“It’s all relative” is a popular saying these days. Have you ever given much thought to what that really means? There is a story that goes something like this: “If your nose is stuck in my rear-end, I have a nose up the butt, and you have a nose up the butt, but I am relatively better off than you”. The point being, the statement “it’s all relative” may impact me differently than it impacts you.
The New Age movement that was popular in the 1990’s was based on relativism in that anything can be true for one person, but nothing can be true for the whole world. So much of what we see happening in today’s culture and society has its roots in that movement. This thought is what is used to eliminate all moral basis, as we no longer have or use a perfect standard to judge accordingly. Essentially “anything goes”, and since God is a god of love, He surely accepts all and understands.
It is easy to see how that ties in to things today. For someone like me who grew up in a culture that had moral standards in place, it appears as if the whole world has been turned upside down and shaken uncontrollably. Right is now wrong, black is now white, freedom of speech doesn’t exist, and sin is no longer sin. And why wouldn’t it be that way if we didn’t have anything to guide us?
Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but by me.” He is our guide, our compass, our standard. Most importantly, He is our Redeemer, and through Him and Him alone can we be reconciled to The Most High God, Master and Creator of the universe and everything in it, Light and Love of the world. Apart from Him there is no hope.
Jesus also said in John 12:32 “If I be lifted up, I will draw men unto me.” It is my sincere prayer that churches in America abandon all “good causes” and lift Him up once again! If we don’t see Him lifted up, we are scattered!
How about you? Where do you stand? Do you really believe there is no absolute truth that is applicable for the whole world? If you think about who you are as an individual, it is correct to say there are things that are true for you that would not be for another person. But can you agree that there are certain things that are true no matter what the society, no matter what the culture, no matter what period of history? You can pick yourself up, so to speak, and place yourself within any of those, and still find certain things to be true: the heavens, colors, directions, physical law and gravity, and most importantly, the Creator of all of these, who is Christ Himself. Why? Because they were established by the great “I AM” before the foundations of the world and cannot be changed no matter what popular opinion insists upon.
Without absolute truth, we all find ourselves in the midst of falling for everything because we don’t have anything to stand upon. Life becomes pointless. Personal opinions are toted as hate speech, Churches are called upon to erase clear lines of right and wrong in fear of losing their tax status, Christians are being persecuted for their personal beliefs and ridiculed for not following the crowd, and most importantly, no one is looking to The Standard (who is Christ). Instead we are divided and conquered, and our freedoms continue to erode day by day. Romans chapter 1 verses 16 to 32 explain it better than I ever could:
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” 18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator–who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
Holding up the standard, the absolute truth that is Christ, is the purest form of love we can express. Anything outside of Him is a path straight to hell itself. Holding up the standard does not mean an indulgence in hate, as certain activist groups would have you believe. Condemning the sin is not the same as condemning the sinner; only the sinner can do that. Jesus spent much time with tax collectors and prostitutes, not to justify their lifestyles but to show them God’s love and that there is a better way. Without Jesus, our ethics and morals are all “relative” in the sense of the populist version of the relativity theory.
Alabastersky 