TODAY’S DEVOTIONAL PASSAGE

DEVOTIONAL

by Elder Chris Beltran

Believing in relative or subjective truth means there are no universal or absolute truth about the world, just different interpretations. This idea breeds the concept, “Whatever you believe is true for you, whatever I believe is true for me; therefore, let us respect each other’s beliefs.” With this, a personal belief, idea, or claim is subjective, never true or false, good or bad, right or wrong. It all depends on the person’s perspective.

Does gravity pull objects downward? For a relativist, it depends. If traffic turns red, it depends if you want to interpret it as stop or go. Think about it for a moment. When it comes to mathematics, does 2+2 always equals 4? It should absolutely be 4. In relativism, it depends; if you think it’s 4, good for you. However, if you believe that the answer is 5, what grade will the teacher give you?

When it comes to morality, is raping and killing millions of people right or wrong? How can we say that it depends? When we believe in relativism, we can justify the horrific works of Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and other Muslim extremists who slaughtered and beheaded people. To simplify, if we tell our children to decrease social media time and exercise instead since it is good for the body, they can answer that exercising may be better for adults, but for them, it is not.

Should the truth be subjective or absolute? We no longer see things as they are supposed to be seen. We see things how we like them to be seen. We are more concerned about our rights than what is right. Truth should be absolute and exclusive. Red is stop; green is go. Killing, adultery, raping, and stealing are wrong, and this is a moral absolute. It can only be absolute when we obey God’s commandments, who should be the final judge on what is true or false, good or evil. We cannot be the ones defining it because of our own biases.

If you have a business, would you be willing to hire an accountant, a cashier, a sales clerk, or a treasurer who is relatively honest? Of course not. You want your employees to be absolutely honest. If you are married, do you expect your spouse to be relatively faithful? Of course not. You want her/him to be absolutely faithful every day and every second.

Today, what is right or wrong has become unclear. Christians today are pressured by our culture to erase the separating lines of right from wrong to accommodate everyone. And if that is not bad enough, sometimes we are forced to join those who have taken off religious restraints; there is a demand to collaborate with their thinking. Remember the campaign to have same-sex marriage legalized in the Philippines? What about abortion or suicide, sex outside marriage, or even before marriage? Is this discrimination or purely wrong? (Consider the call to wear masks in the US. Not everyone agrees that wearing a mask keeps people safe; thus, people claim their right not to obey.) The Bible mentioned the things that are considered a sin. Yet, because of our evil nature and desires, our moral views are now distorted.

We go against the purpose and instructions of our Creator as if we know better than Him. We have to be reminded that God has the first and last say when it comes to absolute and moral standards of what is right and wrong.

REFLECTION

Truth is narrow and exclusive. We cannot add to truth and make it more truthful; neither can we remove a little and still claim it to be true. Relative or subjective truth is good if we live in a perfect world. Still, the reason we lock our doors at night, or why we have the police, the law, and the courts, is because we can’t accept everything subjectively, even if we deny it. If morality becomes subjective, anything is acceptable, even raping, stealing, slandering, and killing. Jesus, the Son of God, offers the truth—the absolute truth. When he claims that he is the only way to heaven, we must absolutely believe.

PRAYER

Lord, help me discern the lies of the devil. He wants me to believe him instead of Your Word. The truth will set us free. However, the world is influencing us to think that truth can be relative, but Jesus said that He is the truth. I know that You are true because I experienced freedom in You. Thus, Lord, please lead and guide me in Jesus’ name, amen.