Often it seems that the world has lost its collective mind. In a recent Pew study, 50% of Millennials said they believe that a person can change the sex he or she was assigned at birth. This percentage changes drastically based on which side of the political spectrum the respondent falls. What’s more, 77% of college-educated Democrats believe that gender is whatever an individual person wants it to be!
While this view is (thankfully) still a minority among all age groups, the fact that so many millions of people are willing to discard basic biology, human physiology and common sense shows the dangers of accepting a relativistic worldview and thus compromising the truth of Scripture.
John Sorensen tackled the problem of sharing God’s eternal truth in a relativistic culture during a weeklong series on Share Life Today. John lays out the difference between absolute truth and relativism:
“Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.” (John 14:6a) And that is an absolute statement of absolute truth. So how do we discuss moral absolutes with those who believe in relativism? Well, we need to get people to think about truth in contrast to mere belief. Truth doesn’t change according to what we believe and our beliefs can be untrue. You see, at its core, belief or relativism is nothing more than an attempt to overrule the moral law that has been written on our hearts by saying, if I create the rules, then only I can judge my actions.”
John then draws a distinction between relativism and relative thinking.
“Relative thinking helps us to create order and to compartmentalize our thoughts. For example, if I ask you if the Eiffel Tower is tall, you might respond, ‘Well, tall compared to what?’ If the standard is a two story house, we can now debate, using an objective standard. Relativism, on the other hand, states that the objective standard is unknowable, not universally applicable, or is entirely useless. When sharing our faith, it’s helpful to know the difference.”
For more information on how to witness to skeptics in a culture steeped in relativism, I would encourage you to watch John’s new short video on this topic. Here’s the link.
