Truth
The first value is truth. There is a very common misconception of truth in today's culture. Many think that truth is relative instead of objective. Rorty is credited with saying that truth is "what your friends will let you get away with saying." This is the social construct or relative view of truth. This is a misunderstanding between epistemology (the philosophy of knowledge) and ontology (the philosophy of reality). Although truth can only be obtained subjectively by relative circumstances, truth itself remains objective. Truth may be viewed through the lenses of subjectivity and warped by our flawed descriptions and interpretations of it. Nevertheless, truth is, in the words of Aristotle, "To say of what is, that it is, and what is not, that it is not, is truth." This is known as the correspondence theory of truth. So we deny that truth itself is relative.
Instead we maintain that truth has been revealed from God in the person of Jesus Christ, the Bible and creation. Truth incarnate is found in the God-man Jesus Christ. The Bible is the word of God and as such is true and authoritative. The creation "declares the glory of God" and as such is to be studied in the various sciences and liberal arts. Therefore we will teach and preach Jesus Christ, crucified, buried and risen from the dead according to the Scriptures, in an intellectually informed, and spirit filled way. We believe that the Bible is God's special revelation to mankind and is to be studied, obeyed and proclaimed to all. The creation consists of what is commonly known by theologians as the general revelation. God's handiwork can be seen, and should be studied in all areas of academics including but not limited to mathematics, philosophy, general and specific sciences, literature, and all the liberal arts.
Art is a subset of truth in that it expresses truth in an emotional way. Music, sculpture, painting, writing and other forms of art are beautiful representations to the extent that they accurately represent their object. We reject the notion that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and claim that beauty is objective in the mind of God. Therefore, we evaluate beauty and art on the basis of the divine. We value art as an integral part of God's created order. Because God is creative, so should his creation. Because all that He created is good and beautiful, likewise human creation is to be a worshipful representation of the mind of God.
