What is Relativism?
Relativism is the
belief that no one truth can apply to everyone. It’s the stance that everyone is entitled to
their opinion unless their opinion claims that your opinion is wrong. It’s being applied in nearly every aspect of
our culture, but the two we deal with most are religious relativism and moral
relativism. Religious relativism plays out in comments
like this; "Jesus is not the only way to heaven, there are multiple views on God
and many ways to heaven. Just because
Jesus is your way to eternal life, doesn't mean Muslims or Mormons are wrong." Religious relativism is similar to pluralism,
but they are not the same thing.
Pluralism states that multiple religions share some of the same beliefs
but all eventually reach a level of exclusivity. Moral relativism applies to numerous topics,
but I’ll use the example of abortion. A
relativist will say that murder is clearly wrong, while saying that the right
to abort an unborn child is fine for some people. The belief is that killing someone is fine for some people, but not for others and that the moral standard for behavior is based on the individual. The inconsistency
in this pattern of belief is all too obvious.
The moment you say that no one has truth then you are asserting that you
alone have found the truth.
How this applies to apologetics:
The reason I started
with relativism is so you can know what you’re up against. Relativism has penetrated our society to the
point that using the Gospel to declare religious exclusivity is practically a
hate crime. As believers, we know that
there is one way to eternal life. But
trying to tell that to a world where everyone gets a participation trophy is
challenging. People call you a bigot for
claiming that you alone hold the truth, yet see their truth as tolerant and
enlightened. We are all influenced by
culture to be loving and respectful of other lifestyles and beliefs to the
point that we’re afraid to share our faith.
Jesus was tolerant
to the lost sinners of the world that he walked upon while in human form, but
he was no relativist. John 14:6 offers
no wiggle room to the religious relativist. When it came to the Pharisees,
Jesus was intolerant and confrontational.
So much so that he was killed for it.
In Matthew 7:13 Jesus made it clear that the gate was narrow, he didn't leave room for a group to come in and widen the gate when society permits. Relativism
is a dark pattern of behavior disguised by acceptance and kindness. It’s an attempt at widening the gate. It’s a failure.
Going Forward:
This was the first
in a short series of posts on relativism.
I think it’s that important. It’s
necessary to explore the effects on relativism on our culture so we can know
what we’re up against. The mission is
not to fully explore this philosophy, but rather to explore how it impacts the
way we share the Gospel.