Moral Relativism

During his recent trip to the United States, Pope Benedict brought a warning to Catholic colleges and universities to guard themselves against moral relativism. Moral relativism is the idea that there is no truth with a capital “T”, only truth (lower case). The lower case vs. capital use reflects the debate of the nature of truth itself. There are those who believe that there is an ultimate and universal Truth (esp. in areas of morality and discussions about God) and those who believe that all truth is individual and particular to each person. The majority of secular colleges in America have been preaching a relative form of truth since the 1960’s in their Humanities departments. It was the spread of this form of “truth” that worries the Pope in regards to Catholic schools. We in the Protestant branch of Christianity also need to be on our guard. Relative truth can seep into Protestant colleges and universities just as easily, not to mention Protestant churches. If truth isn’t absolute and universal there can be an excuse for nearly any immoral behavior. Abortion, divorce, business fraud, cloning, drug use, etc. have all been defended under the guise that there is no ultimate definition of right and wrong for all of us. That line of thinking is deadly dangerous for any Christian institution, be it Catholic or Protestant.

Nothing New Under the Sun

There are times in life when nothing seems to be going the way we want it to. Gas prices are up, food prices are up, wages are stagnant, and home values are down. At times like these politicians and reporters are heard trying to conjure the ghost of the Great Depression. Now, you and I both know that America’s current troubles are small potatoes compared to the horror of the Civil War, the scale and scope of the Great Depression, or the capacity for suffering of World War II. We’ve been through far worse. Likewise, church leaders are often fond of comparing our current moral situation to the Last Days, claiming that we’ve gone over the abyss as a people and there is no turning back. We’ve been through worse moral times too. There was a time that churches across America condoned or promoted slavery, times when American Indians were thought of us expendable, and the days before the Great Awakening were worse than these as well.
Everyone wants to believe that the time they live in is somehow unique, that things have never been like this before. As Christians, we are buoyed by the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:15, “Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.” The wisdom in Solomon’s statement is timely for us as well; whatever troubles we face have been faced by God’s people before; whatever needs we have, God has answered for his people in the past; whatever mistakes we make, God has forgiven his people those same mistakes already. There is nothing new under the sun, we may not have been here before, but the Lord has, and that makes all the difference to us all.

New Year's Resolutions

A new year, a new beginning; the thoughts go hand-in-hand in our culture. We even have a custom of trying to make New Year’s Resolutions each year; many people vow to lose weight, others to quit smoking, save more money, or be nicer to our spouse. We all seem to be a little more willing to change as January 1st rolls around each year. That need, to better ourselves, is a healthy one, but it also reflects the nature of our lives as Christians who have been saved (redeemed, justified) by Christ but have not yet been sanctified (perfected); we are already freed from the eternal penalty of our sins (death, separation from God), but not yet free of the temptation to sin, and the consequences of sin in our lives (News Flash!! Christians aren’t perfect). This tension is what keeps Christians from feeling satisfied with their moral state, even when the rest of the world thinks you’re a saint, you still know that compared to Christ you’re a sinner.
There is someone who has no need to change from year to year; no need for resolutions or vows to improve. Hebrews 13:8 says that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” We will always have need of improvement as long as we walk the earth on this side of eternity; Christ has no such need. One day we will be like him; free of sin and free of the temptation to sin. On that day, we won’t need to make any New Year’s Resolutions; until then, keep trying to lose that weight, quit smoking, save more money, and be nicer to your spouse.

Immanuel, "God with us"

When we celebrate the birth of the Christ child each Christmas do we actually understand how unprecedented and unimagined this birth was? I’m not talking about the miracle of the Virgin Birth or the announcement of the birth by a choir of angels and a bright star; no, the surprise I’m talking about is the purpose of the incarnation itself. Prior to the birth of Christ, you wouldn’t have been able to find any prophets or philosophers teaching anything about either God becoming a man, or God doing the necessary work to save mankind himself. Most of the world’s religions focus on the effort necessary (through good works, self-sacrifice, or even jihad) for mankind to elevate himself to a status of worthiness before God, or even to God-like status. The point is though, that man’s efforts are the focus. The Christ child changes all of that. Simply take note of the two names given to this child in Matthew 1:23-25. The first, Immanuel, is taken from Isaiah 7:14 and means “God with us”. The second, Jesus, means “The LORD saves” When taken together, we can see that God’s plan for the Christ would be that God himself would come among us and save us by his own hand. This may seem second nature to us after two thousand years of Church history, but to the 1st Century it was nothing short of incredible. Not only is the notion of mankind saving himself dispelled by it, but so to the notion that God is too lofty or unconcerned to do what needed to be done himself.
So, this Christmas as you celebrate the 2012th Anniversary of Christ’s birth (he was born in 6 B.C., the calendar adjusters were slightly off), take some time to reflect on what the nature of the God that we worship. Not remote, not distant, but intimately involved in the world he created, unwilling to allow the desperate plight of mankind to continue, and willing to give everything he had to save us. That is why he sent his son, Jesus, also called Immanuel.

Harry Potter

With the final release recently of J.K. Rowling’s conclusion to the Harry Potter series will come the inevitable questions of whether or not this is the type of story that Christian parents should be encouraging their children to read or if Christian should abstain from it because of the backdrop of witchcraft and wizardry. I’ll admit that I have not read any of the books (for me a rarity) but that I have enjoyed the movie versions. That being said, are we as Christians supposed to be withdrawing ourselves from anything that smacks of paganism, no matter what the other factors may be, or are we going to judge things on a case by case basis? {Oh yeah, if you’re going to be anti-witch in all forms, I’d better not catch you watching the Wizard of Oz, or reading Macbeth} I would like to suggest that we certainly should be avoiding the actual practice of the Wicca religion, as it, like paganism in general, involves the worship of the Earth as a god; as Christians we know that God created the Earth, and he deserves the glory and honor for its beauty. Certainly as Christians we don’t have any need for divination or fortune telling, be it tied to “psychics” or simply the horoscopes in the paper. We believe that God, not fate, controls the world, and as such we should not be anxious about the future.
Which eventually brings us back to Harry Potter. I would certainly not put Rowling’s work in the same league as J.R.R. Tolkien or C.S. Lewis both of whom used wizardry and magic in their attempts to tell a uniquely Christian moral message (Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings through example, Lewis in The Chronicles of Narnia through allegory). Rowling is not following in their footsteps. Her books are neither pro nor anti Christian, they’re silent on the matter of religion. Be that as it may, I don’t see any real harm in her books, and as an educator I’m certainly reluctant to condemn any book that students will willingly read on their own unless I have a serious need to do so. If you don’t feel comfortable with them, by all means abstain, but I think we should save our impulse as Christians to crusade against immorality for a more worthy target. Sadly, our world is full of disreputable TV, movies, and songs; Harry certainly isn’t Christian, but he’s not the Devil either.