July 31, 2001
The Norwegian Pagan Society in Oslo, Norway is allowed to proclaim “God does not exist” every Friday for three minutes. In eighteen locations throughout the city, Muslims can issue calls to prayer five times a day, including the words, “God is the greatest.”
Both groups are convinced that what they are saying is true. This conflict is no problem for relativism. Relativism says that God is true for the Muslims but not true for the pagans.
When two statements clash, relativism may be unconcerned but those who believe in absolutes are mortified. They say two opposite and conflicting statements cannot both be true. For them, a door is either open or shut. It cannot be open in one person’s mind and shut in the mind of another.
Absolutes and relativism have nothing to do with preferences. My husband says “chocolate tastes terrible” even though nearly everyone disagrees with him. If thinking something is true makes it true, then those who like chocolate are hopelessly deluded. Instead, he needs to say “I think chocolate tastes terrible.”
This would clarify the issue of conflict between pagans and Muslims. If they said, “I think God does not exist” or “I think God is the greatest,” their statements would not be in conflict.
More simply put, those who decide “what is true for you is not true for me” have made a choice based on their preferences, not on what is true or not true. Because opinions vary on the taste of chocolate, there is no absolute truth about that issue. On the other hand, whether God exists or not cannot be an opinion. He either exists or He does not, just the same as Aunt Mary or any other person exists or not.
Pagans are in trouble if God exists. They need to rethink their philosophy and its resulting lifestyle. Muslims are in trouble if God is not the greatest. They must also do some rethinking. Believing in absolute truth and being an objective thinker requires work. Conflicting claims must be checked out. Merely forming an opinion will not do.
For example, if a person rings my doorbell and tells me that my house is on fire, I need to go and look. Even if I cannot see or smell smoke and there are no flames in sight, it would be dangerous to simply form an opinion. Saying something is “true for you” might be okay when it comes to chocolate or picking the color of your next car, but many matters require investigation and sound decisions. Forming an opinion without making sure could mean disaster.
Besides that, pagans and atheists have inflated egos. To say there is no God means they have all knowledge of all things, that they have searched the universe and verified no one is out there. No wonder Scripture says, “Only a fool says in his heart there is no God.”
The early Christians said there is a God and that Christ is His Son, resurrected from the dead. When they were accused of being deluded, they replied that if God is not real and the resurrection did not happen, then “we are of all men most miserable.” They had staked their lives on what they believed, taking Jesus seriously when He said, “He who saves his life will lose it . . .” They lived for the glory of God, not for personal gain.
God exists but the reality of His existence is made apparent only to those who know Him. This fits with the words Jesus said in a prayer to the Father, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”
If God is not real in the mind of an atheist, where lies the problem? Is it that God is not real? Or do they not want to obey Him? Or have they foolishly formed an opinion without checking it out?
Showing posts with label relativism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relativism. Show all posts
Monday, April 9, 2018
Monday, March 26, 2018
Objective or Relative? ............. Parables 720
November 13, 2001
A few weeks ago, our top government officials were asked by the opposition to produce an original document and thereby prove that the copy they publicly displayed was not a forgery. These opposition members of parliament demanded truth. My parents told me “don’t lie” and “truth may hurt.” They said I should never make up stories to protect myself from truth, yet for some, truth is not that important.
I’ve met people who can lie as easily as they breathe. At first, they sound sincere, but after getting to know them, contradictions appear and my confidence in them begins to slip. I’ve learned that telling the truth involves more than giving other people an accurate description of the facts. Being a truthful person is also an ideal, a desirable quality. People of truth never intentionally deceive others and are never artificial or false.
Truth is sometimes relative though. For instance, if I say “the sky is blue” then it looks blue to me. However, an astronaut in outer space or a color-blind person might see something else. For each person, what they see is true for them. In other words, the color of the sky is relative. It depends on who is looking at it and the conditions of the time.
Truth may also be objective. That is, something is true all the time, for all people. It never changes and cannot be made relative to any person’s opinion or perspective. For instance, “all living people were once babies” is an objective truth. “All will die” is also an objective truth.
A sign outside a church says, “Fight truth decay — study the Bible daily.” What kind of truth is this sign referring to? Is it relative or objective?
