As I ponder the contents for FBC’s next Beacon magazine I keep coming back to trust and the obvious accompaniment, truth.
I have long known about relativism, the teaching that all truth is relative to a fixed point. So, in essence, there can be many ideas about truth each as valid as another. So, I could say that 2+2 = 4 and you could say 2+2= 5 and we could both be right in the world of relativism.
While I appreciate and concede that some understanding is influenced by our upbringing, culture etc., I must say that I believe truth is truth. If we disagree about something it must be that one of us is right and you are wrong :).
More recently I came across a philosophy prevalent in many of the emerging church circles, and that is philosophical pluralism. It is very close to relativism, it ties in with post-modernism and several other man-made ideas.
What philosophical pluralism allows is for an individual to say "I believe Jesus is the only Way, Truth and Life" and then turn around and say, "I believe God can save people in many different ways." Here is a video of philosophical pluralism at work:
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPeYUXuuRUM]No doubt I’ll be putting more on the blog about this in coming months but this is a start.
This article got me thinking about it this evening though: http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2007-08-14-n43.html
Why are people so prepared to trust Google, even with their HEALTH, yet they will not trust the tried and tested Word of God? They accept truth that is offered by some anonymous website but not Christians in their lives or the Bible?
Is it simply out of choice? They know it is true but do now WANT to believe it?
Is it because of unfaithful Christians? They have seen a Christian without character or who has in some way acted as a stumbling block and been put off.
The responsibility of the Christian is without a doubt challenging. Yet, that is the very reason for which God has left us here – to be a witness to the truth.
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