 Timothy 3:15, St. Paul calls the Church "The Pillar and Foundation of Truth".  Sacred Scripture gives evidence of delegated authority and who is given the delegated authority from the Lord Jesus Christ himself.  There is a vast abundance of truth coming through Protestantism because of their fervent desire and love of the Word of God.  But the fullness of truth does not come through Protestantism but through the Catholic Church.  The absolute truth of this allegation comes through Scripture, history and reason.  Would the Incarnate Word Jesus Christ wait 1500 years for the Protestant Reformation to promulgate definitive truth?  In Matthew 28:20, John 14:18 , and Hebrews 13:5, Christ gives definitive truth in Sacred Scripture:
I will be with you until the consummation of the world.  I will not let you desolate, I will not leave you orphans.  I will never fail you or forsake you.
Protestants reject Paradosis (Divine Tradition) and teach Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone) as the sole rule of faith.  Sacred Scripture itself rejects the Protestant doctrinal position.  2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 states,
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.  He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
Notice, word of mouth is Divine Tradition.  Look at the words of Jesus Christ to his Apostles.  In Luke 10:16, Jesus exhorts,
He who listens to you listens to me, he who rejects you rejects me; he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.
In 2 Timothy 1:13-14, Paul commands
What you heard from me, keep as a pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you - guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
(Read the following Scriptures regarding Tradition:  2 Timothy 2:1-2;  1 Corinthians 15:1-4;  Galatians 1:6-10;  1 Corinthians 11:23-26;  2 John 9-10)
Christ left delegated authority before his ascension to heaven.  Matthew 16:13-20 gives evidence St. Peter was given the keys of the kingdom of heaven.  He was declared the rock by Jesus.  Look at the words of Jesus in the New International Version.  Jesus Christ states,
Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this is not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, will be loosed in heaven.
Notice Jesus uses the word "Church" in the singular, and not "Churches" in the plural.  The Apostle Paul calls the Church "the household of God".  In 1 Timothy 3:15, St. Paul calls the Church "The Pillar and Foundation of Truth".  The history and writings of the Church Fathers give evidence that this is the Catholic Church.
May God Richly Bless You!  Amen!  Hallelujah!
Charles Hatchko
January 31, 2005