Is all truth relative?
When someone says that truth is relative, what he normally means is that there is no absolute truth. Some
things may appear true to you but not true to me. If you believe it, it is true for you. If I don’t believe it, it is
not true for me. No one really believes that all truth is relative. No sane person says, “Gravity works for you,
but not for me,” and proceeds to jump off tall buildings believing no harm will follow. When someone says
that truth is relative, what he normally means is that there is no absolute truth. Some things may appear true
to you but not true to me. If you believe it, it is true for you. If I don’t believe it, it is not true for me. When
people say things like “that’s fine if God exists for you, but He doesn’t exist for me”, they are expressing the
popular belief that truth is relative.
The whole concept of “relative truth” sounds tolerant and open-minded. However, upon closer analysis, it is
not open-minded at all. In essence, to say that “God exists for you but not for me” is to say that the other
person’s concept of God is wrong. It passes judgment. But no one really believes that all truth is relative. No
sane person says, “Gravity works for you, but not for me,” and proceeds to jump off tall buildings believing
no harm will follow.
The statement “truth is relative” is, in fact, a self-refuting statement. In saying, “Truth is relative,” one states
a purported truth. But, if all truth is relative, then that statement itself is relative as well—which means we
can’t trust it to be true all the time.
Certainly, there are some statements that are relative. For example, “the Ford Mustang is the coolest car ever
made” is a relative statement. A car enthusiast may think this to be true, but there is no absolute standard by
which to measure “coolness.” It is simply one’s belief or opinion. However, the statement “there is a red Ford
Mustang parked outside in the driveway, and it belongs to me” is not relative. It is either true or false, based
on objective reality. If the Mustang in the driveway is blue (not red), the statement is false. If the red
Mustang in the driveway belongs to someone else, the statement is false—it does not match reality.
Generally speaking, opinions are relative. Many people relegate any question of God or religion to the realm
of opinion. “You prefer Jesus—that’s fine if it works for you”.
What Reformed Samaritanism says (and God’s Law teaches) is that truth is not always relative, as there is an
objective spiritual reality, just as there is an objective physical reality. God is unchanging (“For I am the
Lord, I change not”- Malachi 3:6); Moses likened His teachings to the constant and unchangeable
phenomena of rain and dew (My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the
small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass- Deuteronomy 32:2, King James Version).
Thus, striving to perform the good commanded to Moses upon the two stone tablets is the way of salvation,
and this is absolutely true for every person at all times. As is written: “Let us hear the conclusion of the
whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man [not just of Jews, or
Gentiles, but of all men from all nations]”- Ecclesiastes 12:13, KJV).
Just like people need to breathe in order to live, people need to turn away from evil, and start doing the
goodness commanded by God to Moses, in order to experience spiritual deliverance (“And I will walk at
liberty: for I seek thy precepts”- Psalm 119:45).
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