All-American Idols Series
Title: It Depends! Relativism)
Text: Joshua 1:8
Thesis: It all depends on what God’s Word says.
I have included this message in the All-American Idols Series because my sense is, we as a culture and even as Christians have begun to listen to other voices that, unfiltered by God’s Word, are affecting our beliefs, our convictions, the way we look at things and our actions, i.e., behavior and lifestyles.
Introduction
Her story first appeared on the Daily Beast in 2009 and her mutilated face appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 2010. When she was 12 her father promised her to a Taliban fighter as compensation… blood money. She was married at 14 whereupon she was abused by her husband… even forced to sleep with the animals.
When she was 18 she attempted to run away but police caught her and returned her to her family who then returned her to her husband. Her father-in-law, her husband and his brother took her into the mountains where they cut off her nose and ears and left her to die. She was rescued by aid workers who took her to an American military hospital where she stayed for a couple of months before being flown to the United States where she was fitted with a prosthetic nose and was to eventually have restorative surgery on her nose.
A Canadian university professor in Ontario showed her photo to his senior philosophy class when there were studying a section on ethics. Attempting to force his students to form some sort of baseline for making ethical decisions, he showed her photo, told her story and asked, “Was what was done to Bibi right or wrong?”
He was shocked to discover that his students would not decide. They remained nonjudgmental. The prevailing response was, “We might not like it but maybe over there it’s okay.” And, “It’s just wrong to judge other cultures.”
In other words, “It depends!”
This morning I hope to identify an objective baseline or benchmark whereby we may be assured that we are believing and living by objective truth.
The issue is distinguishing between what is true and what is error and what is right and what is wrong. Truth and error. Right and wrong. Good and evil. Not sinful and sinful.
• Objective truth is always true… it exists outside of personal experiences, feelings, opinions or beliefs.
• Subjective truth is determined by a person’s personal experiences, feelings, beliefs and opinions.
• Relative truth depends… there are no absolutes. All points of view are equally valid… truth is relative to every individual, situation or culture, etc. It always depends.
The initial problem with determining objective truth is that people generally feel that morality is a personal (subjective) matter. We don’t like to judge. But if truth and morality are objective it is true for everyone everywhere. If “you shall not commit murder” is an objective moral truth it is universally so. Anyone anywhere who commits murder has broken the moral code of objective truth. You can’t just stone your daughter for embarrassing your family. You can’t go around shooting policemen because you are convinced the government is oppressive.
The question for the Christian becomes: How do I know what is true or not true? How do I know what is right and wrong? What truth is always true and can always be relied upon to inform my beliefs, convictions and my behavior?
This is a critical issue because, ”if we do not believe in any objective truth it is very difficult to make any value decisions on behaviors and actions. We simply accept whatever happens because there is no standard for truth or right or wrong, which then allows for whatever actions take place… we have no moral compass or set of values that root us.” (Mark Dowd, Are There Objective Truths in Life and the World? ABC News, March 6, 2014)
As people we believe there must be objective truth. There must be a clear understanding of right and wrong… otherwise we have anarchy.
In Deuteronomy the Israelites received instructions regarding the need to be careful to obey God’s decrees in the land they were promised because at present “every person was doing as he pleased or what was right in his own eyes.” (Deuteronomy 12:8) If the rule is, everyone does as it seems right in his own eyes, i.e., as he pleases – we are adrift without a moral compass to point the way for us all. If in any and every instance “It Depends” as to what is truth or error and right or wrong we are adrift.
If it is ok to cut off your wife’s nose in Afghanistan and it is okay to abandon newborn girl babies in China or to practice abortion, infanticide and euthanasia in the Netherlands or rape the women of lower castes in India, or consume Vodka until it seeps from your pores in Russia, or gamble away your savings, max out your credit cards, lose your home, your wife and kids gambling in America… then anything goes.
This morning we begin with the basis for what we believe to be objective truth.
I. Belief: The Bible is God’s Word
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. II Timothy 3:16
Above all you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. II Peter 1:20-21
Unfortunately sometimes we never know who or what to believe.
