Pilate’s response to Jesus’ statement that he had come to
bear witness to the truth, John 18:37-38, is well known. Pilate’s reply “What is truth?” is a question
that has been asked down through the ages.
Up until recent times, the idea of truth as a thing man could find, grasp,
and hold onto was not in doubt. Truth
was out there, all you had to do was find it.
Today that is being called into question, enter the age of
postmodernism. Postmodernists do not
believe objective truth exists in matters of values, morals, and religion.
The postmodernist immediately comes into conflict with Jesus
for how can Jesus say he came to bear witness to the truth if the truth does not
exist? Again, Jesus said in John 8:45 “I
tell the truth” (NKJV) but he does not tell the truth if the postmodernist is
right for truth cannot be told if it does not exist. The word “truth” is found in 100 verses in
the New Testament of the New King James Version of the Bible but to the
postmodernist mindset talk about truth is meaningless. Postmodernism is anti-Christian.
Postmodernists contradict themselves and thus prove the fallacy
of their philosophy when they say objective truth does not exist while
declaring it to be objective truth that “objective truth does not exist?” One might add that any talk about “subjective
truth” is an oxymoron. If truth exists
at all it is objective truth.
Truth either exists or does not. Truth cannot exist sometimes but not at other
times. No one would deny that there are
times when we are unable to discern truth from error but the truth always exists
whether we discern it or not. My
ignorance of truth does not destroy truth.
It is easy to see the attractiveness of postmodernism in our
society. If truth does not exist in an
absolute sense then you can have your own personal truth and I can have
mine. I will call it “my life.” No one will be able to judge me or condemn me
justly and I will take God and thus accountability out of the picture
altogether. It allows me to live my own
life the way I want to live it. Of
course, that is the very thing Jesus came to save us from—save us from
ourselves.
We have a desire to live our own lives without being judged
or held accountable for our actions. We
desire respect and honor even when we do the dishonorable, no one and no
authority dare shame us. If objective
truth does not exist who can hold us to any moral accountability? Not even God himself can for we took him out
of the picture, so we think.
If we try and rationalize our life and behavior by saying this is what is true for me that does not get us off the hook. It is not about the way I see things, not if God exists and there is a higher power. "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:8-9 NKJV) “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” (Prov. 14:12 NKJV) “It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (Jer. 10:23b NKJV)
If we say no one believes postmodernism, no one believes truth does not exist, then how does one explain the change in moral values that has come about in America in the past 50 to 60 years? It is hard to say our culture has not been affected by postmodern thought. According to the Pew Research Center, only 5% of our children were born outside marriage in 1960. Today that number is 41%. Have our values changed? We have adopted the idea in our society that anything in moral (should one say “immoral”) conduct should be allowed to stand and no one should say a thing against it or criticize it in any way.
As for the New Testament, it is not to be allowed in making moral judgments; in that sense, it is to be banned from having any influence on our thinking or way of life as a society. Who among us would deny the effort to secularize America and to take Christianity entirely out of the life of our nation on every level except, at least so far, inside the four walls of places of public worship?
When I was growing up I remember the Billy Graham crusades would be nationally televised from time to time by one or more of the major TV networks. Can anyone, and I do mean anyone, imagine such a thing happening in the America of today? I add I am not a Baptist but I am just making the point of the change that has come over American society just during my lifetime.
When one takes away the foundations upon which to build a
life, some solid rock, some absolute standards of right and wrong, which is the
very thing postmodernism does, how does one ever judge what one ought to
do? Under postmodern thought you may
never be wrong for there is no judgment but can you ever be right for there are
no standards? Life becomes an element of
chance, just a guess as to what is the best course of action.
Postmodernism takes away hope, guidance, and direction. It takes away a purpose for living. It is ungodly. There is no hope for heaven. God becomes a myth. Here and now is all you have and since there
are no standards do as you well please as long as you can stay out of prison.
