ShelfLife

I’ll never forget my first “real” encounter with a moral relativist.  I was traveling on an airplane for work from Atlanta, GA to Anchorage, AK and was I sitting in a row with three seats.  I was in the aisle seat, a middle aged woman named Jerry was in the middle, and a man in his late twenties named Derek was sitting by the window.  As the flight took off, I was doing what I normally try to do on an airplane: not talk to anyone.  When the beverage service started, I overheard Derek say to Jerry something about how Jesus was a “good teacher, but not God.”  I listened to Derek espouse his “spiritual views” and after about 10 minutes I decided I would ask God whether or not He wanted me to join this conversation.  I’ve never had a prayer answered so quickly and so surely in my life.  So, I took a deep breath and ask Derek and Jerry if I could join their conversation.  Derek and Jerry were more than happy to let me join and began to ask me why I believe what I believe.

My answers were heartfelt, yet simple.  Everything for me changed when I began to see my bad behavior as more than just mistakes and actually realized they were sins against God.  “At that point,” I told them, “I came to see my need for Jesus.  I came to see that I needed my sins to be forgiven and realized that Jesus died on my behalf as payment for my sins.”

The conversation continued back and forth for a few more minutes, but I was having trouble trying to figure out what it was exactly that Derek believed.  He was very spiritual and seemed to believe everything, except that Jesus was the Son of God and savior of the world.  I finally asked Derek how he thought his sin was going to impact him when he died and he gave me an answer that I’ll never forget.  He said, “Well Adam, in my world, there is no sin.”

I was stunned.  I had never heard anyone say something like that before.  What Derek meant, was that in his worldview, there was no concept of “sin” and therefore no need for a savior.  There really wasn’t any right or wrong in his worldview.  Therefore, he was fine keeping Jesus as a teacher, because Derek’s worldview didn’t have any need for a savior.

I have to admit, once he said that, I had no defense.  All I knew at that time was good news and bad news.  The bad news is everyone’s a sinner and needs a savior.  The good news is Jesus is that savior.  Derek completely stole my thunder and I just went back to reading my book thinking to myself, “Oh well, one day he’ll see I’m right and he’s wrong.”

Looking back, I’m kind of embarrassed.  I know God is sovereign and I have no way of knowing what Derek took away from that conversation.  But looking at that conversation on a purely surface level, I was ill equipped to intelligently respond to his relativistic worldview.  What may even be more embarrassing is that it took years before I took that time to think through what a good response to Derek may have been.  I was fine once I was able to retreat back into my holy huddle of suburban white middle class Christianity.

After reading chapter seven, I must say I wish I would have done something similar to Moreland’s attempt at stealing the student’s stereo to make his point (page 153-154).  I guess I could have thrown my Diet Coke in his face or made the guy sitting in front of him lean his seat all the way back or something cool like that.

Learning how to communicate the gospel of salvation clearly is invaluable and without a doubt should be a priority of the church.  But I wonder how many conversations Christians engage in with a skeptical or morally relativistic person that never make it to the point where the gospel of salvation can be shared because we cannot intelligently speak to a person’s skepticism, their philosophy of science, or their moral relativism?

The more I read in this book the more I see how vital it is for us to do all we can to better equip ourselves so that conversations with all the “Dereks” in this world don’t end like mine did.  I left that conversation happy I had a group of people who believed the same thing I did and Derek left that conversation a man who was still in need of a savior.

~Adam Tarnow