“Dr. Dixie, I’m a teenager. I’m so tired of my mom telling me that my friends’ behavior is wrong. She doesn’t know their life details so how can she be so sure they’re choices arewrong? Maybethose things were wrong when she was young, but times change. Some things are just not wrong anymore, just old fashioned.”
No one in the “younger generation” likes to hear the “older generation” tell us that the “new” thoughts and concepts we’re pursuing aren’t new at all and may in fact, be unwise and dangerous. What you’re referring to is “relative truth”: the belief that truth is determined by how we feel or by our circumstances. According to this mindset, absolute or unchangeable truth doesn’t exist, and the claim that it does exist is regarded as “intolerant”.
However, even secular human societies need unchanging standards to avoid chaos. For example, there are units of measure that are standard, and cannot be changed by any individual. A gallon is always 128 ounces. Let’s imagine that you buy gas for your car, and notice that the “gallons” meter is turning very rapidly. As you calculate the price, you realize that instead of $3.59 for 128 ounces, you are being charged $3.59 for every 64 ounces or $7.18 for each gallon.
Indignant, you insist that the pump be recalibrated. “Oh no,” the owner says. “I decided this morning that it doesn’t matter what THEY say a gallon is. I need greater profit, so I’m charging the same amount for less gas. I know it’s right because it makes me feel good to make more money.” The station owner would quickly have to answer to the Department of Weights and Measures, which checks accuracy of the meters so that consumers aren’t deceived and “ripped-off ” at the gas-pump. He would quickly lose customers who would not accept his “feel-good” reason for price gouging.
What your parents want to do is protect you from being “ripped-off” morally. Believing the lie that we can “change truth” to whatever feels good at the moment always results spiritual, emotional and relational chaos; producing a life that is foundationally unstable. The moral quagmire we currently face as a nation is the result of believing the lie of relative truth.
God has put certain foundational, unchangeable truth principles in place, so that we can avoid moral and spiritual chaos. When God says it is absolutely true that immorality will cause terrible harm, deciding it doesn’t feel true to you at the moment won’t change the principle (fundamental truth) that you will incur emotional damage if you indulge in immoral behavior. Just like gravity operates identically in every century, on every continent, God’s unchanging truth remains invariably and predictably in effect no matter what time period or culture we live in.
God’s Word and His Holy Spirit are the heavenly “Department of Weights and Measures” that offers protection from the inevitable loss and damage suffered when we try to live outside of His plan and design. God is our heavenly Daddy. He loves us without limit and desires to protect us from the destruction of sin as He leads us into maturity.
Psalm 33:11-12; Proverbs_ Please join Infinite Grace Ministries in the fight to restore and strengthen families through Biblical truth of God’s great loveandmercy. Formoreinformation,visitusatinfinitegrace. com or call 580-774-2884
