a question asked
A friend recently asked this question based from his experience with another person ... this is what he wrote,
"I recently had a conversation with a friend who said that he thought all religions were the same. When I told him I didn't think all religions were the same, I was labeled close minded. How do we claim the truth of Jesus in a postmodern world?"
What follows are my thoughts to him ...
You speak of truth in a post-modern world, and go on to describe the post-modern world as a place filled with “relativism.” Does "post-modernity" really equal relativism? Maybe relativism was needed for a time. WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! HANG WITH ME … I am not saying that we need to be or should be relativistic. Let me quote Brian McLaren, reflecting on a philosopher named Ken Wilbur, “Emerging postmodernism sees relativist pluralism (the irrational idea that all opinions or views are equally valid) as a kind of chemotherapy intended to stop the growth of modern reductionistic rationalism (the oppressive idea that all reality can be reduced to mechanisms that the mind can understand via validation by the five senses). In order to kill the malignancy, the patient has to take dangerous medicine that would prove poisonous if taken in too high doses or for too long.”
In regard to our religion, we view relativism with fear and trepidation but we embrace the idea that our beliefs can be proven by simple logic and reduction, and yet this ideology can be just as damaging. Why? This kind of empiricism and “the proof is in the pudding” makes men and women the measure of all things. We are the ones who determine if God is good, if Jesus was God, if the Bible was/is true … this philosophy has been prevailing over the last several hundred years. Remember René Descartes “I think therefore I am.” The “I AM” suddenly became about mankind, not about God in Heaven. We then became the authoritative voice … the Bible began to quickly lose ground.
I would argue that many of us are both relativists and rationalists at the same time. We read a poem, hear a song, read a book, see a movie … and for us at that time we develop meaning from it. Maybe we hear a sad song after a hard break-up. We attach meaning and significance to that song that the author never intended. We have become relativists … the author meant “A” but it means “B” to me therefore even though it may mean “C” to someone else … it still is “B” to me. This may seem trite, but we do this all day long in the process of living our lives, but when it comes to our faith, we freak out, because our faith is rational, not relative. It is a static thing, that cannot, will not, and must never change. It has one answer and one meaning and can never mean anything else. I would suggest, that our faith is neither relative or rational but in a place far beyond our labels and titles.
People for 1,000’s of years have believed in the eight-fold path, transcendentalism, many roads to heaven ... on it goes. We believe in Jesus, born of a virgin, lived as fully-god/fully-man, was crucified for the sins of humanity, rose again on the third day, returned to heaven and will one day restore all things to himself to the glory of God the Father. We BELIEVE this … we have no choice but to go on faith that is empowered by the Holy Spirit. So where does that leave us? With faith … which brings us to humility … and this is where we must begin. We must tell people about our faith, as Dara said in a previous post ... our story in light of the big story. The continual unfolding drama of redemption.