Truth, morality, leadership, and the death of God

In the 1960’s the “Death of God” movement was being heralded by those who were disinclined to buy into the idea of Christianity.   For many supporters of the movement the idea of a universal, unique, and absolute truth was the real stumbling block.  One man, living two thousand years ago, cannot possibly have anything compelling, relevant, or important to say about life today in modern world; this was their claim.  Of course, they made that claim absolutely.

Now, decades later, with the research in, its seems that God has not died, rather, spirituality has seen a sharp rise in America.  While this is true, our culture still wrestles with the idea of one truth setting the mark for morality.  Even with spirituality on the rise it appears that many have difficulty accepting the claim of Christianity which asserts that there is one way to God.  Indeed, Jesus Himself suggested, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to God except through me.”

Such a claim then, and now, strikes many as odd at best, and perhaps cosmically arrogant.  Yet, the same people who dismiss the notion of absolute truth (absolutely), seem to have some standard of morality for themselves and others.  As I wrote a number of days ago, the storm swirling around the Eliot Spitzer situation demonstrates our national concern for truth, integrity, and character.  It appears that many who espouse the idea of many roads leading to God, and many truths being a legitimate roadway to ultimate goodness, and who want to embrace a personal and individual approach to right and wrong, are still up in arms over the former Govenor’s activities.  But if no absolute truth exists, or if all actions are personal and relative, then why do the Govenor’s actions matter at all to us?  It was his decision, not ours.  Who are we to say if he was right or wrong?
Another horrifying story hit CNN today.  It was announced just moments ago that Federal agents have busted a child porn ring in Polk County Florida.  Some 2o people or more were arrested for child porn.  The investigation turned up over 100,000 images of child porn, some with children only a month old, and most with children seven to nine years old.  The reporters and commentators upon announcing the story had looks of genuine disgust, pain, and amazement on their faces as they gave the facts.  I got, literally, physically ill just hearing the details.  Most Americans, I am sure, will have the same response upon hearing this story.  But why?  If no absolute truth exists, and all actions are personal, then why do such things disgust us and violate some sense of right and wrong?  We ought not have an internal compass that moves us so if truth does not exist.
In reality, we all live our daily lives, practically speaking, with a fundamental understanding that absolutes do exist.  In math class 2+2 always equals 4.  If we don’t use our brakes when the car in front of us is stopped, we will absolutely crash into them.  If we do not pay our electric bill the lights will absolutely be turned off.  If we murder someone and its found out, we will go to jail.  If we cheat on our spouse we will cause great pain in our family.  If we used drugs regularly we will get addicted.  On and on it goes.  At work, at play, at home, and everywhere in between, if we step outside the lines of reality, goodness, truth, and morality, we absolutely pay a price.  As a tennis player I recognize that if I repeatedly hit the ball beyond the lines I will lose points and ultimately the match.

Yet, many thirst for a kind of life that does not meet Jesus’ standard of morality.  And so, the easier approach is to question the standard and the standard giver rather than embrace Him for what and Who He is.  Rather than acknowledge Jesus as God, and as our moral compass, we want the desires of our flesh to be appeased.  In fact, one of Darwin’s right hand men, when asked years ago about his commitment to Darwinism, despite facts disputing the hypothesis, suggested, “I guess I remain committed because the idea of there being a God calls my sexual mores into question.”  Shocking isn’t it?  And yet, we all do this to some degree.  When our hunger for something is strong enough we can rationalize any behavior.  Jesus referred to this disease as sin, and its the very thing He came to cure.

The question then, with Easter approaching, is simply this, “Who do you say that He is?”  Jesus offered the same question to Peter, “Who do you say that I am?”  Peter’s response, now historic, is the foundation of the Church worldwide, “…you are the Christ.”  Jesus then said that it was upon that statement of truth that the Church would be built.  Jesus said He was the standard of measurement, but also the cure to our falling short of that standard.

In a world where so much violence, murder, sexual deviance, lying, stealing, and cheating takes place we ought to be thankful that someone has clearly pointed the way to absolute truth.  In some cultures they eat other people, in our culture we suggest that each individual has God given rights.  Which is it?  It cannot be both at the same time.  Both approaches cannot be true when they contradict each other so severely.  The same is true of all moral equations.  Different answers which contradict one another cannot all be true.  Many or all suggestions for a given claim could all be wrong, but we cannot suggest they are all correct.

Truth does indeed exist.  All speech, thought, feeling, desire, action, and each life would be meaningless if there were no true reality behind it.  There is something beyond us.  God is not dead.  Jesus is the mark.  We are in need of knowing Him.

Consider, in the days between now and Easter, just who this man was, and is.  He claimed to be God.  He claimed to forgive sins.  He claimed to be the one who was given the task of judging the entire world.  He claimed to be the answer to the riddle of life.

As C.S. Lewis has suggested, a man who said and did the kinds of things Jesus said and did cannot be called merely a good man, a great moral teacher, or a prophet.  Someone who claims to be God, who claims to be the only way to truth, is not good if he is lying about that claim or if he is a lunatic living amidst a great psychotic delusion.  We don’t call liars nor lunatics “good” or “great”, and we certainly don’t call them “prophets”.  As Lewis suggests, let’s not approach Jesus with the patronizing notion of him being a “good guy”.  He did not leave that option open to us, and he did not intend to.

Jesus suggests to us that He and He alone is the way to a life worth living.  Give Him a close look.

Happy Easter!

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 20. March 2008 at 12:16 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.