One of the “new” ideas today is relativism. It has contributed much to the confusion of our times. It is the idea that all truth is relative —in other words, there is no absolute truth.

What is Relativism?

Two women are looking out the window. One says to the other, “The stars are bright and clear tonight.” The other replies, “The sun is shining really hot”. How can both women be right? Well if one is in Melbourne talking on the phone to the other in Perth, the conversation is sensible and both women are stating the truth. This is a case in which truth is relative --in this case, obviously, the truth is relative to different time zones.

You can conduct a simple experiment with three sound recorders and a car with a loud horn. Two people stand about 100 metres apart beside a country road. The car is to be driven past them at about 100km/h. The driver, ready to start his run, toots his horn as a signal to start the sound recorders. The driver then gets the car moving and up to speed. From a point just past the first standing person, the driver sounds the car horn continuously until just before reaching the second standing person. When the three later compare their sound recordings, they will find each has recorded a different note, because the car horn's motion, relative to the recording instruments, was different in each case. It is true that the horn makes only one sound, yet it is also true that it makes three different sounds, as proven on the sound recordings.

This idea of relativity has been extended by some thinkers to the unjustified conclusion that all truth is relative. Questions of religion and morals are therefore judged on the situation in which one finds oneself —truth changes according to the circumstances of the person perceiving it.

The philosophy suffers from a paradox. If one says, “all truth is relative” one must admit that one is stating a relative truth, not an absolute truth. This means that there must be situations in which the statement is not true. So there must be situations in which some truth is absolute. This makes the statement self-contradictory.

Pilate's Truth

Pilate had the power to free or crucify (Jhn 19:8-10). In Jesus's case, Pilate chose to crucify. And why? Because he was pre-conditioned by his attitude to truth. When Jesus spoke in absolute terms of "the truth", Pilate rejected that with the rejoinder, "What is truth?" (Jhn 18:37-38). As far as Pilate was concerned Jesus had done nothing worthy of death. But that was only Pilate's truth. The Jews were perceiving things from another position. They shouted "Crucify! Crucify!" (Jhn 19:15). That was their truth. Pilate capitulated, because he thought truth was changeable, relative, and when it was all boiled down, "What is truth?" anyway. There's a little bit of Pilate in every one of us, and we are in danger of rejecting Jesus because we are confused about the truth.

The Bible's Truth

The Bible does not see all truth as relative. What it calls "the truth" is absolute, and all will be condemned who do not love, know, believe, and obey that truth (2Th 1:8, 2:10-12). Some may point to 2Peter 1:12 which speaks of "the present truth". We know that some things true in Old Testament times are not true now, and some things true now won't be true in heaven. Some truth is relative. But that does not mean all truth is so. There is eternal and absolute truth.

Can you know that absolute truth? Yes, and you can recognise it among the lies (2Tm 4:3-4). You can find the truth just as you could find a diamond ring accidentally thrown into the garbage can. It might involve a lot of work sifting through the garbage, but you would recognize and distinguish the diamond ring very easily once it turned up. You would hardly wonder whether you were looking at the diamond ring or just another piece of garbage, would you?

Jesus plainly says, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (Jhn 8:31-32). The writer to the Hebrews speaks of unchangeable truths (in this case an oath and a promise God made) in which our hope is fixed as "an anchor for the soul" (Heb 6:18-19). Without such an anchor we will be all at sea in life. Paul presents the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as absolute truths (1Co 15:3-4). You can believe in these things without doubt or confusion. What's more, you yourself can die, be buried, and be raised with Christ (Romans 6). Absolutely!

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