10/29/2025
Introduction
All philosophy begins with a single question: Can truth be known?
Every worldview, religion, and civilization stands or falls on how it answers that question.
There are, in essence, two opposing approaches:
- Realism — the belief that truth exists, and that the human mind is capable of perceiving and understanding it, or at least that part of the truth that is most relevant to us.
- Nihilism — the denial that truth exists, or that it can be known or understood; and that most, if not all, of human perception is an illusion or misunderstanding. It defines reality solely as perception, devoid of any innate meaning or substance. This is the worldview of “subjective reality,” or “personal truth,” defined by the shifting sands of perception and wishful thinking.
These two worldviews are incompatible, opposed, and antagonistic to each other. One builds and improves civilization, while the other tears it down and destroys it.
[If you are reading this via the subscription email, please click here to visit this post on my website to help out my website stats.]
Realism: Truth Can Be Known
Realism holds that there is such a thing as objective truth — that which is real regardless of personal opinion or perception. Reality exists independently of us; our thoughts or emotions do not create it.
This belief is foundational to our confidence in our own faculties of reason, or our abilities to discern or comprehend science, law, and morality. It assumes that our senses, intellect, and conscience are capable of discerning good and evil, as well as truth and error. Without this foundation, knowledge itself becomes impossible.
In scripture, this principle is affirmed repeatedly:
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [1]
“For behold, the Spirit of Christ is given to every man, that he may know good from evil; wherefore, I show unto you the way to judge; for every thing which inviteth to do good, and to persuade to believe in Christ, is sent forth by the power and gift of Christ; wherefore ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of God.” [2]
We are to do as God has done—dividing the light from the darkness, discerning truth from error, good and evil.
Freedom, both intellectual and spiritual, is born of truth. As we embrace truth, we increase in freedom, ability, potential, and power. Inversely, we find that to reject truth is to embrace bondage—bondage to perpetual confusion, manipulation, and sin.
The realist understands that truth is not invented; it is discovered. It is not relative to our desires, but absolute in its nature. Just as gravity has its undisputed pull within the physical world, moral and spiritual laws govern all of creation, whether we like it or not.
Nihilism: The Denial of Truth
Nihilism represents the opposite pole of thought. It insists that truth is relative, that morality is subjective and an illusion, and that life has no inherent meaning or purpose.
This philosophy takes many modern forms—existentialism, postmodernism, moral relativism, and progressivism—but all share the same underlying premise: truth does not exist in any objective or consistent sense. Or they mix it up with realism, making their lies far more sophisticated and difficult to detect and unravel.
The nihilist claims to be enlightened, but in practice, nihilism functions as a kind of philosophical gaslighting — a deliberate distortion of reality that causes the mind to doubt its own capacity for discernment.
Nihilists will insist that they know and believe more and more, while in actuality, they know and believe less and less. Philosophical nihilists are plagued with doubt. Even as they outwardly insist they are more and more enlightened, inwardly they increasingly question everything. In this, they curse themselves with increasing mental, emotional, and spiritual uncertainty. They plague themselves with self-directed gaslighting.
“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” [3]
When truth becomes subjective, when evil can be called good simply because one feels it so, humanity loses its moral compass. The conscience, once a reliable guide, is silenced by the endless questioning of “what is really real.”
Nihilism as Gaslighting
In psychological terms, gaslighting is a form of manipulation designed to make a person doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity. Philosophical nihilism operates the same way, only on a cultural and global scale.
It whispers: “Are you sure truth exists? Are you sure right and wrong are real? Maybe morality is just a human construct.” Or in far more subtle ways, it chides and mocks you with doubts like, “What if everything I’ve always believed is false? What if my parents, teachers, and religious leaders were all deceived? What if…? What if…?”
Until finally, it oversimplifies the nuances of truth and perception by claiming that if this or that is untrue, then is any of it true? By this, Satan tries to completely divorce us from religion, spirituality, and moral truth when we find that elements of institutional religion are mistakes, deceptions, and lies. Satan tries to make it an all-or-nothing thing, gambling everything on the table, trying to shove us into the hopeless abyss of philosophical nihilism.
Thus, we see that bit by bit, nihilism severs the mind’s confidence in reason and conscience. It causes people to distrust their own moral instincts, to dismiss their perception of evil, and to reinterpret the natural law written upon the heart as nothing more than social conditioning. [4]
This is not enlightenment. It is mental and moral inversion — a reversal of light and dark, truth and falsehood. It breeds intellectual paralysis and moral relativism.
The end result is predictable: people become dependent on external authorities to define reality and morality for them. Whoever controls the narrative controls the mind.
The Political Utility of Nihilism
The denial of truth is never merely academic. Nor is it whimsical. It has practical utility for those who desire power and control.
