Transcript OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY RELATIVISM

OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY
RELATIVISM
TOP 10 OBJECTIONS
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How could a good all powerful God allow evil?
How can you prove God exists?
Evolution disproves Christianity
Miracles are not possible so Christianity is false
Truth is relative
All Christians are hypocrites so Christianity is false
How could a loving God send people to hell?
The Bible is just a book filled with errors
Jesus was just a man
Jesus can’t be the only way
Creator – creature Distinction
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For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things
were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and
in him all things hold together. Col 1:16-17 (ESV)
• One Triune Creator Personal Sovereign God
– Independent Infinite Authority
• Creation
– Dependent Finite Submissive
UNBELIEVER’S WORDS
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Autonomous
Independent
Self-sufficient
Chance
Luck
Serendipity
Random
Purposeless
Relative
“ERAS OF TRUTH”
• The objective foundation for truth, morals,
meaning, purpose, and value:
– Premodernism – is found in God
– Modernism – is found in man, nature, reason, and
science (humanism, naturalism, empiricism,
evolution)
– Postmodernism – does not exist (relativism)
TWO WRONGS
TWO RIGHTS
• Rational wrong – irrational
– Correct the error
• Moral wrong – immoral
– Correct (or punish) the person
• Personal preference – subjective
– “Chocolate ice cream is the best”
• Absolute truth – objective
– Mathematics
– Morals
TRUE TRUTH
ETHICS: MORAL VALUES & DUTIES
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Objective vs. Subjective
Absolute vs. Relative
Universal vs. Local
Knowable vs. Unknowable
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive
Discovered vs. Invented
From God vs. From man
TYPES OF MORAL RELATIVISM
• Conventional Cultural descriptive relativism
– Society/Culture does relativism
• Conventional Cultural ethical relativism
– Society/Culture says relativism
• Subjective individual ethical relativism
– I say relativism
2 PART APOLOGETIC
• The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
Psalms 53:1 (ESV)
• Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest
you be like him yourself. Prov 26:4 (ESV)
• Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be
wise in his own eyes. Prov 26:5 (ESV)
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APOLOGETIC METHOD
“THE CERTAINTY OF THE FAITH”
R.B. RAMSAY
Demonstrate interest
Explain your faith
Furnish answers
Expose their presuppositions – worldview
– How do you know that?
– Why do you believe that?
– “Ask Them Why”, Jay Lucas
• Navigate through his errors: A – I – P
• Direct him to Christ
UNBELIEVER’S ERRORS
• Arbitrary – unjustified belief
– Opinion
– Unargued worldview bias
– Prejudicial conjecture
• Inconsistent – cannot live their worldview
– Behavioral
– Logical
• Preconditions for knowledge – no justification
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Uniformity of nature
Laws of logic
Reliability of our senses
Reliability of our memory
Universal moral standard
PRECONDITIONS FOR KNOWLEDGE
UNIVERSAL, ABSOLUTE, IMMATERIAL
• Justified only by the Christian worldview
– Uniformity of nature: operational science
– Laws of logic: rational reasoning
– Reliability of our senses: reliable observation
– Reliability of our memory: useable knowledge
– Universal moral standard: moral values and duties
• Impossibility of the contrary
– If the Christian worldview was not true, you could
not know anything.
CONVENTIONAL CULTURAL
DESCRIPTIVE RELATIVISM FLAWS
• Wrongly assumes no universal set of moral
values and duties
– “The Abolition of Man” C. S. Lewis
• Different cultural morals proves nothing about
the nature of morality
• Wrongly assumes that cultural bias prevents
objectivity – self defeating
– The blind men and the elephant
CONVENTIONAL CULTURAL
ETHICAL RELATIVISM FLAWS
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Morality is reduced to power
No immoral societies/cultures
No immoral laws
No moral reform
Moral reformers are unethical criminals
Which society/culture is primary?
SUBJECTIVE INDIVIDUAL
ETHICAL RELATIVISM FLAWS
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Pleasure and personal preference = morality
No one and nothing is wrong
Evil doesn’t exist
Cannot place blame or accept praise
Cannot make charges of unfairness or injustice
Cannot make moral improvement
Cannot have moral discussions or disputes
Cannot obligate tolerance
RELATIVISM’S ERRORS
• Arbitrary – unjustified belief
– Opinion
– Unargued worldview bias
– Prejudicial conjecture
• Inconsistent – cannot live their worldview
– Behavioral: relativize their hot button
– Logical: self defeating, listen for moral words, tolerance
• Preconditions for knowledge – no justification
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Uniformity of nature
Laws of logic
Reliability of our senses
Reliability of our memory
Universal moral standard
MORAL RELATIVISM
• The denial of truth does not remove it.
• “We laugh at honor and are shocked to find
traitors in our midst.”
– The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis
APOLOGETIC GOALS
• Defend the Christian faith – your words and life
• Pray for persuasion – HOLY SPIRIT
• And we impart this in words not taught by human
wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting
spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The
natural person does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is
not able to understand them because they are
spiritually discerned. 1 Cor 2:13-14 (ESV)
DIRECT THEM TO CHRIST
• “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 (ESV)
• For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (ESV)
• if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
believe in your heart that God raised him from the
dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (ESV)
• For by grace you have been saved through faith. And
this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a
result of works, so that no one may boast.
Eph 2:8-9 (ESV)