One of the most notorious contributions of post-modernism to our time in history is the supposed relative nature of truth. By this argument, there should be no colleges or universities teaching cultural relativism, since – according to their espoused philosophy – life has no meaning and truth is at best unknowable or at worst non-existent.
Taking these premises to their logical conclusion, college, teaching, study and even the professors themselves are all meaningless. The very statement, “truth is relative,” would be relative. The statement, “there is no meaning,” would by its own subjective rules be meaningless.
Despite these apparent contradictions, U. S. colleges and universities continue charging $61.8 billion worth of tuition dollars every single year. This doesn’t even include donations, housing, meals, etc. All that money for students to be told that everything they are told is meaningless.
Granted, not every school or teacher espouses these ideas, but there are a great number that do – and they rake in a treasure trove while doing it. The philosophy is then promulgated throughout society through the various jobs students get after graduation: teaching, media, health care, business and even ministry. Ravi Zacharias asked a great question of a certain educator that went something like this, “How is it that we teach our business students that ethics are irrelevant and then when they conduct business according to those values, we put them in jail.”
This kind of thinking is more than just an interesting excursion into the mind twisting world of philosophy. It has real world consequences. It leads to the kind of thinking that allows people to enthusiastically support abortion, while simultaneously being infuriated by the practice of declawing cats (True story.) It’s the kind of thinking that leads people to accept Jesus as their savior, but then believe that He is only one way to God when He clearly said He was the only way. (John 14:6)
According to a recent Barna Research Study, less than half of those claiming to be Christian actually try to live according to the teachings of Christ. The findings were staggering and all over the board. In addition to believing many religions worship the same God under different names, many also believe in a karma type faith where a person’s good needs to outweigh the bad. The Bible clearly teaches that Grace is by faith, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8)
I remember an old song from my youth that seems to sum things up well:
“On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand.
All other ground is sinking sand.”
Without the sure foundation of solid rock, our values and beliefs are sure to shift with the sands of time. Moral relativism and relativistic truth are not some great truisms that were ingeniously discovered by man. Indeed, to claim them is to deny them, yet many today teach this as intellectualism. The problem is, to be right they must be wrong. It reminds me of another scripture, “claiming to be wise, they became fools.” (Romans 1:22)
These ideas and beliefs are indeed meaningless. There is only one of two possible anchor points for these philosophies: man or demons (1 Timothy 4:1). If men, then we should judge them in light of man’s infinite capacity for evil and cruelty over the millennia. If demons, then no further argument is needed. Where are your truths anchored?
Shalom!