Truth and Tolerance
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In the 20th century, Christianity and Christians have been viewed as merely delusional, crazy people who believe in things like talking snakes and other ridiculous things. For the most part, people thought, “Oh, poor Christians. They believe these kind of ridiculous things. They’re irrational and we can just dismiss them.” However, things have changed in the 21st century and Christianity and Christians are no longer seen as irrational, but rather as immoral and dangerous. The reason why they think that we’re immoral is because we make judgements about certain people’s behaviors, right? We say abortion is wrong, or we say homosexual behavior is wrong or Islam is false. So because we make judgemental statements, we are deemed as immoral.
Now, we are seen as dangerous because we teach exclusivism and this is simply the idea that we think our worldview, our religion, Christianity, is true and as a result, competing or contradictory religions would therefore be false. Okay? So since we’re convicted and firmly believe that our beliefs are true and correct, well, this is this notion of exclusivism, and this is dangerous. After all, look at what Islamic exclusive has brought the world. It’s brought terrorism. So Christians, likewise, are dangerous in the same way because, like Muslims, they are exclusivists. Look at what Rosie O’Donnell says, well-known famous person in the culture today. She says, “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.”
Bill Maher, well-known kind of political talk show guy. He’s got a number of comedy shows he’s done. He’s made the movie, or I should say the mockumentary, Religulous, where he makes fun of organized religion. He says, “Organized religion is dangerous and a mass psychosis. Evangelical Christians are usually the ones who are behind everything that represents intolerance and bigotry.” By the way, when he says evangelical Christians, he’s talking about you. Even if you don’t maybe claim to be an evangelical Christian as your label, what he means is anybody who takes their faith seriously, and that of course would be you because you would take two weeks out of your summer to spend at this radical right wing Christian camp, that indoctrinates you and makes you believe crazy things. Okay? So again, that’s a badge of honor for me, but just know that’s who he’s referring to you, is people who take their faith seriously.
Andrew Sullivan, who is the leading intellectual force behind same sex marriage in the United States wrote this, by the way, when President Bush was president. He said, “Religion and religious certainty is the problem. When the presidents the United States and of Iran speak as much about God as they do about diplomacy, we have entered a new, dangerous era.” You see all these people talking about how Christians are immoral and dangerous, but is that true. Are we really immoral and dangerous for those reasons? I submit to you the answer is no, but part of the reason why people think that and why the culture has adopted that view about Christianity is because they’ve adopted another belief system, and that belief system is known as relativism.
In fact, I’d say it’s the most predominant way of thinking about morality and about religion in our culture today. Indeed, it’s infected the church as well. So in order to understand what relativism is, we need to talk about something that is very near and dear to my heart and that’s significant and very personal for me. It’s hard for me to share, but it’s about ice cream. I believe that Häagen-Dazs chocolate peanut butter flavored ice cream is the best ice cream. By the way, if you want to give me a gift to thank me, you know what to get now. Okay? Because it’s the best ice cream.
Now, I’m just curious. Is there anybody here who has a different personal favorite flavor of ice cream that they’re willing to share as to what that ice cream is? Yes. You, ma’am. You do?
Lime sherbet.
Lime sherbet? Well, that’s not even ice cream. That’s sherbet. Isn’t that just-
No.
Oh, okay. All right. I’ll let that fly. Okay. Lime sherbet. All right. Now, let me ask you a question. Would it make any sense for me to say that her personal preference in ice cream is wrong? Yes, because she likes sherbet come on. Right? I mean, of course, we make that joke, but in reality we realize, no, it doesn’t make any sense to say that she’s wrong about her personal favorite flavor of ice cream. Because when it comes to ice cream, you just pick what you like. Right? You just pick what you like. Whatever tickles your fancy, whatever you feel like having, you just have that. You can say whatever is your personal favorite flavor. You like lime sherbet, whatever, and I like chocolate peanut butter. Okay?
