Eternal Verities

Veritas means truth, so when Hank Hanegraaff is talking about "eternal verities", he is talking about unchanging truths. But why use a Latin phrase when plain old everyday Anglo Saxon English is so much clearer?

Because the concept of eternal verities goes back quite a ways. The Oxford Learners Dictionary defines it as "an essential basic moral principle". In other words, eternal verities are truths that are universal (as opposed to cultural) and timeless (as opposed to time-bound).

The opposite of eternal verities is relativism, a morality that changes over time or across cultures. For instance, we live in a culture that has legalized abortion and is hard at work to make it socially acceptable - and a culture that is making homosexual marriage acceptable and hard at work to make it legal. Treating abortion as a morals-free personal medical decision and equating homosexual unions with traditional man-woman marriage is not a matter of eternal verities.

Examples of eternal verities:

• God created the heavens and the earth.
• God has a plan for every part of creation.
• God loves his creation and his creatures.
• There is such a thing as sin.
• Murder is wrong.
• Lying isn't good.
• Treat others as you would want them to treat you, the so-called Golden Rule that has existed in practically every human culture known

The list could go on, but you get the idea. Whether you personally believe these things or not, according to the Bible they are eternal truths.