Postmodernism is intolerant.
It is not to be questioned. It is
to be accepted no questions asked. To
question it would be to pass judgment, a thing postmodernism will not
allow. If truth does not exist, a tenet
of postmodernism, then judgments cannot be passed for if there is no truth there
is no standard by which to judge. But
the postmodernists contradict themselves again for they do not hesitate to
judge Christianity. While they claim
tolerance they prove themselves to be very intolerant to any who would oppose
them.
Postmodernism makes it impossible to judge evil from good
and thus comes into conflict with the Bible for judging evil from good is a
thing one finds on almost every page of the Bible. Evil, from the postmodernist’s point of view,
is not to be fought for who can define evil?
Who can pass judgment?
If one cannot judge evil then one wonders what action a true
postmodernist might take if someone was to break into his home to rape,
pillage, and kill? If objective truth
does not exist how can one declare the intruder’s actions to be evil and
therefore justifiably resist them?
When as the old saying goes the rubber meets the road this
is a most dangerous philosophy for it presumes real evil does not exist in this
world. Evil is just a judgment call. Postmodernism cannot declare Hitler or Isis
evil. If there is no evil you cannot
confront it. When evil is not confronted
where does that leave the individual or the nation?
The postmodernist’s mindset undermines the foundation of
many of what man has considered to be virtues down through the ages--things
like love, kindness, goodness--for without absolute truth existing how do you
define any of these things? If you cannot
define virtues how do you express them?
Was Hitler’s definition of love as good as anyone else’s? A postmodernist cannot be consistent and say
no but a Christian can.
More and more people are coming down on Christianity
declaring it to be intolerant and judgmental, an evil in the world. Why?
The answer is because very subtly postmodernist thought has crept into
the very pores of our society. One can
almost say of our society today that if the Bible is for it we are against it
and if the Bible is against it we are for it.
Adultery is commonplace today, fornication and living
together outside of marriage are things people think little about, and now the
desire seems to be to make homosexual relationships an honorable thing on par
with the marriage God ordained in the beginning (Matt. 19:4-6) between a man
and a woman.
Add to those things abortion which runs rampant. Planned Parenthood reported 327,653 abortions
in 2014 which averages out to 37 an hour and the president of the organization
says they are proud to provide the procedure so we kill babies and are proud of
the opportunity to help people do it.
In our quest to live our own lives the way we want we end up
discarding the New Testament of Christ as having any real impact on our lives
and our society. We will do as we
please. We have become a secular non-God
fearing society where nearly anything goes.
The problem every man has with the Bible is that it acts as
a mirror. We read it and begin thinking
thoughts that trouble us for we see ourselves as we truly are—sinners. The word of God judges us (John 12:48) and we
know that judgment condemns us. It is
more pleasing to reject the word of God and its values than to accept it.
God offers grace and salvation to sinners but that would
require giving up the life we desire to live and submitting our will to God’s
will. After all, we have some sins we
kind of enjoy and who wants to give those up.
“Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the
light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” (John 3:20 NKJV) “And this is the condemnation, that the light
has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light…” (John 3:19
NKJV)
How does one create within a man or woman love for God, a
longing, and a desire for God? How does
one create within a man a felt need for God?
Right now those feelings are in short supply and a national longing for
God does not exist. According to the
statistics I have seen only around 17 percent of Americans will be in any kind
of Christian worship service on an average Sunday (see The American Church in Crisis by David Olson, 2009). As long as America is at war with God truth
will elude it.
If America and the modern-day American cannot find objective
truth that does not mean God has lost it.
God knows good from evil; he is willing to judge it.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” (2 Cor. 5:10 NKJV)
Where does that leave the postmodernist in the Day of Judgment? They can only hope Christianity is just a fairy tale but if it is then man is just another animal whose life ultimately amounts to nothing. That is the joy found in postmodern thought. Hope is destroyed and man is doomed to an eternal grave.
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