Session 18: Can Truth Be Relative?

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Welcome to Apologetics and the Gospel. My name is Pastor Jonathan White, and I am the Lead Pastor at CrossPointe Family Church in Winfield, WV as well as a practicing Emergency Medicine Physician.

Question for Today: Can Truth Be Relative?

Today’s session is a little different than normal. This session isn’t our typical type of session. The reason I felt it was important to have this session is because if we don’t get this right, then we don’t get any of the questions right. If there is no absolute truth then there is no reason to even search for it!

Understanding and being equipped to combat this error of many in our society today will also help evangelism greatly.

So before we get into the major topic for today, I want to clarify what we are not discussing.

Relative Truth Verses Relativism

When we discuss truth being relative or not, we do not speak of absolute relative truth. Some of you might be having your head spin right now because it sounds like I just said a contradictory statement.

What I mean is that there are relative truth statements that are absolutely true in context.

For example:

Relative Truth: Shaquille O’Neal is tall.

This is true only if we know who or what is being measured in relation to Shaq. He is most certainly tall when compared to the average man. To say that Shaquille O’Neal is taller than the average man is an absolute truth. He is 7’1’’ while the average man in the US is 5’9’’.

However, if we change what this statement relates to, it changes our answer. Shaquille O’Neal is not tall when compared to a 10-story building. The objective measurement changes and so the truth statement changes.

This example is showing absolute truth in a relative way. It is a way that we make sense of our world. These truths are still absolute truths. We teach children how to measure things and compare them from early ages. They are constantly saying that something is bigger than something else or smaller than something else. It helps them understand the world around them.

Relativism

What we are discussing today is what is commonly referred to as relativism.

Relativism asserts that universal truth is unknowable, not universally applicable, and is not useful.

One of the pioneers of relativism was:

Friedrich Nietzche and Relativism

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.”

Nietzche was a champion for relativism and railed against the idea of absolute truth. He was a devout atheist who also championed the phrase, “God is dead.” His works and lifestyle choices eventually led him to a major mental breakdown in 1889 and death in 1890.

Yet, despite his poor life outcome from his beliefs, his ideas seemed to continue to flourish and continue to do so even today.

Some Statements Relativism Presupposes:

There is no truth.

It is true for you but not for me.

No one has the truth.

There are other examples of such statements in relativism, but we will limit our study today to these three and show the inconsistency of such a worldview.

Answer to the first relativist statement: There is no truth.

The most obvious way to logically answer this statement is with a simple question.

Is that true?

This statement is self-defeating. How can one truthfully assert that truth does not exist if they do not believe that truth exists! Obviously their statement that truth does not exist cannot, by their own definition, be a truthful statement!

Answer to the second relativist statement: It is true for you but not for me.

This is a variation that is directly related to Nietzche’s quote that we mentioned before. This is extremely common today amongst the Millennials and those younger than them especially.

This is among the most accepted of the relativist statements in the modern world. It seeks to be politically correct. It has exchanged tolerance for acceptance. No longer is it acceptable to tolerate another that you disagree with. Instead, one must accept that their truth is still truth despite the fact that you disagree that it is true! If that sounds nonsensical - it is because it is.

This relativist statement seeks to cast away any sense of judgment of right or wrong. It attempts to remove the conscience and bypass the intellect by making one passive and accepting of anything and everything that someone else asserts or believes.

Yet this statement is not congruent in real life. Although it might sound acceptable in elite academic circles, it is not practically feasible.

This statement is an absolute truth statement that assumes that all truth is relative.

Yet this does not logically play out in real life.

If you spend more money in your account than you have, the bank will not buy that your truth was that you had enough money. Reality will quickly show you that your ‘truth’ claim meant nothing and you will be owing the bank some money plus fees!

And finally, we come to our final relativist statement for today:

Answer to the third relativist statement: No one has the truth.

The very statement is, again, self-defeating.

If no one has the truth, how do you truthfully know that no one has the truth? Is what you are saying the absolute truth? If so, then you negate your own statement because you have found the absolute truth.

Relativism has not stopped with philosophy, however. It has crept its way into science as well. That is why I wanted it to address it today.

The scientific relativist today asserts the following:

There is no truth in religion, only science.

To which we must respond, is that a scientific fact or scientific truth?

Which we would know the answer - absolutely not! This is a relativist philosophical statement.

The word science means ‘to know.’ We cannot know that there is no truth in religion. This is not something that we can study in the biology or chemistry lab. And so this is a false statement that is believed by many in our high schools and colleges.

As Christians, we know that the main attacks by relativists are directed toward the Bible and the truth within it. We must understand the worldview of many in our culture so that we can show them the sinking sand of their foundational views and show them the rock-hard foundation of the Bible.

Matthew 7:24–25 ESV

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Matthew 7:26–27 ESV

And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

I pray that you understand that there is absolute truth. I pray that you seek to understand and to share the truth with others.

Our world is tangled in the web of lies that relativism spins. Their worldview proves incongruent with reality and brings them pain and suffering.

Yet the truth sets us free.

John 8:31–32 ESV

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

As we see Jesus assert here - if you want to be free - believe in Him and His Word. The truth - namely Jesus Christ Himself per John 14:6 - will set you free if only you repent of your sins and place your faith in the One who is Truth.

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This presentation has been put together to strengthen the faith of believers and to challenge the unbelief of others. I pray that you have found this presentation helpful.

Also, please note that this 10-15 minute presentation cannot exhaustively address most issues. My prayer is that it stimulates you to personally research further, and I am assured that you will find the Word of God proven time and time again.

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Feel free to email any ideas you would like to see addressed by emailing me at [e-mail]. There are slides prepared for each of these presentations which can be accessed at our church website at crosspointefamily.church and select ATG. God bless and have a blessed week.