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Dr. Clay Jones
Today we constantly hear things like, “That’s your truth,” “That’s your reality,” “Who are you to judge?” Sadly, this is a symptom of a thinking disease called relativism. Relativism is the belief that there is no absolute or objective moral truth. In short, the relativist believes that you have your truth and that I have my truth and that there is no truth with a capital T.1 So prevalent is this thinking disease that according to Barna only one-third of adults believe in absolute [or objective] moral truth.2
Of course, this disease isn’t brand new. When Jesus told Pilate that He “came into the world to testify to the truth,” Pilate retorted, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38). Indeed, the Romans were syncretistic—they had no problem accepting the worship of other gods. As Frances Schaffer has pointed out, the Romans didn’t hate the Christians because they worshipped Jesus—the Romans hated the Christians because the Christians would worship only Jesus.
Similarly, today, relativists ignore those Christians-in-name-only who don’t think Christianity any more true than any other religion. Relativists welcome these truthless Christians as their own. What irks the relativist is that true Christians argue that only Christianity is true and every other religion is false. That belief is not only unpopular, it has gotten tens of thousands of Christians killed over the centuries.
This is important for our evangelism because if before we begin our witness we don’t treat the disease of relativism, then they will hear our Gospel proclamation as no more than a “this is what works for me” religion that in their minds is as truthless as a jelly fish is toothless.
Thankfully, the symptoms of relativism are obvious. Those in its grip spout things like, “that’s your truth” or “who are you to judge.” When I encounter these folks—which I have many times—I give them what I have coined the Truth SERUMM.
