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Daniel Vis

Relativism and Absolutes

This morning, very quickly, this afternoon, I should say, I want to spend a little time talking about the biblical foundation for ethics and why this topic is so important.

In fact, I'm going to argue this is 1 of the most important topics that we could be studying right now in our world today.

And yet when I look back on my experience, I can't think of a single sermon I've ever heard given on ethics.

Or even, it doesn't even come up in conversation.

When's the last time you had a conversation with someone about ethics?

So much so that many of us may not even know what ethics really is.

And so hopefully between this morning sermon and this afternoon, which will be a lot more practical, we'll all know what ethics is and we'll understand why it's important and we'll know how to make ethical decisions.

So before we dive in, the title is Relativism and Absolutes.

I invite you to bow your heads for a moment.

Holy Spirit will guide us in the time we have.

Father in heaven, Thank You so much for opportunities to study Your Word.

We realize that these are difficult times, and we need to learn to be able to distinguish between right and wrong.

So please, Father, guide my lips, guide my thoughts as we study this morning.

And I thank you and I pray this in Jesus name, amen.

So this question of relativism versus absolutes, this is critical I believe today for a couple reasons, maybe not those words but the concepts.

First reason of course is that we live in a world where moral relativism is rampant.

What that means is We live in a time very much like the days after Joshua when every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Everyone has his own idea of what they think is right and wrong.

We're going to explore some of that this afternoon, some of the history behind that.

But the reality is society does not like someone that takes an absolute position today.

And it's been that way in this country, this cultural shift away from absolutism towards relativism for at least 50 or 60 years, as long as I've been alive pretty much.

So the enemy, at least in my mind, has softened us up for what's coming.

Because what's just ahead, and this is the second reason I believe ethics is important.

Second reason is that we're heading into the greatest ethical crisis this world has ever faced.

Revelation clearly predicts a time of persecution is coming for God's people.

And it's going to be over the law of God.

The enemy was wroth with the woman, went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.

So there's going to be a conflict over the law of God.

And the enemy is going to bring all the powers to bear against those who keep the law of God.

You're not going to be able to buy or sell unless you're willing to compromise your ethical principles and violate the law of God.

And it's going to be a life or death issue.

Every imaginable rationalization is going to be presented to you.

I got to make my house payment, my mortgage payment.

And we're going to be pressured to violate our convictions and make decisions in unethical ways.

And if we're not used to processing things in terms of ethics, in terms of right and wrong, then when we face that kind of challenge, we are going to be unprepared.

Not know how to make ethical decisions and be thrust into the most difficult ethical challenge this world has ever faced.

So I want to talk a little bit about the biblical basis for ethics, for a biblical ethics, that is.

And I'd like to suggest it's based on 3 very, very simple concepts.

This afternoon I'll get more into the nuts and bolts of how to make ethical decisions, but I want to just talk about the foundation of God's absolutism.

Now if you're an absolutist, like I am, you believe there's a God.

His reality is not dependent on my perception or my whatever I'm thinking.

He is His own reality and has nothing to do with me.

Now if I'm a relativist and I'm going to say something like this, no, there's not really a God.

The concept of God is just a figment of my own imagination, or our shared imagination.

The only divinity is whatever's inside of me.

There's no higher reality than what I perceive myself.

Again, it's in the difference between an absolute external God and an internal subjective experience.

By the way, that verse in Judges that talked about every man did that which is right in his own eyes, Do you remember how the verse starts?

In those days, there was no king in Israel.

So when there's no king, everyone decides for themselves what's right and wrong.

And when we remove God from the equation, we say there's no absolute God, there's no absolute Creator to whom we are morally accountable to.

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Relativism and Absolutes

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