The Ambivalence of Truth—(Relativism)
Last week I started a series of blogs called “Doing Life God’s Way—In a Secular Culture.” I started by looking at Consumerism and the selling of cool and how that affects our lives. Today, I want to talk about how ambivalent we can be about truth and the serious affect that has upon what we believe is right or wrong; true or false. We live in a world where things are relative.
GRADED ACCORDING TO HEIGHT?
A philosophy professor at the University of Illinois, begins his introductory ethics classes by asking how many of the students believe that truth is relative. Usually about two-thirds to three-fourths of the class believes truth is relative. After discussing the syllabus, testing dates, papers and content of the course, the professor informs the class that they will be graded according to height. He says that short students get A's and tall students get F’s. About that time somebody says, “Your grading system is not fair.” But the teacher says, “I’m the professor and I can grade however I wish.” Students harrumph and grumble and insist, “But what you ought to do is grade us according to how well we learn the material. You should look at our papers and exams to see how well we have understood the content of the course and grade us on that.” The class nods in affirmation, especially the tall students! The Professor then replies, “By using words like should and ought, you betray your alleged conviction that truth is relative. If you were a true relativist, you would realize that there is no external standard to which my grading should conform. If my truth and my ethic lead me to an alternate grading system that you deem inappropriate, then according to relativism, I can grade however I wish.” He usually gets his point across before the first class begins.
We live in a relativistic culture that increasingly doesn't know how to think about morality and absolutes. I’m not suggesting there’s always an easy answer—that everything is clearly marked right or wrong. But most things we run into in this life are addressed in God’s Word.
AGAINST THE WIND
So many people today have been conditioned by our culture not to express opinions on right and wrong. Increasingly, we’re becoming a morally timid nation. More and more of us are willing to stand back and say, “Well, I guess it all depends on your perspective and what you think is true.” In the 2006 book “Unprotected” an anonymous campus psychiatrist writes:
“Radical politics pervades my profession, and common sense has vanished. Dangerous behaviors have become a right; judgments are prohibited because they might offend. Where I work, we're stuck on certain issues, but neglect others. We ask about childhood abuse, but not last week's hookups. We want to know how many cigarettes and coffees she has each day, but not how many abortions are in her past. We strive to combat suicide, but shun discussion of God and ultimate meaning to life.”
Yes, we live in a culture that’s promoting ambivalence to truth. It clouds our ability to make good decisions. If you're determined to know God’s truth and make daily decisions based upon that truth, you may feel like you're running against the winds of our culture. Never-the-less a Christian worldview says there are overarching truths that bring focus to the daily issues you face. Take a look at what King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 11:1,3…
1 The Lord detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him. 3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.
And while I’m thinking about this, look at Proverbs 12:22…
22 The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth.
A DEEPER DIVE
Back to Proverbs 11:1, “The Lord detests the use of dishonest scales.” Before electronic scales, people used balancing scales. They’re still used in developing countries today. To price fruit in the markets, they put a two-kilo stone on one end of the beam, and they stack fruit on the other end, until it balances out. The assumption is simple: the two-kilo stone actually weighs two kilos. Dishonest weights were a common practice in King Solomon’s day. Merchants would gain more profit by using lighter weights and consumers would receive less produce. God says, “I hate that kind of duplicity. The Lord detests lying lips.” Jesus took that idea and stated it this way in Matthew 5:36-37…
36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Jesus is giving a command here. He’s saying that truth is the Christ-follower’s lifestyle. In the original language, Matthew recorded the words of Jesus in the present imperative—which is a call to a long-term commitment; it calls for the attitude or action of the scriptural truth to be one’s continual way of life (lifestyle). What Jesus was saying is this…
“In your day to day relationships, live as if you’re under an oath to God to tell the truth. When you want to assert your commitment to, your opinion of, your intention, your belief, then simply say, “Yes,” this is my word. And when you desire to deny something, simply say, “No,” I won’t do that or participate in that or believe that.”
Jesus was calling his followers to have no ambivalence of truth in approach to life. Dwight Pentecost once wrote, “Let your character, your reputation for honesty, your word be so obviously true and without duplicity, that no person would think it necessary to put you under an oath because he might think you cannot be true to your word.” What people need to know about us is that there is only one possible way of interpreting our “yes.” Yes, does not mean no. The flip side of the coin is that people need to know that there is only one way to interpret your “no.” Jesus taught that your word is to be so trustworthy that others will not need debate what you meant or try to interpret what you said. They will know what you meant because you are an honest person. This clarity of truth is counter-cultural today, but it’s the only way to live out the truth of Jesus Christ.
NOT AN EASY PATH
In the Old Testament, God’s chosen people were ambivalent toward God and his truth. They became enculturated and ended up worshiping Baal, the culture’s favorite God. At the same time, they gave lip service to the one true God. The Israelites had run head long into the difficulty of living in their world and staying true to their relationship with God. What did God do? He said to them through his prophet Elijah, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
Living in an ambivalent world today is not an easy path. The more you live out the uniqueness and necessity of Jesus Christ as Savior, Leader, and King, the healthier and more expansive the message of Christ will be. However, as a consequence of living out your relationship with Jesus and his truth, you’ll also receive opposition, perhaps be shunned, and you may become oppressed by those who are hostile to God. There’s a cost to letting your yes be yes and your no be no, especially as it relates to God’s Biblical truth.
YOU CAN’T BE A RELATIVIST WHEN SKYDIVING
If you talked to skydivers, they would tell you that before you participate in a dive, the Jump Master will go through a few non-negotiable truths that skydiving insists upon. He would tell you, Don't curl up into the fetal position because you can slip out of your harness; Arch your back and hold your arms out in front of you, this will also keep you from slipping out of your harness and will get you falling in the correct position; Stick your legs out in front when landing; Do everything your jump master tells you to do, immediately. These are not negotiable, especially if you want to live. They are absolutes.
Now let’s say you decide to go to another skydiving outfit. A smiling instructor straps a parachute to your back and you start walking toward a plane that’s idling. Over the engine noise the instructor yells, “Okay, we here at the Relativist Skydiving School believe there are many ways to get from the plane to the ground. We respect everyone’s desire to skydive and we don't believe in absolute rules. Just listen to your inner voice, respond honestly to your feelings, and have a memorable experience. We'll see you when you get down!” If that was your experience, would you go skydiving? Most people who do are glad that there are strict, nonnegotiable rules. You can't be a relativist at skydiving. Skydiving truth is there for good reason. It keeps people alive! Well, God’s truth is there for a good reason. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” If Jesus is the way to God, the author of truth, and the giver of life then any cultural voice of relativism is superfluous, promotes ambivalence, and is dangerous to the Christ-follower.
NEXT STEP
1. Are you wavering between two opinions? Is our culture’s allure to relative truth influencing you and your family more than God’s truth? Take time this week to examine what has more pull over your life, God’s truth or our culture’s relative truth. Choose God!
