Spiritual Shopping
The idea of post-modernism has been on my mind lately. My friend Hugh Williams blogged on it just today, but my brain was on the topic all last week. In one of those “year in remembrance” spots, I heard a sound bite from the late Peter Jennings that said something to this effect:
“Since I’ve lived in the Middle East, I’ve learned that there is no absolute truth that applies to all people. Anytime I hear a story I instinctively begin to look for the other side of the coin.”
I also heard a sound bite from a talk show host comparing Christians to Muslim terrorists because of their belief in an absolute truth. (Like the idea that God will judge sin and taking on the responsibility of being the judge yourself are the same thing.) The talk show host then put on his theologian hat and said, “The idea of God being ‘jealous’ is a biblical misinterpretation. Anyone who reads the Bible knows that when God said, ‘You shall have no other gods before me,’ He was speaking directly to Moses and the Israelites, not everybody.”
Maybe that’s my problem. I’ve been studying the Bible to find out what God is like — what He values, what He loves, what He hates, and what He expects of me. Maybe I should just accept one of the views that post-modernism offers:
A) God expects different things from different people
B) God expects nothing from anyone
If I go with idea A. then how do I know what He expects from me? I’m almost halfway done with my life and He hasn’t delivered a customized set of standards to me yet. I’ve got kids to raise and I don’t even know what God expects of me. How can I teach my children about right and wrong if God could expect a completely different set of standards from them?
If I go with idea B. then I’ll just follow my heart and do what I feel. I’ll just set my own standards of goodness (for posterity) because God doesn’t have any. He is love and freely gives eternal life to everyone. Heaven will be one big party. I can’t wait to get up there and ask Hitler, “Hey man, what the heck were you thinking?” Then we can just sit back and laugh at it all over a few drinks. (Hitler believed he was doing “good” and “right” too.)
Maybe I should go with option C and not believe in God at all. According to post-modernism, I would be just as correct as I was the very second before when I DID believe in God.
No absolutes, no truth, no right, no wrong — so many choices. What option would you take?
January 4th, 2006 at 11:10 am
Ooooh, so much to say…
I once heard Greg Koukl tell a story about a caller to a panel radio show he was on. The question was something like “why should I choose one religion over the others?” The other panelists basically said, “choose whatever you like.” On the other hand, Koukl’s answer was something like “because you think it’s true.”
Put another way, if you decide to embrace a belief system for any reason other than truth, is that not an implicit admission that you prefer to live in a fantasyland of denial rather than the real world?
January 11th, 2006 at 6:14 pm
“Only the Sith deal in absolutes.”
- Obi Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith
January 11th, 2006 at 10:07 pm
Oh sure John. Quote a fictious spiritual leader in Pantheism with a laser sword drawing power from DNA invading symbiotes. Nice.
January 12th, 2006 at 8:20 am
“Only the Sith deal in absolutes.” Hmm. Is that absolute?
January 15th, 2006 at 9:26 pm
I would say that the Tolerance Movement has much to do with this as well. We must tolerate all things, and all men. Somewhere along the way, decency was lost. Truth with a capital T was lost.
Decent people are now afraid to stand against anything, lest they be seen as intolerant.
What a bunch of hooey. (and I mean that in the most tolerating of ways)