Because of relativism, “tolerance” is another word that gets tossed around a lot in our culture. We’re told that we need to be more tolerant.
Being tolerant used to mean simply putting up with something that you disagreed with. But now because of relativism—and its teaching that there is no such thing as something that’s absolutely true for everyone—when people play the “be tolerant” card, they’re really implying that we should accept all beliefs as true.
But accepting all beliefs as true is impossible because different religions claim that contradictory things are true.
For instance, Christianity teaches that Jesus rose from the dead. Islam teaches that Jesus never died. How can both be true? They’re opposites. They contradict each other. Hindus believe that people’s souls live in cows. Muslims don’t believe that. Either people’s souls live in cows or they don’t. How can both be true? Islam teaches that Allah, the god of Islam, is unknowable and impersonal. But Scripture teaches that Yahweh, the God of Christianity, wants us to know Him on a personal level. How can both of those gods be the one, true, infinite, all-powerful God? It’s impossible.
Relativism is also behind the idea that all religions teach the same thing—that we ought to get along and love each other. But that simply isn’t true. The major world religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, New Age—disagree about practically every major issue, including what God is like, the nature of man, sin, salvation, heaven, and hell. Those are extremely important issues!
Since Christianity is true, it’s actually unloving for Christians to suggest to anyone who holds opposing religious beliefs that their beliefs are true as well. Why? Because if they believe lies, it could cost them eternal life with the God who made them. Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6), and accepting His death on our behalf is the only way that our sins can be paid for. So acting as if someone else’s beliefs are true when they contradict that essential truth is very unloving.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to love and accept people. That doesn’t mean accepting their beliefs. We can respect the beliefs of others, but we also need to lovingly tell them the truth about Jesus. To not do so is very unloving.
But wait! Isn’t “Don’t judge” a biblical statement? Isn’t it a sin for us to judge other people? A lot of people use Matthew 7:1-5 as biblical backup for why we shouldn’t judge others. But that passage is about judging other people hypocritically. God’s Word actually instructs us judge ideas and beliefs. He wants us to judge, evaluate, and investigate ideas. He doesn’t want us to blindly accept lies. Read Matthew 7:15-23 and 1 John 4:1.
Visit www.ywspace.org and check out the Beliefs charts we made comparing the teachings of Christianity to the teachings of other religions—Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses. The major world religions teach very different things, so they can’t all be true. First and foremost, let’s love the people who ascribe to these beliefs, and as an act of love we can respect their beliefs, but we don’t have to act as if those beliefs are true.
[from YouthWalk e-Devo]
20 October 2008
More on Relativism
Relativism muddies the waters of morality. When there are disagreements about what is right and wrong in certain situations, relativists like to say, “See? There is no absolute morality. It’s all just people’s opinion.” But arguing over what’s right and wrong doesn’t mean that there isn’t an absolute right and wrong in every situation. It just means people disagree about it—even if God’s Word is very clear.
God has promised us that His ways are the truth and they lead to life. Disobedience to His ways lead to death. As Paul explained: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Take, for example, one of the saddest products of relativism—abortion. There are obviously differing opinions about the “morality” of abortion—some people say that a woman has a right to the freedom to control her own body; others think that a woman should not be allowed to end an unborn child’s life. Relativists use these differing opinions to say that there isn’t an absolute moral law in this case, just people’s opinions.
Oddly enough, each side of the argument is protecting what it thinks is a moral value: Those against abortion are defending the value that life should be protected, and those for abortion are defending the value that a woman should have freedom over her body. In the case of abortion, the real issue is about which value is greater or more important—is life more important, or is a woman’s freedom over her body more important? Since the unborn are human beings, a baby’s right to life is the value that should win out because a person’s right to life outweighs a person’s right to individual freedom. Even if there’s a debate on when life actually begins, abortion is still always wrong because it robs the unborn of the opportunity to live.
Even though there may be debate about what’s right, that doesn’t mean that the truth about what’s right and what’s wrong doesn’t exist at all. The disagreement about abortion exists because people are ignoring the Moral Law so that they can do what they want to do.
God has given us the absolute Moral Law in His Word. Moral values are absolute—even if we don’t quite understand how to apply them in certain circumstances and even if we don’t always live by them.
When you’re struggling with what it looks like to honor God in a certain moral situation, ask Him to guide you, and ask some of His faithful followers to help you. He promises that He’ll give you wisdom whenever you ask for it: “If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you” (James 1:5 NLT).
When you know what is right and true in a situation, don’t let other people’s arguments about the matter sway you. Ask yourself: What are these people looking to get out of this situation? What motivation could they have for disobeying God? Behind their lofty arguments and philosophies will be the fact that they simply want to do what they want to do
[From YouthWalk e-Devo]
God has promised us that His ways are the truth and they lead to life. Disobedience to His ways lead to death. As Paul explained: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Take, for example, one of the saddest products of relativism—abortion. There are obviously differing opinions about the “morality” of abortion—some people say that a woman has a right to the freedom to control her own body; others think that a woman should not be allowed to end an unborn child’s life. Relativists use these differing opinions to say that there isn’t an absolute moral law in this case, just people’s opinions.
Oddly enough, each side of the argument is protecting what it thinks is a moral value: Those against abortion are defending the value that life should be protected, and those for abortion are defending the value that a woman should have freedom over her body. In the case of abortion, the real issue is about which value is greater or more important—is life more important, or is a woman’s freedom over her body more important? Since the unborn are human beings, a baby’s right to life is the value that should win out because a person’s right to life outweighs a person’s right to individual freedom. Even if there’s a debate on when life actually begins, abortion is still always wrong because it robs the unborn of the opportunity to live.
Even though there may be debate about what’s right, that doesn’t mean that the truth about what’s right and what’s wrong doesn’t exist at all. The disagreement about abortion exists because people are ignoring the Moral Law so that they can do what they want to do.
God has given us the absolute Moral Law in His Word. Moral values are absolute—even if we don’t quite understand how to apply them in certain circumstances and even if we don’t always live by them.
When you’re struggling with what it looks like to honor God in a certain moral situation, ask Him to guide you, and ask some of His faithful followers to help you. He promises that He’ll give you wisdom whenever you ask for it: “If you need wisdom—if you want to know what God wants you to do—ask him, and he will gladly tell you” (James 1:5 NLT).
When you know what is right and true in a situation, don’t let other people’s arguments about the matter sway you. Ask yourself: What are these people looking to get out of this situation? What motivation could they have for disobeying God? Behind their lofty arguments and philosophies will be the fact that they simply want to do what they want to do
[From YouthWalk e-Devo]
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