The Argument:
Premise 1: It seems that Beauty, Truth, and Goodness Exist
Premise 2: It seems that what is Beautiful, is also True, is also Good (Unity of the Transcendentals)
Premise 3a: It seems that Christianity is Beautiful
or
Premise 3b: It seems that Christianity is Good
Conclusion: Therefore Christianity is True
Premise 1: It Seems That Beauty, Goodness, and Truth Exist
The Objective vs. the Subjective
While it is true that personal aesthetic preferences exist, it also appears that there is a universal ideal of Beauty that we can all access and appeal to. After all, if Beauty did not exist, our aesthetic preferences would be meaningless.
Likewise, while we often have disputes over what is right and wrong, there still exists a universal common ideal behind our idea of what is Good. Indeed, if Goodness did not exist, our moral judgments would be meaningless.
And again, while we do not always agree on what is True, the idea that there is no Truth is self-contradicting; you cannot deny that Truth exists without assuming that it does. If Truth did not exist, our disagreements over the Truth would, again, be meaningless.
So it appears that Truth, Goodness, and Beauty exist, and not just relative to the subject, but as objective realities. That is, they exist “out there” as an “object” for us to reference as part of our common human experience, rather than as merely personal preferences, internal to ourselves and inaccessible to our fellow man. Indeed, our disagreements over Truth, Goodness, and Beauty seem to indicate more about ourselves as subjects and our perceptions and desires, rather than Truth, Goodness, and Beauty themselves.
The Parable of the Blind Men and an Elephant
Against this, consider the classic Parable of the Blind Men and an Elephant.1 This parable has been used by pseudo-philosophers to show the very opposite of what it does, in fact, show.
In the parable, the blind men almost come to blows disagreeing over what it is front of them, but because each feels only a certain part of the elephant, they can neither agree nor is any of them correct. How foolish! Can’t they understand that they each simply have partial access to the truth from their own limited perspective, and that, because they are blind, such disagreements are pointless?
The parable is then said to support the inaccessibility of objective truth, and therefore the futility of religious argument and the search for truth.
But the Parable of the Blind Men and an Elephant does not, in fact, show that there is not an Elephant there, or that this truth is impossible to arrive at. It’s interesting to note three obvious truths about the parable:
First, there actually is an elephant there. There is a right answer, all the men were just wrong.
Second, the men are all blind. If we are blind like them, can anything be done to fix our blindness, so we can discover the truth? And is the assumption that we are blind like them even justified?
Finally, the men don’t discover the truth, but not simply because they’re blind. They neither use their reason to figure out they’re simply feeling different parts of an animal, nor do they attempt to empirically investigate by feeling for themselves the different parts of the elephant.
The Pursuit of The Transcendentals
What the Parable of the Blind Men and an Elephant should really teach us is how we should pursue Truth, Goodness, and Beauty – The Transcendentals. Conscious of our limited perspective and open to the perspectives of others, but also with serious investigation and perhaps even an attempt to find a remedy to our blindness.
Providentially, this attitude is what The Transcendentals naturally spur within us. We all experience a natural drive to pursue Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, and this drive itself is evidence of the existence of these objective realities.
We want to be right and have the truth because it appeals to our Rational sense. We want to be beautiful and have what is beautiful, because it appeals to our Appetitive sense. We want to be good and have what is good because it appeals to our Spirited sense.
We view what is evil, ugly, and false as bad and defective in some way. We naturally honor The Transcendentals because they spur us on towards something that is above us and greater than ourselves. They fill us with wonder and a desire to investigate further.
Indeed, man’s first religious impulse can be said to be the Pursuit of the Transcendentals, and Religion itself could be defined as The Investigation of the Transcendent. Truth, Beauty, and Goodness draw us out of ourselves and lift us towards something higher, something overarching that transcends our subjective experience – which is why we call them The Transcendentals.
Premise 2: It Seems That What Is Beautiful, Is Also True, Is Also Good (Unity of the Transcendentals)
The Existence of God as The Absolute Source of the Transcendent
That which is transcendent is naturally absolutely so, for otherwise it would not stand above us as the measure by which we ourselves are judged – instead we would stand above it and judge it ourselves. Therefore, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness must exist as absolutes.