When a population can no longer agree on what is true, it can no longer unite on principle. Society dissolves into competing tribes of perception, each clinging to “its own truth.” This fragmentation creates the perfect environment for manipulation in the form of psychological warfare.
A people disconnected from truth become easy to govern, easy to deceive, and easy to enslave. Nihilism thus serves as the ideological foundation of tyranny.
“And because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved… [they experience] strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” [5]
The delusion of relative truth is the oldest lie ever told. It was whispered in Eden: “Ye shall not surely die.” The serpent’s words questioned the very existence of truth, implying that God’s warning was subjective — a matter of interpretation, not an absolute.
Religious Nihilism vs. Realism
Jesus revealed a knowable God when He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” [6]
And again what he said, “This is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. I am he. Receive ye, therefore, my law.” [7]
He defined eternal life not as unending existence but as a relationship of understanding, connection, and communion. To know God is to enter into conscious harmony with His nature, His truth, and His law. These passages presuppose that reality—divine, moral, and spiritual—is intelligible and knowable. They affirm a realist cosmology: truth exists, it is consistent with itself, and it can be known because the Source of truth wishes to be known.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord.” [8]
A God who invites reasoning and relational closeness is a God who speaks in a rational universe defined by law, goodness, and love.
The Nihilistic Turn of the Nicene Creed
By contrast, the post-apostolic creeds—especially the Nicene and Athanasian formulations of 325 and 381 AD—describe God as “incomprehensible” and “without body, parts, or passions.”
Though theoretically intended to reverence the Divine Majesty, these nonauthoritative statements subtly imply that God cannot truly be known or comprehended, only worshiped in mystery. That shift moved Christianity away from the Hebraic, realist understanding of a personal Father toward an abstract metaphysical essence—unknowable, impersonal, untouchable, and beyond any mortal comprehension.
What we now call Primitive Christianity, which is the Christianity taught by Jesus and His apostles, was a faith in God that was simple and understandable. Centuries later, when Christianity was essentially hijacked and taken over by the Roman Empire, the new doctrines of what we now call Historic Christianity were suddenly established and became mainstream. Under these new doctrines, God suddenly became three beings in one, everywhere, nowhere, without body, parts, or passions, and mysteriously incomprehensible. All these changes, adopted by Historic Christianity, constituted a massive change from what Jesus and His ancient apostles originally understood and taught.
Ever since this happened, Christians all over the world have viewed God as unknowable and mysteriously incomprehensible. Such a shift in thought aligns more with philosophical nihilism than with the gospel of Christ. If God is unknowable, then truth itself becomes unknowable; and if truth is unknowable, faith loses its anchor in evidence and perceptible reality. Thus, the door opens for institutional authority to replace personal revelation and knowledge of God. And maybe that was always secretly the objective anyway.
Perhaps the most easily recognized example of this is how Christians define faith. Most Christians define faith as simply believing, or choosing to believe, even without evidence. But this is a nihilistic approach to faith. In the real world, evidence is everything. Everything you do has some basis in reason and evidence. This is also true of genuine religious faith.
Jesus and the ancient prophets took great pains to teach, explain, provide evidence, signs, and rational reasons to believe in God, keep His commandments, repent of wrongdoing, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. They emphatically encouraged faith by providing ample evidence as to why we should do so.
By contrast, cultist religions rely on mystery, wonder, superstition, manipulation, threats, intimidation, and fear to inspire obedience and conformity. Faith, for them, is based on fear of the unknown or wishful thinking. Sometimes they even call it “blind faith.” But faith rooted in knowledge and understanding is not blind at all! It is reasoned, calculated, and highly rational. Jesus Christ gave us brilliant minds, and he desperately wants us to learn to use them for good and holy purposes.
Why Nihilistic Theology Destroys Faith
Nihilism thrives on increasing distance between the human mind and ultimate reality. When believers are taught that God cannot be known, they cease seeking direct communion, revelation becomes superstition, and faith degenerates into blind obedience. The light of reason and conscience dims, and mystery replaces understanding. Some experts in philosophy call this mystery something else. They call it wonder, and they say it is a good thing, but is it really?
To wonder, to be amazed, and even enchanted by the mystery of it all can be thrilling and exciting, but perpetual wonder that remains a mystery is not a good thing if it perpetuates ignorance by denying the existence of knowable truth, especially as it relates to God and His ways.
Ancient religionists reveled in mystery and wonder; Jesus, however, tore the veil. He invited mankind to see the inner workings of the Father through Him (John 14:9), by analysis and understanding of His life and teachings. His mission was to reconcile creation with the Creator, mind with truth, and man with meaning. He restores confidence that reality—moral, spiritual, and physical—is consistent, knowable, and touchable. Jesus embraces those who heed His teachings, seek Him diligently, and who truly come to Him in word and deed.
