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Truth is a difficult concept. It’s not difficult to use—for much of math uses it as a foundation of logic—but to get to the bottom of truth means that one has to believe something with absolute certainty.
Post modernism tells us that there is no truth—or truth is not knowable. It emphasizes the idea that either truth can change, or truth can be different for different people.
One great illustration of this is what’s currently going on in the Catholic Church.
Catholic Church Authority
In order to understand the background of the question, we must quickly review some things about the Roman Catholic church.
- It has been tied to countries and had wielded state-like power.
- It has billed itself as the only true church on earth.
- It has sought control of the people, claiming to stand between the people and God.
- It has attempted to keep laity from reading Scripture.
- It has killed those with doctrinal differences.
- It has elevated church tradition to be scripture.
The Roman Catholic church has, since its inception, has acted as a ruling body seeking power more than it has a body seeking to evangelize the world. But my purpose here is not to attempt to catalogue or discuss the differences between Roman Catholicism and the Christian doctrine.
My point is that the Roman Catholic church has always attempted to stand as the authority on Christianity and morality, and especially with the last one, they have often found themselves in trouble because they have stepped out where Scripture has not been clear.
The problem is that they have to defend these principles or they risk losing credibility. If one is dogmatic that the Sun revolves around the Earth, and yet it’s proved to be the opposite, how much do you trust that person the next time something comes up?
There are Things to Stand On
And yet, there is morality and a moral code that a Christian should stand on, otherwise they are not a Christian in the first place.
Newsweek suggests that President Obama may be more Catholic than the Pope because President Obama’s beliefs and willingness to listen match better the American Catholics than the Pope’s.
Just as truth should not be inferred where it is not, truth is not defined by a majority. Morality is not dictated by a popular vote, and often the morality of a mob is less than those in sensible circumstances.
Newsweek has the whole concept backwards because a person that holds a high moral standard should not cave simply because people disagree with the standard or the standard may not match cultural norms. If the standard was based incorrectly, change it. If it can be proven that the stand is false, change it. But if it’s a change in opinion, it’s best to hold your standard and live up to it.