And that which is absolutely transcendent naturally cannot contradict itself, for we would not be drawn to Truth in the way we are if it contradicted Beauty, nor would we find Goodness worth pursuing if it contradicted Truth, nor would we be so captivated by Beauty were it not also Good. Therefore, that which is True must also be Good, must also be Beautiful.
Finally, that which is above ourselves naturally deserves our reverence. Indeed, the existence of any transcendental points to the existence of God, because if anything is an absolute, it points to the existence of an Ultimate Absolute as its source. Thus, the source of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, who unites them all together, would naturally be God, since the Transcendentals are the highest ideals that we know of to pursue and devote ourselves to.
Premise 3a: It Seems That Christianity Is Beautiful
The Christian story is this – we were created by God to be Good. But we chose to turn away from Goodness and now, even when we want to be Good, we find that we can’t of our own power anymore, and choose evil instead.
To save us from this condition, God became Man in order to destroy death, the curse that afflicts us all. Now, whatever you’ve done, Christ offers forgiveness and redemption, and by repentence and uniting yourself to Christ, He can heal you and help you to choose what is Good, to once again be how you were made to be.
All of human history then is God pursuing man and attempting to redeem him and unite man to Himself. He wants to redeem you, even you, in all your pain and sadness and turn it into joy. And he’s not willing to force you, but simply whispers to you from the crucifix, across space and time, that he shares your pain and wants you in His kingdom, which is not of this world.
This is the essence and story of Christianity; the love story between God and humankind.
Even if you don’t think it’s a true story, it certainly seems to be a beautiful story, one that ignites a certain yearning within us. But if our existence without a God who loves us and wants to unite us to Himself is not Beautiful, it is not True that we exist apart from such a God.
In other words, Christianity is Beautiful, therefore Christianity is True.
Premise 3b: It Seems That Christianity Is Good
Christianity has a very particular moral code, based on the Christian doctrine of the Imago Dei - Man was made in the image of God, and therefore has inherent dignity.
From this the doctrine of the Imago Dei flows all of Christian morality, including its controversial teachings, from the love of neighbor as self, including Christianity’s principle of forgiveness, down to the love of God and the following of His laws for creation, which Christianity teaches are the only way we can experience true happiness and fulfilment.
This is the morality the modern western world was built upon, even though the world now rejects much of that foundation.
Even if you don’t believe in all aspects of Christian morality, the Imago Dei and at least some of the moral conclusions that flow from it certainly seem attractive to us. But can you truly justify such a morality, or the Imago Dei itself, without belief in Christianity and its teachings, even those you may dislike? If a morality based on the Imago Dei is True, then Christianity itself must be True.
In other words, Christianity is Good, therefore Christianity is True.
Conclusion: Therefore Christianity Is True
If you accept the existence of Beauty, Goodness, and Truth, and believe that which is Good is also Beautiful is also True, and if you find Christianity to be Good or Beautiful—in a sense, if you want Christianity to be true—then that is in fact a sign that it is true.
Of course, oftentimes when we are not in alignment with Truth, our desires and sense of Goodness and Beauty can be defective. Evil and ugliness within us can lead us to not want Christianity to be true. But because of the nature of the transcendentals, where evil, ugliness, and falsehood do not draw us towards themselves as The Transcendentals do, but are instead simply defects and a lack of The Transcendentals, even the person who has evil and ugliness within will still feel a draw towards beauty and goodness, even if this is ultimately rejected.
While the Pursuit of The Transcendentals may be our first religious impulse in the search for God, Christianity, Christ, is God’s response and His search for us. Thus, Christianity is not really a religion in a sense – it is not a partial attempt by man to reach towards God, as blind men feeling around an elephant. Instead, it is God’s perfect reaching down – He assumed our human nature so that we could share in his divine nature, and He stands transcendent across space and time, arms spread wide on the cross, offering Himself, the ultimate Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, to all who seek Him.
This article originally debuted at the Christ is King: How to Defeat Trashworld Conference on April 4th, 2025 in Temple, Texas.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: “We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable.” So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, “This being is like a thick snake.” For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant “is a wall.” Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
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