You may not remember but in 1977 a governmental committee headed by George McGovern announced a new dietary goals for the United States that urged us to eat less red meat, eggs and dairy… In 1980 the USDA decreed that Americans over the age of 2 should cut fat consumption announcing the results of a $150 million study that sent a clear message that we should eat less fat and cholesterol.
Now, 40 years later they have announced that the experiment was a failure… we cut out the fat and now we are sicker than ever. Type 2 diabetes has increased 166% from 1980 with nearly 1 in 10 Americans having the disease. And American is one of the fattest countries in an increasingly fat world.
New research suggests that it is the over consumption of carbohydrates that is chiefly responsible for obesity and Type 2 diabetes. (Bryan Walsh, Don’t Blame the Fat, Time, June 23,2014, PP 30-31)
Obviously we should be a little suspect of any definitive reports coming out of governmental committees.
Wikipedia is a useful tool on the internet but the Wikipedia people offer a disclaimer right up front: “Wikipedia – the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.” What we find on Wikipedia is not infallible. Then who and what is infallible? Who decides?
The centrality of the Word of God is a key affirmation among Christians. “We believe the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct.” (Covenant Affirmations)
When we deviate from the bible as, “the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct,” we get a religion like Terasem. (Cite the article, Faith, Rapture of the Nerds, A new religion promises immortality, Time, June 23, 2014, P54.)
When we say “the only perfect rule” we mean the “only perfect rule.” The Book of Revelations concludes with these solemn warning that nothing is to be added to or removed from the written Word. Revelation 22:18-19
It was fun to see that former President George H. W. Bush went skydiving on his 90th birthday this week… the news reported that he floated safely to the lawn of St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Maine. Skydiving is not very high on my bucket list… I can’t imagine needing an adrenaline rush that badly. But if I did decide to give it a go I can just imagine the jump instructor gleefully strapping a parachute to my back and walking me to an idling plane waiting on the tarmac. Then as the pilot revs the engine and we begin to taxi out onto the runway, still smiling the instructor says, “We here at the Relativist Skydiving School believe there are many ways to get from the plane to the ground. We respect everyone’s desire to skydive and we do not believe in absolute rules. So just listen to your inner voice, respond honestly to your feelings and have a memorable experience. We’ll see you when you get down!”
That’s not what I want to hear from a skydiving instructor. I want to hear the instructor say, “Don’t curl up into a fetal position or you will slip out of your harness. Arch your back and hold your arms out in front of you so they do not slip out of the harness and so you will be in the right position when you jump. When you get near the ground, stick your legs out in front when landing and kind of hit the ground running… Oh, and don’t forget to pull the rip cord.
Sometimes rules are strict and non-negotiable and they are so for good reason.
The first question we ask ourselves this morning is: How does God’s Word inform what I believe? Do I believe the bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct?
I like the title of Dan’s book, “Find It Here!” This is what the bible says. I don’t believe there is anything in God’s Word that we may think of as onerous. Everything God wills for us is for our good. And there is no higher authority by which we may order our beliefs and our behavior, i.e., lifestyle.
Second, the natural movement from belief is toward behavior. Whatever you believe informs your behavior.
II. Behavior: Doing God’s Word
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Joshua 1:8 NIV
(Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey (do not deviate) everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. NLT)
(This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. KJV)
No matter how you read it, God’s Word to Joshua and to us is simple and straight forward. Think about it and then do it!
I have always wondered what it means when the bible says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate therein day and night.”
Muttering and meditating go together in this passage…
A. Mutter /Meditate
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night…” Joshua 1:8
To mutter means to utter words or sounds indistinctly. It hints at the way we sometimes talk to ourselves when we are thinking really hard about something or working through something as in meditating or reflecting. To meditate is to contemplate or ponder or think about or mull something over in your mind.
Having given the Word of God considerable thought we then have a handle on what we should do about it.
B. Observe to do / Obey
“So that you may be careful to do everything written in it.” Joshua 1:8
When we observe to do, we are complying with or heeding the instructions. When I sit at an intersection waiting for a green arrow so I can make a left turn, I am complying with the law. I am heeding the law. I am obeying and doing what the law says.
