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[Note<\/strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2<\/strong>\u00a0 page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Is 7 the sum of 2+2? Is \u201cup\u201d above us or below us? Does the law of gravity operate only in certain cultures? Is the rape of a seven-year-old child good, neither good nor evil, or evil? Can black be both black and white simultaneously? Is truth<\/em>, like beauty<\/em>, only in the eye of the beholder? Such questions accentuate the philosophical current of our time\u2014relativism. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Relativism <\/em>and its first cousins, subjectivism, agnosticism, <\/em>and humanism<\/em>, are hardly new concepts, dating at least back to the Greek sophist, Protagoras, 2500 years ago. His credo, a thing \u201cis to me such as it appears to me, and is to you such as it appears to you,\u201d well expresses the mantra of today\u2019s pervasive your-truth, my-truth <\/em>postmodernism.<\/span><\/p>\n Relativism <\/em>manifests itself in many areas of our lives, including science, art, entertainment, politics, morals, historical perspective, and religion. It has led to the tyranny of \u201cpolitical correctness,\u201d \u201csituation ethics,\u201d revisionism of history, and to displaying human waste as \u201cart.\u201d In religion, relativism <\/em>holds that there is no one true, exclusive religion; the same religion can be true for one person, while not true for others.<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, relativism <\/em>denies the existence of absolute, objective truth at all, with one notable exception, which is the relativist\u2019s Achilles\u2019 heel: He cannot even state his creed without advocating at least one thing he believes to be an absolute, objective truth. His creed is that all things are relative<\/strong>. We immediately want to ask him if his creed is absolute and objective. If he answers \u201cNo,\u201d why should we hear his palaver? If he answers \u201cYes,\u201d he thereby denies what he has affirmed. Absolute, objective truth to the relativist is that there is no absolute, objective truth. Relativism <\/em>is thereby exposed as the manifestation of irrationality that it is.<\/span><\/p>\n Since there is this one exception to his thesis, might there be more? If there is absolute truth in mathematics (i.e., 2+2=4), might there not be in other areas of thought, including religion\u2014matters of the soul? The relativist despises the Bible, principally because it dares to make absolute, exclusive truth claims: \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me\u201d (John 14:6).<\/span><\/p>\n Relativists charge Christians with arrogance, all the while arrogantly advocating relativism<\/em>. Relativists boast of their tolerance, all the while having no tolerance for the Bible\u2019s truth claims. Relativists despise evangelism by Christians, all the while eagerly seeking converts to their irrational dogma.<\/span><\/p>\n [Note:<\/strong> I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, <\/em>weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, August 24, 2008, of which I was editor.]<\/span><\/p>\n Attribution:<\/strong> From thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Views: 0[Note:\u00a0 This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 2\u00a0 page.] Is 7 the sum of 2+2? Is \u201cup\u201d above us or below us? Does the law of gravity operate only in certain cultures? Is the rape of a seven-year-old child…<\/p>\n