Absolutely?

"The passion for truth is silenced by answers which have the weight of undisputed authority"
Paul Tillich

A lot of Emerging and Post-Modern Christians are accused of having no hard moral limits. That their entire sense of right and wrong is driven by the culture they exist in. The fundamentalists throw around the term "moral relativism" for anyone that doesn't agree with their particular hard line. The thing is, everyone's idea of right and wrong is colored by culture. It would be impossible to not to be influenced. I wouldn't point that out unless you're looking for a fight, however.

I started to talk about how culture influences our morals, but, really, I covered most of that ground in the previous post. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of things the Bible tells us to do that we don't do anymore. And, one of the reasons we don't do them is because a) we've learned things since they were written that tell us they're discriminatory, b) they're no longer required for our relationship with God or c) they require more drastic consequences than we believe fits with a Christian life style (i.e. stoning). We don't do these things anymore and that's all right, but all of society is threatened if a same sex couple wants the same legal rights as a straight one. This doesn't make sense. Why slavishly hold to one aspect of Mosaic Law as an absolute truth and throw out the rest. Sounds more arbitrary than absolute to me.


I don't presume to speak for anyone else, but I have read some other writers and leaders ideas on this subject and I believe I have some insight on what the issue is. It's so much that we don't have hard moral limits, because almost everyone does. Those that don't have a name: sociopath. It's just that our limits are different from some others that appear more mainstream because they're very vocal about their morals. I have limits: if it doesn't show and spread God's love then, to me, it's not moral. Personally, I believe a committed, monogamous homosexual couple has infinitely greater morals than a church member who shows up at a funeral and marches around chanting, holding a sign that says "God Hates Fags".


I believe the attitude of some of my more fundamental brothers and sisters springs from their belief in the inerrancy of the Bible. This is the belief that the Bible, in it's original form, is free from any error or contradiction; "referring to the complete accuracy of Scripture, including the historical and scientific parts"(Geisler & Nix (1986). A General Introduction to the Bible). This is the cause of a lot of controversy in (and out of) theological circles. And, much of the intolerance comes from it too. With this basis for belief, it's easy to see why some folks can see things in such black and white starkness. Unfortunately, the world we live in is colored in shades of gray and such starkness can lead to a rigid application of Biblical principles that, whatever the person applying may intend, are devoid of the love that Jesus was all about.

So, can a truth be absolute? Read the quote at the beginning of this post and you'll see what I think.