But notice this is a subjective truth claim. The reason why we call it a subjective truth claim, because it’s about the subject. Notice, my statement that chocolate peanut butter ice cream is the best ice cream is about me, the subject, expressing my personal preference. When she says it about lime sherbet, she’s expressing her own personal preference and it’s about her as a subject expressing her personal choice in ice cream. Okay? So that’s the way it works when we’re talking about flavors of ice cream. You just pick what you like.
Now, what if I was talking to you about insulin and some people have a condition known as diabetes and the doctor was to tell that person, “Hey, you know what? Insulin is a medicine that’ll help you control your diabetes.” Now, what if that person said, “Doc, I appreciate. I’ll let you know. I know you went to Harvard medical school, great school. Okay. Whatever. But let me tell you, I think what I really need to help me with my diabetes is just to have a Snicker’s bar.” Okay? Now, would that make any sense? Now, of course, it wouldn’t make any sense. I mean, couldn’t the patient say, “Hey look, Doc, insulin’s a medicine that helps you control diabetes. That might be true for you, but it’s not true for me. Okay? I mean, that’s your personal preference and expression of truth, but it’s not mine.”
Now, you recognize that that makes no sense because when it comes to medicine, you don’t just pick what you like. You got to pick what heals. You got to pick what actually is true. The reason why this kind of way in which something can be true is different is because this is an objective truth claim, meaning it’s about an object, namely insulin, something that’s out there. It’s not a subjective truth claim, because we’re not talking about me, the subject, or a patient who’s expressing their preference. We’re talking about an object, something that exists external to a person that we can assess is this thing really helping people with diabetes or is it not? That’s why this kind of a truth claim is an objective truth claim because it’s about an object.
Now, relativism at its core is simply choosing what you like or what you prefer as opposed to choosing what is true. In other words, relativism makes truth relative to the individual, to the subject. It takes things that are objectively true or false and makes them relative to the subject, makes them a matter of personal preference when they shouldn’t be that way. So you then, or whoever the person, is the determiner of truth, whether it be moral truth or religious truth or any kind of truth. That’s what relativism does.
So let’s do a quick review before we take a short test. All right? So we have a subjective truth claim and objective truth claim. So pay attention, because you’ll be tested here in a second. But a subjective truth claim is a claim about a subject, a person, a person who expresses a personal preference. An objective truth claim is a claim about an object, something external to a person, something that all of us can look at and see, “Okay, it’s this object or this idea or this concept. That’s what an objective truth claim is.” Notice, a subjective truth claim can be true and false at the same time. So when I say chocolate peanut butter ice cream is the best ice cream, it’s true for me. But when she says it, that same statement, notice that same exact statement is now false when she expresses it.
Because when it comes to subjective truth claims, they can be true and false at the very same time. This is not the case with an objective truth claim. Objective truth claims cannot be true and false at the same time. Insulin either is a medicine that helps control diabetes or it is not. It can’t be and not be a medicine that helps with diabetes. It’s one or the other. Furthermore, a subjective truth claim, it’s truth or falsehood depends on person’s preference. Right? So it’s about a matter of ice cream or your personal favorite car or whatever it might be. Well, whether that’s true or not just depends on the person who’s expressing their preference on that thing. But an objective truth claim has nothing to do with a personal’s preference.
It doesn’t matter whether the patient doesn’t like insulin. They don’t want to stick a needle in their skin. No, they don’t like that. I don’t prefer that. I’ll just take a Snickers bar. It doesn’t matter what they prefer because an objective truth claim is just true or false and has nothing to do with a person’s preference. Subjective truth claims also cannot be really tested. It’s not something that you investigate to see whether it’s or false. You just ask the person, “What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?” and she says, “Lime sherbet.” Okay? However, an objective truth claim can be tested, right? We could take insulin, put it into someone’s bloodstream and see does it help reduce their blood sugar inside their bloodstream? If so, we can say, “Okay, based on the test, we now know, yes, insulin helps a person’s diabetes.”
An example of subjective truth is Duck Dynasty is a great show. Okay? An example of an objective truth claim is Pikes Peak is over 14,000 feet high. Right? There’s a couple of examples of subjective and objective truth claims.
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