In the post-modern world, a simple argument clears up a lot of the confusion, or maybe it doesn’t. You’ve probably heard it. It begins with a question: Is there absolute truth? Answer: No, there is no
absolute truth. We create our own truth. What is true for you may not be true for me. All truth is subjective. Question: Are you sure? Answer: Absolutely.
That argument conjures up a worldview with an absolute
condition of no absolutes. Not much there to stand on.
My worldview is grounded in the absolute truth of
Scripture—a biblical, Christian worldview. From here I judge the world. That's right, I judge. I don’t pass judgment on the person who can’t live up to
my standards. Sometimes I can’t live up to my own standards. I don’t judge the
unredeemed for living like sinners. But I do judge sin, and evil, and untruth. And I judge righteousness.
These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor;
Give judgment in your gates for
truth, justice, and peace Zechariah 8:16
I can’t pretend to understand the worldview of a person who
has lived an entirely different kind of life than me. But I can, without argument,
point to absolute truth. And the absoluteness of it urges me away from what the
world is telling me I should accept—that I’m wrong more often than right about
what is true. That I’m wrong about morality, family, marriage, gender, the
value of human life, racism, and what it means to be free, among other things.
Most of us who hold a biblical worldview are pretty clear on
general moral behavior and God’s plan for family life. God values life, and so
do we. We know God created male and female and that marriage has certain
eternal parameters. But most of us have had to show some love to those who slip
outside of those boundaries. That doesn’t mean the truth is no longer true. Truth
does not become untrue.
As for racism, it has taken too long for American Christians to paint the multi-racial picture of the New Testament church. But it was happening, and still is, thank God. Except that the social climate of recent years seems to have draped a cloud over the church. Some Christian leaders have embraced the shadows, and some believers have retreated into the disjunction that was giving way in the light of truth, before the clouds shoved in.
It's a complicated dilemma, and there’s no pretending it isn’t.
But it’s not an excuse to alter your biblical worldview. What the world teaches
about racism is not what the Bible teaches. In my own mind and lifestyle, I am
not a racist, and my worldview does not allow for racism. But now I am
persuasively being taught a new way of thinking that insists on racism. It
tells me that I can’t help but be a racist. If I can’t help it, then there is
no hope, except for revolution—social and governmental upending.
I can’t begin to express the depths of my concern for our nation,
and for our churches. But there is someone who can and does express it very
well. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. If you are a churchgoer or a
Sunday morning golfer, a teacher, politian, a protestor or a sympathizer, black
or white or any other ethnicity, read Fault Lines:
The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe by Voddie
Baucham. It’s not an easy book. It is an important book. You will be blessed by
it, and absolutely enlightened.
As for what it means to be free, the fight won’t win
it. The post-modern, post-Christian worldview doesn’t get it. Subjective truth
can’t even imagine it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to attain true
freedom.
Therefore,
if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed John 8:36