Lately, I've been thinking alot about this topic. What I think is scary to realize is that when I was in school, it was popular to believe that truth depended on the person. In other words, what might be true and right for me might not be true and right for another person.
That's crazy. How can that even possibly be? If, for example, I am to say "Lying is wrong," and someone else is to say "Lying is okay, once in a while, depending on the circumstance," how can I ever know if that person is telling the truth?
I think we have all been guilty of doing this from time to time though. It's called situational ethics which simply means that if the right set of circumstances comes up, it might force us NOT to be truthful. When I was discussing this with some 5th adn 6th graders, they weren't sure about what the right answer was to this question: Are there ever any circumstances in which it's okay to lie?
They quickly answered, "No." Because that's what they've been taught and conditioned to think. "But what about surprise parties?" I asked. "Don't you have to lie about them?" Silence. So, is lying right in this circumstance? A trick question. What I was trying to get them to realize is that lies - real lies - come from hearts whose aim is to hurt someone else or that come from some sort of selfish motivation. "No, officer, I didn't realize there was a stop sign there." That sort of thing.
Once upon a time I used to think that there were so many gray areas when it comes to morality. That's because I bought into the lie of situational ethics. The only ethical system I should be buying into, however, is the one that the Bible lays out for me. And in this system I've found very very little room for gray.
A final thought: Proverbs 26:28 - "A lying tongue hates those it hurts..."
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Ben, This reminds me of something that has puzzled me for a very long time. I am amazed at how many people put the phrase, "I believe..." before most of their statements of faith. When someone says that I just want to say, "If you didn't believe it, you wouldn't say it." Or, I want to ask them, "Does the fact that you believe it make it any more or less true?" For instance, I hear people say, "I believe that lying is wrong," or " I believe that in certain circumstances lying is appropriate." Well, is lying wrong? Is lying appropriate in certain circumstances? I think that people think that if they preface their statement with "I believe" then that leaves room for them to be wrong, or at least it leaves room for other opinions to be right. In God's word, I have never seen the words "I believe" as a preface for a truth (that I can think of). Jesus said it, and it was so! The disciples preached the truth without excuss, never once stating personal beliefs but fact! We need to stick to the facts!
I say all this to say that I agree with you. Truth is NOT relative! Truth just is!
Keep challenging me and others! -Jen M.
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