Thinking about truth and right and wrong is intended to lead to doing what is true and right. If for example the law says the speed limit in Colorado is 75 miles per hour and I believe, as a Christian, I should comply with and observe the law, I drive 75 miles per hour. However, if I begin to reason and think in relative terms I say, “The limit is 75 but I can drive 80 miles per hour because the man in the State Trooper car will likely let me get by driving 5 over the limit.” In that case I am practicing moral relativism.
On Facebook yesterday morning I saw that someone had posted a photo of a pan of homemade granola they had just baked in the oven. The caption below the photo read, “Baking granola to sneak into the movie today. It be our popcorn.” That person was practicing moral relativism. They reasoned… popcorn is outrageously expensive in the theater so it justifies me sneaking in my own snacks.
Years ago there was a man who called himself “God’s Smuggler.” He decided that it was okay for him to deceptively smuggle bibles into what was then the USSR because what he was doing trumped the law of the land. In his mind Romans 13, where God’s Word says, “Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those positions of authority have been placed there by God.” (Keep in mind Paul wrote that while living under the oppression of the Roman Empire. ) Trumping the clearly stated Word of God with human excuses is moral relativism.
If we consider the bible to be the Word of God then we carefully think about what God has to say about a given question and then do as God’s Word guides.
God’s Word assures us that when we observe the teaching of Scripture we will experience success.
C. Prosper / Success
“Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
In the context in which these words were given to Joshua, God’s blessing on Joshua’s life and leadership and the promise of entering the Promised Land was contingent on Joshua’s knowing and obeying God’s Word. If Joshua wished to enjoy the blessing of God in his life he needed to give serious thought to God’s Word and determine to do what God’s Word says.
We can think in terms of the Ten Commandments. We can carefully reflect on the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. We can mull over and ponder what it means to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself. We can read and reflect on all of the teaching in the Bible. We can know it backward and forward but it is ultimately about doing it.
What you and I think about something or believe about something is not a matter of “it just depends.” Everything depends on what God’s Word says.
(For further thought, the emphasis on knowing doing is reinforced in I John 1:5-7; 2:3-6 and 3:7-10.)
A second question we ask ourselves is: How does God’s Word inform how I live?
As a follower of Christ my faith is not simply a matter of believing and knowing… it is ultimately about doing what I believe and know to be true and right.
Conclusion
Florence Foster Jenkins was an American amateur operatic soprano who was known and ridiculed for her lack of rhythm, pitch and tone, her aberrant pronunciation and generally poor singing ability. She received music lessons as a child and wanted to study opera abroad but her father would not foot the bill so she ran away and got married. When her father died in 1909 she inherited a boatload of money and began her long delayed singing career. She founded and funded the Verdi Club and began giving recitals in 1912… and when her mother died in 1928 she had even more money to pursue her singing career.
Unfortunately and seemingly unbeknownst to her, she was pretty much a novelty act and became famous for the amusement she provided. However, Florence was firmly convinced that she was a great opera singer. She designed and wore elaborate costumes. Her favorite venue was the Ritz-Carlton Ballroom in New York City and at the age of 76 she yielded to public demand and performed at a sold-out Carnegie Hall in 1944. None of her fame was based on her giftedness as a soprano but because of her lack of giftedness… she was an amusement. She was being mocked.
One could say, “It doesn’t really matter if Florence Foster Jenkins was a great singer or not… she sincerely believed she was.” But in fact her belief did not match reality so consequently it was a laughable delusion.
Delusion!
Earlier I referred to God’s Word as a baseline or a benchmark for measuring what we believe and how we behave or live. I would like to suggest a third image… that being a filter. Thinking of and using God’s Word as a filter is a way of determining truth and error, right and wrong, good and evil, righteousness and sinfulness, acceptable and unacceptable for faith, belief and conduct.
A simple filter is found in Philippians: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you have learned… everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9
It all depends on what God’s Word says.