If it were relative, the sign would be correct in linking it with decay because relative truth often changes or fades away. The color of the sky is not the same today as it was yesterday. Not only that, those who hold to relative truths often strongly defend or fight for their opinion. Is the Bible relative truth? Those who think so say things like, “it may be true for you but not for me” but with that, they dismiss Scripture as having no importance for their lives.
What if the Bible is objective truth? If it is, then the sign on the church is wrong: objective truth cannot decay. The real victim of deterioration is our attitude toward the Bible and towards the truth in it. Here’s a few examples of objective statements from Scripture. However unpopular they may be, the rules of grammar do not allow them to be made relative. They are either true and apply to everyone, or they are false.
“There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All and none are inclusive words. God is not saying “some” or “a few” people sin and fall short; He says everyone does. If this is not true, then this statement must be false.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.” God cannot say His love is everlasting but only love us for a limited time. This statement is also either true or false.
Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father but by me.” Jesus did not say He is “a way” or “a truth.” He also said “no one” can come to God apart from Him. The statement cannot be partly true or true just for some people. His language does not allow us to say “this is not for me.”
Actually, relativism tosses the Bible entirely. Even though they hope their neighbors will live by the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments, they say Scripture is not for them.
Those who study Scripture find that the Bible is not like other books. God speaks through it. He points at sin but also repeats His declaration of love and offers the Way to overcome that universal sin problem. He tells the truth, and while it often hurts, it also always heals and gives hope.
A few weeks ago, our top government officials were asked by the opposition to produce an original document and thereby prove that the copy they publicly displayed was not a forgery. These opposition members of parliament demanded truth. My parents told me “don’t lie” and “truth may hurt.” They said I should never make up stories to protect myself from truth, yet for some, truth is not that important.
I’ve met people who can lie as easily as they breathe. At first, they sound sincere, but after getting to know them, contradictions appear and my confidence in them begins to slip. I’ve learned that telling the truth involves more than giving other people an accurate description of the facts. Being a truthful person is also an ideal, a desirable quality. People of truth never intentionally deceive others and are never artificial or false.
Truth is sometimes relative though. For instance, if I say “the sky is blue” then it looks blue to me. However, an astronaut in outer space or a color-blind person might see something else. For each person, what they see is true for them. In other words, the color of the sky is relative. It depends on who is looking at it and the conditions of the time.
Truth may also be objective. That is, something is true all the time, for all people. It never changes and cannot be made relative to any person’s opinion or perspective. For instance, “all living people were once babies” is an objective truth. “All will die” is also an objective truth.
A sign outside a church says, “Fight truth decay — study the Bible daily.” What kind of truth is this sign referring to? Is it relative or objective?
If it were relative, the sign would be correct in linking it with decay because relative truth often changes or fades away. The color of the sky is not the same today as it was yesterday. Not only that, those who hold to relative truths often strongly defend or fight for their opinion. Is the Bible relative truth? Those who think so say things like, “it may be true for you but not for me” but with that, they dismiss Scripture as having no importance for their lives.
What if the Bible is objective truth? If it is, then the sign on the church is wrong: objective truth cannot decay. The real victim of deterioration is our attitude toward the Bible and towards the truth in it. Here’s a few examples of objective statements from Scripture. However unpopular they may be, the rules of grammar do not allow them to be made relative. They are either true and apply to everyone, or they are false.
“There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” All and none are inclusive words. God is not saying “some” or “a few” people sin and fall short; He says everyone does. If this is not true, then this statement must be false.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness.” God cannot say His love is everlasting but only love us for a limited time. This statement is also either true or false.
Jesus Christ said, “I am the way, the truth and the light, no one comes to the Father but by me.” Jesus did not say He is “a way” or “a truth.” He also said “no one” can come to God apart from Him. The statement cannot be partly true or true just for some people. His language does not allow us to say “this is not for me.”
Actually, relativism tosses the Bible entirely. Even though they hope their neighbors will live by the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments, they say Scripture is not for them.
Those who study Scripture find that the Bible is not like other books. God speaks through it. He points at sin but also repeats His declaration of love and offers the Way to overcome that universal sin problem. He tells the truth, and while it often hurts, it also always heals and gives hope.
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