[Vision2020] Shrill Crusades

[Douglas]

Visionaries,

Rootless relativism and the high moral indignation of a shrill crusade do 
not go well together.

If some things are absolutely wrong (every day of the week, in every 
century, in every culture), then surely it should be easy for those 
fundamentalists who are propounding such absolutism to answer some simple 
questions about it. Why are these things always wrong? Who says? Why should 
we pay any attention to your god?

Joan, Melynda, Steve, Donovan, Tom, Bill, et al. -- pop quiz.

1. In your system, why is slavery always wrong?
2. Who says that your system is the universal one, binding on all others 
who may not share your beliefs?
3. Do I have to serve the god of your system even if I do not believe in 
him/her/it?

It is difficult to suck and blow at the same time. You cannot have it both 
ways, and yet you are attempting to have it both ways -- by distracting the 
attention of all away from these questions by means of sheer volume, 
indignation, pursing of the lips, media lies, and cute one liners. If you 
are yelling loud enough, you don't have to think, and you never have to 
answer the questions. But the questions remain, for all that.

Take any slave-holding society -- pick one, any one of them. Periclean 
Athens? Augustan Rome? The Aztecs? The ante-bellum South? Which one do you 
want? Now, tell me why they are bound to drop everything and do it *your* 
way? Because Kant says? Or J.S. Mill says? Or the Koran says? Or 
contemporary enlightened thought in Moscow, Idaho says? Which is it? Answer 
the question. A consistent relativist would defend the human sacrifices of 
the Aztecs. Can you defend *that*, but then draw the line at slavery? 
"Sure, cut his beating heart out of his chest, but you *cannot* make him 
wash the dishes."

If Baal is god, serve him. If you are an ethical relativist, then open wide 
and swallow the consequences -- all of them. But don't strut about as 
though you were a relativist until you meet a conservative Christian, at 
which point you go after him with all the zeal of a 17th century Jesuit on 
steroids. Whence this zeal? By what standard? How did we get here?

As I said before in an earlier post, imagine there's no heaven. Above us, 
only sky. You were a cropper in the Mississippi Delta 80 years ago. Above 
you, was there only sky? You were a mistreated slave in 1852, and your 
master got rich off your labor. Both you and he are dead now. Above the gas 
chambers of Germany. Only sky? Is there any judgment? Is there any justice? 
What is justice anyway? You can know what justice is, and then explain the 
basis of it to the rest of us. Or you can shrug and say you do not know 
what justice is. But you cannot, dear visionaries, do both. Or, more 
accurately, you cannot do both without a large number of people seeing what 
you are trying to do.

If relativism is the case, then anything goes, including the worst forms of 
absolutism. Those of you who have joined the chorus of absolutist voices in 
recent days, proclaiming that certain things are always and everywhere 
wrong, is this not backsliding away from your vaunted relativism? Are you 
remembering Sunday School lessons from your youth or something?

Always remember this: no matter what we say or do not say, whether we point 
it out or not, we know what you are doing. You are trying to shout down the 
gospel. Jesus Christ suffered, bled and died, and He rose again from the 
dead. He did so in order make a new heaven and new earth. In Christ all 
things have been made new. Why are you still steeped in bitterness, 
clutching to the old? The world has been born again. Why are *you* not born 
again? And for those of you who have been baptized, why are you being 
unfaithful to the triune name that was placed upon you (forever)? Whether 
for blessing or chastisement, the water of baptism never dries.

Always beware of contradictory tenets of ad hoc "anything but Christianity" 
worldviews. For example, there are two tenets of dogmatic atheism. 1. There 
is no God. 2. I hate Him. There are two tenets of militant feminism. 1. Men 
are jerks. 2. Women should be equal to men.

In the same way there are two tenets operative in this imbroglio. 1. There 
are no absolutes, no such thing as absolute righteousness or wickedness. 2. 
Those who deny #1 are absolutely WICKED.

There is nothing left to do but invite you, really, to come to Jesus. 
Anyone who is interested in deliverance from a slavery to sin can feel free 
to contact me off-list.


Cordially,


Douglas Wilson