What Would Jesus Say to a Relativist?

 

 

Jesus Christ was not a relativist

Jesus cared passionately for truth, lived it perfectly, and argued for it convincingly.

How can we respond in a Christ-like way to relativism today?

 

 

I.                   What is Relativism?

 

A.    The denial of objective and absolute truth, in morals or religion

 

1.      Ancient: Protagoras: “Man is the measure of all things…”

 

2.      Contemporary: “Whatever works for you is fine.”

 

3.      Particular problem for teens: only 6% believe in absolute truth. See Josh McDowell, The Last Christian Generation

 

4.      Sean McDowell’s question to a group of teenagers

 

a.       Asked them to guess how many marbles in a jar

 

b.      Passed out candies and asked which of the flavors was the right flavor

 

c.       Asked which category the resurrection of Jesus belonged: an exact, factual answer (the marbles) or a question of taste (the candies)

 

d.      Most answered it was like the candies, a question of taste

 

B.     Relativism: The affirmation of the self or the culture as morally authoritative, not God or an objective moral law: autonomy

 

C.    Postmodern relativism: the linguistic angle on relativity: “truth decay”

 

D.    Relativism keeps people from the Gospel and supports moral laxity

 

1.      Crisis of authority and knowledge: moral and religious

 

2.      Is there objective, absolute truth and is it knowable?

 

3.      Christianity is a knowledge tradition; the knowledge of God and his ways revealed to humanity

 

 

II.                Jesus as a Thinker (see Doug Groothuis, On Jesus)

 

A.    Jesus addressed key intellectual issues of his day brilliantly (Matthew 22);

      Jesus was no relativist; he incarnated truth and confronted falsehood

 

1.      God and Caesar (22:15-23): Faced with an intellectual dilemma and spits it down the middle

 

2.      Marriage and the afterlife (22:23-33): a set up for Jesus to deny the Scripture or the resurrection. He affirms both without contradiction.

 

3.      Jesus as the “Son of David” (22:41-46): argument that Jesus is more than merely human.

 

B.     Jesus is our example and commands us to love him with all our mind (22: 37-40)

 

C.    The Great Commission involves “outthinking the world for Christ” (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 3:15-16)

 

·        Apologetics: showing Christianity to be true, reasonable, pertinent, and life-giving

 

 

III.             Approaching the Relativist as Jesus Would

 

A.    Love your neighbor and your intellectual enemy (Matthew 5:38-43)

 

B.     Get to know people as individuals (as Jesus did); this is not a game, but of life and death, heave and hell

 

C.    Ask people to explain what they believe and why: golden rule (Matthew 7:12). Dialogue, listening.

 

·        Pray for those who do not understand objective truth about morals and God. Satan wants to steel and destroy the seeds of truth. Pray against him in the full armor of God (Eph. 6:10-18)

 

D.    Relativism and tolerance: egalitarian about people; elitist about ideas (Kreeft).

 

1.      We tolerate what we disagree with, not what we agree with.

 

2.      Persuasion, not coercion

 

 

IV.              Refuting Relativism about Morality

 

A.    Give counterexamples to moral relativism: objective moral truth

 

1.      Examples of real, objective moral evil

 

a.       New York Times on 9/11

 

b.      Female genital mutilation worldwide, Aayan Hirsi Ali, Infidel

 

c.       “It is always wrong to torture the innocent for pleasure”

 

2.      Examples of real, objective moral goodness

 

a.       Mother Teresa

 

b.      Heroes of 9/11

 

B.     Explain the logical implications of moral relativism: nihilism (everything is meaningless)

                       

1.      Relativism means there is no objective moral truth; nothing there to know

 

2.      Truth collapses into culture, subjectivity, and preference

 

3.      If so, there is nothing ultimate or meaningful to live or die for

 

4.      Therefore, there is no moral or spiritual meaning to life larger than ourselves

 

C.    Another implication: self-refuting

 

1.      Version #1: “Everything is relative”; no absolutes at all—moral or otherwise

 

·        Self-refuting since it itself makes an absolute claim, which is forbids.

 

2.      Version #2: There are no moral absolutes, and it is wrong to think or live as if there were!

 

a.       “No moral absolutes” is false, but not self-refuting (since it is not a moral statement)

 

b.      But it is self-refuting when you say one ought not believe in moral absolutes.

 

D.    Provide an alternative worldview (understanding of reality that makes moral sense): Christianity

 

1.      All truth is based on the perfect character of God, the supreme personal and moral being

 

2.      It is made known through creation, conscience, and Scripture through God’s revelation.

 

E.     We all experience “true moral guilt” (Francis Schaeffer)

 

1.      Thought experiment: judge yourself by your own judgments

 

2.      Christ alone offers forgiveness and new life; we cannot justify ourselves or wash away our sins by good works

 

20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.—Romans 3:20.

 

 

V.                 Refuting Relativism about Religion

 

A.    Relativism: All religions are spiritually acceptable; choose the best for you

 

1.      Generated by pluralism and a lack of proclamation and defense of Christianity as objectively and absolutely true

 

2.      Keeps people from considering the unique claims and credentials of Jesus Christ, just one of many ways, masters, teachers.

 

B.     Christian response:

 

1.      Religions teach very different things about reality: Islam and Christianity, for example

 

2.      God cannot be both Allah (numerically one) and the Trinity (three in one; Jesus is God Incarnate)

 

3.      They cannot both be true, given basic logical principles (noncontradiction)

 

C.    Christianity claims to be objectively and absolutely true: Jesus is the only way to salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5)

 

·        Evidence to back it up.

 

 

VI.              From Relativism to Jesus Christ

 

A.    There is moral truth—and we have transgressed it (Romans 3:9-20)

 

1.      God image bearers have gone tragically wrong (Eccles. 7:20, 29)

 

a. 20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
       no one who does what is right and never sins.

 

b. 29 This only have I found:
       God created humankind upright,
       but they have gone in search of many schemes.

 

2.      We are helpless to right this wrong ourselves

 

            Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is             written: "There is no one righteous, not even one”—Romans 3:9-            10.

 

B.     There is religious truth—all religions cannot be one; one must assess, judge the truth about this

 

C.    Jesus is the truth that sets the captives free (John 8:31-32; 14:6)

 

D.    This must be taught, preached, and lived across the full spectrum of life before the watching world. Jesus demands nothing less. And without Jesus working in us, we are helpless to do so.

 

 

 

Resources:

 

1.      Douglas Groothuis web page: www.DougGroothuis.com.

2.      Douglas Groothuis, Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenge of Postmodernism (InterVarsity Press, 2000).

3.      Douglas Groothuis, On Jesus (Wadsworth, 2003).

4.      Greg Kokl and Francis Beckwith, Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air (Baker Books, 1998).