Ask Pastor Mike: Are There Absolute Truths?

I wanna, and again, I'm not trying to become a political social commentator, okay? This comes from a New York Times article, came out not long after September 11th, November 27th, 2001.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

Note this carefully, okay? We'll make the connection in a minute.

World War II, he says, was a battle against secular totalitarianism.

You know what that means? Totalitarianism, one guy's in charge, do it my way, I am in control, Hitler was gonna conquer the world, do it my way, everybody's gonna do it like me, and I'm gonna control everything.

Political totalitarianism.

He says, but the current war that we're in, he says, is a war against religious totalitarianism.

Now note how he defines this.

He says, all faiths that come out of the biblical tradition, and he's including in that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, the biblical tradition, have a tendency to believe that they have the exclusive truth.

Follow me now.

If they do, they're totalitarianist.

They believe that I'm right and you're wrong.

The opposite of religious totalitarianism, he says, is an ideology of pluralism.

Pluralism.

We'd say America is a pluralistic nation.

Here's how he's defining that.

It's an ideology that embraces religious diversity.

Now there's a tricky sentence right there, a tricky phrase, because for us we would say there's diversity of religion, but in our minds we would separate the fact that that doesn't mean all the religions are true.

Now they're saying, no, no, no, wait a minute.

Pluralism is an acceptance that these faiths are legitimate.

Look how he says it next.

He says the idea, now this is the key, that my faith can be nurtured without claiming exclusive truth.

Now, you've just blurred the line.

I'm saying that I now can embrace my faith.

And as I embrace my faith, I can embrace it, but I can't say it's true over and against yours.

I wanna, and again, I'm not trying to become a political social commentator, okay? This comes from a New York Times article, came out not long after September 11th, November 27th, 2001.

Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

Note this carefully, okay? We'll make the connection in a minute.

World War II, he says, was a battle against secular totalitarianism.

You know what that means? Totalitarianism, one guy's in charge, do it my way, I am in control, Hitler was gonna conquer the world, do it my way, everybody's gonna do it like me, and I'm gonna control everything.

Political totalitarianism.

He says, but the current war that we're in, he says, is a war against religious totalitarianism.

Now note how he defines this.

He says, all faiths that come out of the biblical tradition, and he's including in that Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, the biblical tradition, have a tendency to believe that they have the exclusive truth.

Follow me now.

If they do, they're totalitarianist.

They believe that I'm right and you're wrong.

The opposite of religious totalitarianism, he says, is an ideology of pluralism.

Pluralism.

We'd say America is a pluralistic nation.

Here's how he's defining that.

It's an ideology that embraces religious diversity.

Now there's a tricky sentence right there, a tricky phrase, because for us we would say there's diversity of religion, but in our minds we would separate the fact that that doesn't mean all the religions are true.

Now they're saying, no, no, no, wait a minute.

Pluralism is an acceptance that these faiths are legitimate.

Look how he says it next.

He says the idea, now this is the key, that my faith can be nurtured without claiming exclusive truth.

Now, you've just blurred the line.

I'm saying that I now can embrace my faith.

And as I embrace my faith, I can embrace it, but I can't say it's true over and against yours.