Absolutely

One principle that today’s intellectuals most passionately disseminate is vulgar relativism.  For them it is certain that there is no truth, only opinion: my opinion, your opinion.  They abandon the defense of the intellect; those who surrender the domain of the intellect make straight the road to fascism.  Totalitarianism is the will-to-power unchecked by any regard for truth.  To surrender the claims of truth upon humans is to surrender Earth to thugs.  Vulgar relativism is an invisible gas, odorless, deadly, that is now polluting every free society on earth.  It is a gas that attacks the central nervous system of moral striving.  “There is no such thing as truth,” they teach even the little ones. “Truth is bondage. Believe what seems right to you.  There are many truths as there are (many) individuals.  Follow your feelings.  Do as you please.  Get in touch with yourself.” Those who speak in this way prepare the jail of the twenty-first century.  They do the work of tyrants.

                                                                                  Michael Novak

     After participating in a rather spirited forum recently a man posed the following question to myself and several others. "Isn't it possible that we both can hold to absolute truths that are opposite each other?"  I was incredulous at the question and wondered if the gentleman even understood the meaning of the words he used. He was suggesting that if I truly believe something to be true - then it becomes truth; my truth, devised by me, defended by me, and undergirding my life.  The very concepts of "absolute" and "truth" seems to elude many people in our culture. A thing is not true because it has been established by some absolute authority - it is what I want it to be, and because I want it to be, this renders it absolute. "Truth" is broad and inclusive. It has a huge tent which has room for many, many ideas - even opposing ideas.

Consider this. Truth is not broad and inclusive. It is by its very nature narrow and exclusive. A thing is either true, or it is untrue - and if a thing is true, its opposite must be false; it cannot be simultaneously true. Jesus claims that He is the ONLY way to God. If this is true, then all claims to the contrary must be false.  Jesus said, "No man comes to the Father, but by Me." Either this is a true statement or it is a lie. Jesus cannot be A way in the midst of many ways, because He claims to be the ONLY way. 

Public-opinion research points to a deepening paradox in our  society: the combination of commitment to religion with a deepening moral relativism.  For example, while 91 percent of the American people consider religion very important in their lives, 63 percent reject the concept of absolutes. I think it may be true that many  people, even mane "Christians," do not want absolutes in doctrine and ethics, simply because absolute truths and standards demand absolute acceptance and obedience.

The other comment that was made during our recent discussion referred to "education absent of worldview." I was stunned so much that I asked someone sitting next to me if I actually heard the comment correctly. Education absent of worldview suggests that our public school systems disseminate information absent from any specific worldview.  Allow me to rebut that statement pretty succinctly - there is no such thing as education absent of worldview. There is no such thing because there is no such thing as a teacher without a worldview. We all view the world through a certain set of lenses and it would be impossible to teach anything absent of that worldview. This is precisely why we withdrew our children from the public school system when our oldest son (now 38) was in the third grade. We realized that our children were not being educated, they were being indoctrinated. Indoctrinated  by a worldview that was diametrically opposed to the worldview that we hold. Indoctrinated by a worldview that did not honor God, did not honor the values of our heritage, did not account the Holy Scriptures as authoritative and holy; did not believe in absolute truth handed down by an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent and Living God. 

SOMEone is going to affect the worldview of our children. My wife determined that if this is true - it would be us, because it we are charged with this responsibility in the Holy Scriptures. SOMEone is going to determine how my children view the world, view God, view life, view ethics and morality. SOMEone is going to shape how they think, about life, morals, sexuality, truth, and integrity - I decided that SOMEone was going to be me.  This is true because everyone has a worldview that impacts their thinking and actions. 

A subtle infection has begun to impact the Body of Christ. It is a practical rejection of absolute truth. Oh, I say "I believe God," but I live as if His words, commandments, and guidance is optional. It has impacted marriage, life style choices, ethical decisions, morality, and every other area of the life of the church. As a result we are watching the disintegration of the Christian family on a par with the family that is outside of Christ. The divorce rate is the same in the church as it is in the world. Christians now are making life style choices (we call them "preferences" in a politically correct society) that are clearly in disobedience to God's Word without shame and without guilt - because we no longer hold to the absolute truth of God's Word. Choices that brought curses under the Old Covenant we falsely believe are now condoned under the New Covenant so that people live in sin and still expect God's blessings. Large segments of the church support the taking of innocent lives through the sin of abortion; condoning, even promoting the sin of homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. Charlatans, with REV. in front of their name are robbing people blind, falsifying miracles, proclaiming spurious prophecies for gain, living lives of gross immorality and debauchery in the full view of all - because we no longer believe that Jesus is coming with a sharp two-edged sword to judge the quick and the dead.

Those who are not so living are often afraid to speak. Afraid of prosecution, afraid of retribution, afraid of appearing to be judgmental.  When one dares to speak up, he is branded a legalist, a pharisee, a perverter of the grace of God. 

Believer, we must return to the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We must return to the God who flung the stars and planets across the heavens and blew into man the breath of life. We must return to the God who sent His only begotten Son into the world that all who would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.  We must return to the God who said, "I set before you blessings and curses, life and death - choose life."

We must begin to live.......................well, absolutely.