You know them. They're the ones that refuse to admit to any absolute right or wrong. Everything is morally ambiguous to them. The moral relativist. To them tolerance is a virtue for all those that believe...well...they believe you should believe nothing. Their rules though do not apply to themselves. These folks believe that we as Christians should just let everybody be as they are, especially if they are "good" people (good in their opinion, because in their universe you as a Christian are not allowed a judgement on what is good or bad).
The truth is that regardless of how open-minded moral relativists claim to be or appear, there are plenty of things they will not tolerate. The first and foremost thing they will not tolerate is Christianity and Christians. They are intolerant tolerant people. A true system of no right and wrong (but only in their own mind). If you are a Christian they only tolerate you if you keep your mouth shut and agree with their opinion, otherwise your a target for their criticism or attacks. If you do not think like them...you will not be tolerated.
Nor do they see their intolerance of you as a Christian as being hypocritical as they feel they are doing society a favor by tearing you down and putting you in your place. They hate you for your beliefs and that fact that you "cram" them down their throats....funny, I thought I was just talking to them. You know, communicating like others humans do. I guess we're not human to them?
There are no foundations in the moral relativist's life that are based in unchanging standards of wrong and right. For a Christian, living by this distorted philosophy is not possible. You either believe their is an absolute unchanging standard of right and wrong which for a Christian is the Bible or you do not. You cannot hold both opinions simultaneously, they are by their nature contradictory and violate the Law of Non-Contradiction. As the Bible clearly says:
Isaiah 5:20:
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil"
Isaiah 5:24:
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
In the moral relativists point-of-view everyone is a victim. A victim of their parents, society, abuse, you name it...your a victim. Your parents didn't pay you enough attention. Your parents paid you too much attention. They didn't pay the right kind of attention (even though a MR would never acknowledge that a "right" attention exists). It is a way to defer blame from one's self and not take accountability for one's actions. We see this everywhere in society. It is pervasive. It has utterly overburden and already overtaxed legal system in the United States with frivolous lawsuits (even though a MR would never acknowledge that any lawsuit concerning a victim was frivolous). Lawsuits that demand and absolute ruling concerning a person that does not believe in right our wrong.
Are you beginning to sense the lunacy of this worldview?
Moral relativism by its nature was non-traditional and at the time of its inception...rebellious and appealing to non-conformist types. As a fad it is now tending to run its course. I am beginning to see that the Millennial Generation those that have come of age after 2000 are of an absolute bend. They want absolutes. They want to see right and wrongs defined. The "so-called" rebellious tolerant types are now beginning to become passe. I guess they aren't/weren't as "cutting edge" as they thought they were. As a matter of fact, they and their ilk (like the Emergent Church) are a fad for sure...and old one. Of course it is being replaced by things that are just as vitriolic and aggressive towards the faith of the Bible. The venom from this quarter never stops, it just changes forms. It is not that they don't like religion, its just that they want you to pick a more pluralistic or flexible one. A tolerant and inclusive one like the eastern religions (Buddhism,which really isn't tolerant or inclusive...do your history).
Moral Relativists...they believe all is fair....for them, not for you. There is no absolute standard of morality. They believe having total freedom to do whatever you want is the surest way to be as happy as you possibly could be. Have you ever seen an addict do as many drugs as he wants? He usually ends up dead. If not dead, he ends up strung out, broke and miserable. Sure sounds like pure joy, huh?
As a Christian our orthodoxy and doctrine makes us exclusivist. Jesus was clear what is expected of us as believers if we expect eternal life. Christianity is not one of a multitude of ways to reach God...it is the only way. To disbelieve in Jesus Christ and His ministry, Crucifixion and Resurrection is to bail on and dismiss Christianity altogether. There is no middle ground. Not intolerant...definitive. Sure beats the ambiguities of the other religions.
John 14:6
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"
I could go on ad nauseum about these poor deluded folks but you get the idea. But then again, if you're a moral relativist perhaps you don't get the idea do you? Your ideology is not willing to let your mind go there will it? It won't let your mind go to a place when linear and sound thought is possible because your minds have been seared by faulty reasonings and sin. As Paul Newman once said in Cool Hand Luke, "Gotta get my mind right, right boss?" Until people begin to square their thought processes with rational thinking and sound reasoning like that expounded upon in the Bible, there will continue to be what we have had in the past "failure to communicate". Please start with John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 or Matthew 1:1 but at least start somewhere and stop trying to pass off emotion as reason and doing things solely because you "feel" they are right and "you think" they are right. Do your homework. Please morally ground your thought processes instead of ideologically/politically and stop being so intellectually arrogant. So arrogent that you refuse to consider other possibilities outside a morally ambivalent world. A world that isn't truly ambivalent and tolerant because the truth is, as a rule of thumb, they hate Christianity. It is the one thing they are not relativistic about or tolerant about. I would venture to say that the reason they are so pluralistic is because Christianity is not. I would even be bold enough to say that the reason why moral relativists are so tolerant of everything else is because the things they are being tolerant of are not Christianity.
