“God is like an elephant, which a bunch of blind men are touching. One blind man grabs a leg and says, ‘my God is strong, and firm.’ Another tries to wrap his arms around the belly and says, ‘my God is prosperous and wealthy.’ A third, finding shade from the ears, says, ‘my God is benevolent, a shelter from the tragedy of life.’ But really, they’re all talking about the same God, they just experience him in different ways.”
The Relativism question, along with its little brother Pluralism, comes up quite often in culture today, and can be seen in this proverb.
More fully, the question of relativism looks like this: “Is there such a thing as absolute truth? Especially in spiritual matters, is there really right or wrong, or does your ‘truth’ depend on your culture, situation, and upbringing?” This results in an argument that looks like this: “Culture, local situations, and a personal experiences are varied such that each person’s experience with the divine is unique an individual. Therefore, what is spiritually true for one person may not be spiritually true for another.”
Christians tend to look at this and point to “hard sciences” to prove absolute truth. “2+2=4≠5” This is always true and never false! Unfortunately, we lose a lot of listeners here, since spirituality is not a “hard science.” It doesn’t fit the scientific formula. Spirituality is about experience, not tested and observable facts, so the relativist will quickly tune out.
So, here I will offer a different type of explanation: metanarrative and unity.
Relativism revs up the blender and breaks everything into as many pieces as possible. Spiritualism is a result of individual experience, and since every individual has a unique experience, every form of spirituality is unique. This results in a whole-sale rejection of metanarrative (meaning “big story”). As Christians, we see the whole world and the whole existence of humanity having a common purpose. Each of us fits into the bigger story of history that God has laid out from the beginning. Relativism attempts to dethrone the larger, over-arching story by insisting on “local narratives,” or, small stories. “You see, the story of Jesus is right for your story, but in the Far East they have a different story.” However, the Christian World View depends on a single story, a single creator with a single plan for salvation. And this one, large story all points to the consummation of history when Jesus returns. The idea of creation demands a creator, and the Creator demands a single theme and purpose for humanity. If I affirm that God created (Genesis 1), sent his Son for humanity (John 3) and that Jesus is returning to earth to establish his kingdom (pretty much all of Revelation), then I must acknowledge God’s big story. And, if God has a big story, all of our “little stories” must fit into this.
I find that fact quite comforting. My purpose comes from fitting into God’s story. Although my life may be “like grass” in comparison to human history, it’s not a worthless little path I’m walking, it’s a mighty trail.
Secondly, relativism places spirituality in a category separate from the rest of life. Politics, the state, education, economics, and the like have little to do with spiritual beliefs. Those are public, religion is private. What we learn from Scripture, however, is quite the opposite. Jesus teaches that we should pay taxes (Mark 12.27), and he instructs us regarding economics and how to use our money (Matthew 6.19-34, James 4.13-14). In Scripture we are taught how to relate to our governments (Romans 13.1-7), how to raise our children (Deuteronomy 6.4-12), and even a welfare-type system is found (James 1.27).
The fact is, what we believe spiritually permeates every bit of what we do. We can’t call one aspect of our life sacred and another secular. Everything we do is sacred. Everything we do is a result of what we believe spiritually.
So, don’t let relativism rip things apart, making the truth of Jesus true only to you. No, Jesus is truth to all (John 14.6).
To finish where I started, the elephant story is nice, but is misses something big. The one who tells the story is the only one who is able to say “God is like an elephant” and is therefore the only person who is enlightened. Nobody else gets it. The rest of the world is missing it. Does that sound like relativism?
