Tuesday, May 26, 2009

It's All relative


Read Matthew 24:25

We live in a society of relativism. Whatever situation arises in life, people tend to view their circumstance through eyes of self. If it feels good, it must be good. What is good for you may not be good for me, and what may be good for me may not be good for you. This mindset has crept into every fabric of our lives. Schools are afraid to fail someone because they are afraid of offending the student, whether the student is right or not, he/she is just expressing their creativity.
There are no absolutes in society anymore. It used to be that right and wrong in our society crossed racial, gender, financial and religious boundaries. I know of friends that I grew up with that stood for right and wrong even though they never darkened the doors of a church house. Somewhere, everything in America shifted from absolutes to relativism. I believe this is a tool that the adversary unleashed in society, especially in the education system, and he dressed it up in a nice term called political correctness. Political correctness is simply the concept of acting, speaking or even thinking that everyone has a viewpoint that is right in their mind, and no one can even question whether it is an absolute right or wrong.
People who reject absolute standards of right and wrong are often inconsistent. When they think they are being treated unfairly, they appeal to a standard of justice that they expect everyone to adhere to.
A philosophy professor began each new term by asking his class, “Do you believe it can be shown that there are absolute values like justice?” The free-thinking students all argued that everything is relative and no single law can be applied universally. Before the end of the semester, the professor devoted one class period to debate the issue. At the end, he concluded, “Regardless of what you think, I want you to know that absolute values can be demonstrated. And if you don’t accept what I say, I’ll flunk you!” One angry student got up and insisted, “That’s not fair!” “You’ve just proved my point,” replied the professor. “You’ve appealed to a higher standard of fairness.”
It is God who has given everyone a conscience to tell right from wrong (Rom. 2:14-15), and His moral standards are written in the Bible. Every time we use the words good and bad, we imply a standard by which we make such judgments. Biblical values are true for any age, because they originate with an eternal, unchanging God.
So remember, in the midst of a society that leans toward relativism and no boundaries, only God has the right to define what’s wrong.

“The idea of cultural relativism is nothing but an excuse to violate human rights.”
- Shirin Ebadi

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