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CREDO CAFE
Tolerance - There are no 'sins' anymore.
Secular Relativism Part 1
INTRODUCTION
Intro – two threads to Credo – encouragement and evangelism
Book Review – ‘The God Delusion’ – Richard Dawkins
Secular Relativism
Seven deadly sins (a non-biblical concept of course):
1 Lust 2 Gluttony 3 Greed/Avarice
4 Sloth/Laziness 5 Wrath
6 Envy 7 Pride/Hubris
Postmodernism
Why can’t we all agree? On what? Truth? – Pilates question.
Does truth exist – really this is next month but we will at this point take a brief excursion into Postmodernism. New university students seem to agree on one truth above all others – that there is no absolute truth.
But the courses they embark on then set about teaching ‘truth’ – in one of two ways:
· By Reason (sciences, mathematics) – so Science is inherently ANTI-relativist and ANTI-postmodern. (Dawkins hates post-moderns nearly as much as he hates Christians!! ‘fills a much needed gap…what a perfect desription of an avowedly superfluous book about Foucault, Barthes, Kristeva and other icons of haute francophonyism’)
· By Preference (Humanities) – highly PRO-relativist and PRO-postmodern.
Is there a third way to discover ‘truth’?
· By Revelation
Christianity (indeed most religions) say yes. Analogy of trying to bridge the Atlantic Ocean – we can at best manage a small pontoon – a pier. God must reach out to us from the other side for us to be saved – or to come into His truth.
The pier may be constructed of reason, the bridge is largely revelation – but is not unreasonable.
Absolute Truth
Flaw of Relativism:
Compass Rose –vs- Roulette Wheel
Trying to construct morals without revelation – starting solely with the building blocks of reason and preference, can only get us so far. Preference is a lousy way to make laws, why should we all prefer the same things? And reason would make some rather unpalatable choices – the mercy killing of all those whom we decide would be ‘better off’ dead – or whose continued life causes others to suffer.
So we NEED revelation of which way is up – north, pointer to heaven if you will.
How we hold truth
Impossibility of ‘certainty’ – reliance on ‘faith’? ACS P165. Unable to compel another’s belief. (Even God can’t / won’t force us to believe in Him)
Intolerance
When does faith become fanatical extremism?? When it is LACKING. Colleens confessional prayer this morning ‘We repent of our lack of faith, our narrow-mindedness’ LACK of faith leads to fundamentalism, true faith leads to tolerance, humility, love.
Tolerance
A small, patronising, minimum virtue…only necessary at all because it’s opposite is the doorway to much that has been and is evil. Better is love
Sin – Commandments - How many do we need?
Hundred of OT laws? “As a Christian, how do we know what Old Testament laws we should abide by and which ones we shouldn’t? For instance, I believe I should honor my mother and father, yet I don’t believe I should wear clothes only made of one textile (Lev. 19:3 & Lev. 19:19). I believe in observing the Sabbath, but don’t’ believe I should go see my pastor if I get a boil (Dt. 5:12 & Lev. 13:18).”
My paraphrase of the ten commandments:
1. Have no other Gods
2. Do not worship idols
3. Do not misuse God’s name – for He is holy
4. Keep Sunday special
5. Honour your father and mother
6. Do not murder
7. Stay faithful to your marriage partner
8. Do not steal
9. Do not tell lies
10. Do not be greedy for things that aren’t your own.
Jesus Paraphrase
1. Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, strength and mind
2. Love your neighbour as yourself
Paul’s summary in Galatians:
1. ‘The entire law is summed up in a single command – love your neighbour as yourself’ (Galatians 5)
Richard Dawkins New 10 Commandments (Secular Humanism writ large)
1. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you.
2. In all things, strive to cause no harm.
3. Treat your fellow human beings, your fellow living things, and the world in general with love, honesty, faithfulness and respect.
4. Do not overlook evil or shrink from administering justice, but always be ready to forgive wrongdoing freely admitted and honestly regretted.
5. Live life with a sense of joy and wonder.
6. Always seek to be learning something new.
7. Test all things; always check your ideas against the facts, and be ready to discard even a cherished belief if it does not conform to them.
8. Never seek to censor or cut yourself off from dissent; always respect the right of others to disagree with you.
9. Form independent opinions on the basis of your own reason and experience; do not allow yourself to be led blindly by others.
10. Question everything.
Evangelism – Conviction
John 16: 5-16 ‘When he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement’
Christian Duty
Gandhi’s 7 deadly sins of society:
· Wealth without Work
· Pleasure without Conscience
· Science without Humanity
· Education without Character
· Politics without Principle
· Commerce without Morality
· Worship without Sacrifice
January 2007
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