“And it shall come to pass, that if the Gentiles shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day, that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in power, in very deed, unto the taking away of their stumbling blocks—And [if they] harden not their hearts against the Lamb of God, they shall be numbered among the seed of thy father; yea, they shall be numbered among the house of Israel; and they shall be a blessed people upon the promised land forever; they shall be no more brought down into captivity; and the house of Israel shall no more be confounded.” [9]
The Lord has promised to reveal Himself (in word, power, and in very deed) to those who hearken to His words. This denotes a knowable, comprehensible, and approachable God.
“If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” [10]
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” [11]
If all this is impossible, if God is unknowable, incomprehensible, and not approachable, “without body, parts, or passions,” then what is there to seek, understand, or have faith in?
Nihilism destroys faith and breeds despair because it divorces the soul from the certainty that truth exists and that God is real and good. It says: You cannot know; therefore, you cannot be sure; therefore, nothing matters. All is darkness and hopeless.
But Jesus has urgently asserted: You SHALL know the truth, and the truth SHALL make you free. [12]
Faith and hope flourish only in a realist universe where the reality of God and His laws are knowable. The nihilistic creeds extinguish that light by declaring the divine reality inaccessible to human understanding. Christ reignites it by revealing the Father as knowable, understandable, reachable, and personal.
The Fruits of Each Philosophy
Realism encourages the discovery of science, order, morality, justice, and faith. It reveals truth, defends it, and builds civilization upon it. Realism gives us hope in a personal God—one who is called our Father.
Nihilism produces confusion, decay, lawlessness, and despair. It denies truth, mocks virtue, and ultimately justifies tyranny in the name of bringing order to chaos. Nihilism tells us that God, assuming He even exists, is unknowable, unreachable, and untouchable, because, at best, He is just a metaphysical abstraction.
When men cease to believe in truth, they do not believe in nothing; they believe in anything. And the most persuasive voices among them seize this power to define “truth” for everyone else.
“Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” [13]
That verse, written thousands of years ago, describes perfectly the moral chaos of the modern world.
The Realist Response
The remedy for nihilistic gaslighting is a return to faith, not a faith in the unknown or in abstractions, but a return to faith based on reason, evidence, and the clear teachings of Jesus Christ.
Truth exists. It is eternal. It is the foundation of the universe and the nature of God Himself.
Truth is knowable and comprehensible. If it were not so, then why would Jesus and the prophets waste so much time and effort in seeking to impart reason and understanding, especially as it relates to God?
“For the Lord is a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” [14]
To know God is to know truth—especially that truth that is most immediately connected with him.
To reject truth is to reject God.
God is a revealer and teacher of truth. That’s His job. He facilitates the learning and assimilation of greater light and truth, especially as it is most relatable to Him.
Therefore, the great work of moral and spiritual restoration begins with the reaffirmation that reality is not negotiable or unknowable. Truth is not subjective. There is no such thing as “my truth” or “your truth.” Nor is it created by opinion or consensus. Truth is absolute, eternal, knowable, and useful in our coming to know, understand, and relate to God more fully.
A Return to Reason and Hope
To reclaim sanity in an age of nihilism, we must:
- Reaffirm the reality of objective truth.
- Cultivate discernment through reason, conscience, and revelation.
- Reject manipulative narratives that invert moral order and distort moral clarity.
- Anchor ourselves in divine law and eternal principles.
Only then can civilization stand secure upon the bedrock of what is, rather than the shifting sands of what we feel, or what we wish were true.
“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” [15]
Conclusion
Nihilism is the philosophy of deception, the intellectual offspring of pride and rebellion. It questions everything, not in honesty, but in pride and rebellion. Nihilism is an abstraction in absurdity. By teaching that truth is unknowable, it blinds men to the very light that could free them and fill them with joy.
Realism, by contrast, restores sight. It acknowledges the reality of truth, the authority of moral law, and the possibility of knowing God through both reason and revelation.
Let the lovers of truth stand firm. Let them not be gaslit into moral or intellectual submission to evil and insanity. For reality does not bend to opinion, and truth does not cease to exist simply because it is denied.
[1] John 8:32
[2] Moroni 7:16
[3] Isaiah 5:20
[4] Romans 2:14–15
[5] 2 Thessalonians 2:10–11
[6] John 17:3
[7] Doctrine and Covenants 132:24
[8] Isaiah 1:18
[9] 1 Nephi 14:1 – 2
[10] John 14:23
[11] 2 Corinthians 4:6
[12] John 8:32
[13] Judges 21:25
[14] Deuteronomy 32:4
[15] Psalm 119:165
GREATER LIGHT AND TRUTH 
Leave a comment