The irony of Relativism (and Christianity)

Relativism is when a person sets their own moral code.

What’s right for you is right. It’s wrong for me to judge.

The result of this, though, is there is no right or wrong outside of one’s self. And so any statement of truth, “you shouldn’t do that,” or “that’s wrong” is, well, wrong.

The irony then, is that these statements move a relative truth to an absolute one.

But absolute, as it turns out, is also tricky.

Because as soon a truth claims to apply to two or more people, the next question becomes: says who? If I tell you something is wrong, the challenge is, wrong according to what? Or to whom?

And now the conversation shifts one more time. Instead of questioning what is truth, we are instead debating the source of the truth.

At this point, we are left with a three-way fork in the road:

1. I reject this line of reasoning, because I don’t like where it’s going (my kids do this a lot).

2. I’m going with an imperfect option. It doesn’t always make sense, but it allows me to still make the choices I want to make.

3. Or, I’m going with the cohesive option, even though it requires me to change my position. And, maybe lose everything I’ve done so far.

The logic of Christianity is easy. It’s the better option.

But in the end, Christianity isn’t about logic.

Instead, it’s about being willing to lose.