Gotta get your mind right with the Boss.
_
The truth is that regardless of how open-minded moral relativists claim to be or appear, there are plenty of things they will not tolerate. The first and foremost thing they will not tolerate is Christianity and Christians. They are intolerant tolerant people. A true system of no right and wrong (but only in their own mind). If you are a Christian they only tolerate you if you keep your mouth shut and agree with their opinion, otherwise your a target for their criticism or attacks. If you do not think like them...you will not be tolerated.
Nor do they see their intolerance of you as a Christian as being hypocritical as they feel they are doing society a favor by tearing you down and putting you in your place. They hate you for your beliefs and that fact that you "cram" them down their throats....funny, I thought I was just talking to them. You know, communicating like others humans do. I guess we're not human to them?
There are no foundations in the moral relativist's life that are based in unchanging standards of wrong and right. For a Christian, living by this distorted philosophy is not possible. You either believe their is an absolute unchanging standard of right and wrong which for a Christian is the Bible or you do not. You cannot hold both opinions simultaneously, they are by their nature contradictory and violate the Law of Non-Contradiction. As the Bible clearly says:
Isaiah 5:20:
"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil"
Isaiah 5:24:
Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
In the moral relativists point-of-view everyone is a victim. A victim of their parents, society, abuse, you name it...your a victim. Your parents didn't pay you enough attention. Your parents paid you too much attention. They didn't pay the right kind of attention (even though a MR would never acknowledge that a "right" attention exists). It is a way to defer blame from one's self and not take accountability for one's actions. We see this everywhere in society. It is pervasive. It has utterly overburden and already overtaxed legal system in the United States with frivolous lawsuits (even though a MR would never acknowledge that any lawsuit concerning a victim was frivolous). Lawsuits that demand and absolute ruling concerning a person that does not believe in right our wrong.
Are you beginning to sense the lunacy of this worldview?
Moral relativism by its nature was non-traditional and at the time of its inception...rebellious and appealing to non-conformist types. As a fad it is now tending to run its course. I am beginning to see that the Millennial Generation those that have come of age after 2000 are of an absolute bend. They want absolutes. They want to see right and wrongs defined. The "so-called" rebellious tolerant types are now beginning to become passe. I guess they aren't/weren't as "cutting edge" as they thought they were. As a matter of fact, they and their ilk (like the Emergent Church) are a fad for sure...and old one. Of course it is being replaced by things that are just as vitriolic and aggressive towards the faith of the Bible. The venom from this quarter never stops, it just changes forms. It is not that they don't like religion, its just that they want you to pick a more pluralistic or flexible one. A tolerant and inclusive one like the eastern religions (Buddhism,which really isn't tolerant or inclusive...do your history).
Moral Relativists...they believe all is fair....for them, not for you. There is no absolute standard of morality. They believe having total freedom to do whatever you want is the surest way to be as happy as you possibly could be. Have you ever seen an addict do as many drugs as he wants? He usually ends up dead. If not dead, he ends up strung out, broke and miserable. Sure sounds like pure joy, huh?
As a Christian our orthodoxy and doctrine makes us exclusivist. Jesus was clear what is expected of us as believers if we expect eternal life. Christianity is not one of a multitude of ways to reach God...it is the only way. To disbelieve in Jesus Christ and His ministry, Crucifixion and Resurrection is to bail on and dismiss Christianity altogether. There is no middle ground. Not intolerant...definitive. Sure beats the ambiguities of the other religions.
John 14:6
"Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me"
Gotta get your mind right with the Boss.
_
2 comments:
1. I feel no need to argue with a moral relativist. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
2. If I am cramming my morals onto a moral relativist, they should be upset with me. Christ did not call me to do this. Jesus is calling people to follow Him. I should be doing the same. An invitation to follow starts with walking the first step, not “believing everything the way I do.”
3. If I do not cram my morals down their throat, yet they still hate me for who I am, then I will continue to love them gently and rejoice, because Jesus told me that they would not like me. The problem comes when Christians act like jackasses toward people, causing people to hate them, and then they are proud to be hated because “Christ said I would be hated because of Him.”
4. Inside the church, on the other hand, moral relativism is a different issue. I, however, have not run into a lot of this in the church. I know it exists, I just haven’t had to deal with it much.
5. Thanks for the challenging thoughts.
Good points Philsthrills. Please understand that sometimes (as in the case of this series of posts) I am intentionally being snarky to solicit a response from a group that is normally apathetic or even aggressive towards believers. There is no passivity or neutral ground. At times it is the only way to cross the chasm that has formed between the world and Christians. As for bludgeoning people...I gave that up years ago as it is a waste of their time and mine. Yelling on a soapbox on crowded street corners is not my style. I'd rather buy folks a soda and talk about the Phillies game first and then segue...peace brother.
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