All non-believers are relativists:
One of the reasons I feel strongly about starting us off on relativism is so you can understand the mindset of an agnostic. I also wanted to relay that although it sounds like I’m stereotyping non-believers, moralistic relativism is the only standard available by which all agnostic people reason. As Christians we don’t have an objective moral code, we find our truth in scripture. I’d love to be able to say that every believer lives their life by these truths, but we don’t. The main difference is that we’re forgiven and we’re working on it. The relativist however, finds their truth in their own individual preference. This is also known as ethical subjectivism. Although they probably don’t want to acknowledge this, their moral standards are based on a combination of their individual preferences and the legal system. In other words, if abortion is legal, then it can’t be immoral unless they just have a personal opinion that it’s wrong. This is hardly new ground as this type of behavior was recorded in the book of Judges some 3000 years ago. Judges 21:25 says that “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
How it starts:
I have a co-worker with a teenage son. The boy was given a homework assignment and asked to write a paper on a news story based on an elderly man that killed his wife who was terminally ill. The couple was in their 80s and they had been married for over 60 years. Before he killed her she wrote out a letter to the police that stated that she asked him to do it out of love. This was euthanasia and not a crime of hate or revenge. His son was asked to write if this was wrong and if the man should be sentenced to prison. The teacher said that there were no right or wrong answers but rather that this was an assignment that forced students to think for themselves as to whether this was right or wrong. You see this is how relativism is planted in the minds of our children. If you use the Bible as your standard for moral truth then the answer is yes, this man killed his wife and should be forced to pay the earthly consequences. Our kids are being taught that right and wrong are subjective. That murder is only wrong when it crosses an individual threshold for tolerance. While I was studying relativism someone brought to my attention that there are now classes being taught in our state prisons, and funded with our tax dollars, that teach inmates about conscience and shame in an effort to teach criminals how to use these two God given tools in order to judge right from wrong. Am I the only person that finds it odd that our schools go to great lengths to teach our students that there is no shame or that right and wrong don’t exist? So we’re taking it out of schools, watching our prison populations increase exponentially and then teaching it after it’s too late. You see there’s no place for moral neutrality. You either have truth or you have relativism.
How we respond:
I want to keep the Gospel at the front of all of this. My goal in writing this (and hopefully your goal in reading it) is not so we can win a debate or keep score but rather that we can stay focused on the lost. The Gospel is not meant to terminate on our own individual salvation. It’s the reconciliation of all things back to God after the fall. But relativism is the shield that non-believers use to deflect our advancement, which is why it’s such a great starting point. There are some tactics that you can use to get around this initial deflection, and this blog would just be an excuse for me to use big words if I didn’t give you some practical application. One of the best ways to deal with a relativist is to always keep the ball in their court. If they are forced to continue to answer questions then it’s easier for them to see that they are planted in quicksand.
One conversation I was involved in recently went something like this (and most will) “Christians are always trying to judge everyone.” My response is always to give them the ball right back, “What do you mean?”….”Well, you all want to enforce your morality on the world.”….”What do you mean by morality”….”You know, your Biblical views”….”Well if you’re pushing back on my Biblical views then aren't you actually trying to push your morality on me?”….”No, I just think that everyone should be able to do what’s best for their self.”…”But that’s your morality, not mine.”… All of these confrontations will end in a stalemate, but it’s important for them to see that there is no such thing morally neutral. Relativism always commits suicide in the moment that reasoning begins. You might not baptize them right away, but at least they get the picture that morals are not relative. That’s the first step in seeing that you have to get your standards from somewhere.
I always find it funny that Christians are considered arrogant. As a Christian I’m the first to admit that I am in no real position to judge right and wrong, good and bad. In that admission I concede that I have to turn to an external source and my source is the word of God. He created us and gave us a book on how it all works. I’m simply not smart enough to go through life using my own opinions to set morality. I can’t see a shred of arrogance in submitting to scripture and admitting that I’m an idiot without it. For the relativist, they have to think that their brain or even the collective brain of society is smart enough to establish moral truth. Furthermore they have to think that human beings, in this moment, at this time, are at the apex of all human thought and reasoning.
Going Forward:
I’m afraid I have one more thing to cover
before I move off of relativism for good. Then we can move on to the fun stuff
like creation or evolution. I just didn't see how we could start there until we
got into the mind of the non-believer. Like any good coach would do, you have
to study the opponent first when developing a game plan. But before we get to
that, I've asked a good friend to put something together for me on Biblical
inerrancy and it’s in the works. I want to make sure we all have a good feel
for why we submit to scripture. There are tons of believers out there that have
doubts about the Bible, which is normal, but if we’re going to make scripture
the roots for our truth then it’s vital that we erase that doubt. Christianity
is not a blind faith and you have nothing to fear when presenting the Bible to
a non-believer. Skeptics have been around for thousands of years. Most of the
really intelligent ones have been baptized.