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Relative to what?
Ravi Zacharias makes a powerful point about the weakness of relativism. He says that when studying relativism, one must ask the question, "relative to what?"
The answer is usually "relative to the experience of each individual." In other words, each of us invents truth based on our personal experience. Under this system, someone who commits murder and doesn't feel guilty has not done anything wrong, because his truth is different from yours and mine.
Ravi illustrates the folly of relativism with the example of faulty logic. Those who use the argument that God must be "immoral" when he makes the choice that some should live and some should die face a paradox of their own making. They believe that it is immoral for God to make such decisions, but that it is a "moral right" for humans to make those decisions, such as in the case of abortion or euthanasia.
Truth is a reflection of the very character of God. The Bible says that it is impossible for God to lie. Serious Christians make an effort to apply the characteristics of God to their own lives. Thus, armed with a philosophy that places great value upon truth, love, forgiveness, patience, and grace, true Christians provide a powerful source of strength for any culture.
Study Psalm 15:1-3; Psalm 25:4-5; Psalm. 31:5; Psalm 119:30, Romans 1:25, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18.
Plinius Secundus, known as "Pliny the Younger," was a Roman governor in AD112. He was ordered to persecute Christians but had great respect for their love of truth. He wrote to emperor Trajan that "Christians are people who love the truth at any cost."
Winston Churchill put it this way: "The truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it; ignorance may deride it; malice may distort it, but there it is."
In his Epistles X96, Pliny states that these believers would not worship Emperor Trajan and would not curse their leader, Jesus Christ, even under extreme torture. He also declared that they
"bound themselves to a solemn oath not to do any wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, adultery, never to falsify their word, not to deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up."
He was obviously impressed to phrase it in such a positive way. Their commitment to truth made an impact that literally changed the entire world.
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