Are all beliefs the same?

In the book of Judges we read that everyone did what seemed right in their own eyes.  That phrase explained much of the chaos that occurred during that period of Israel's history.  There was no king, there was no law, it was a time when everyone did pretty much as they pleased.

We live in a very similar vacuum of moral order today.  Postmodernism has challenged anything claiming to be truth by denying that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  Of course, no one has explained how an absolute truth such as there is no absolute truth can be true if there is no absolute truth.  Postmodernists cannot be bothered with logical inconsistencies such as this, and the majority of the public seem not to be bothered by such inconsistencies either.  They hear some university professor or media star or entertainer repeat the mantra that there are no absolute truths and they assume it must be true.

Without absolute truth there can also be no absolute morality.  It must follow if there is no absolute truth there is nothing to say that one set of moral beliefs is superior to another.  We are all free to live as we please seeking those things in life that bring us pleasure and comfort.  I am free to choose the lifestyle and belief system that seems right to me, and you are free to do the same for yourself.  Because we live in a diverse society with an absence of moral absolutes we are all free to live as we please.

Of course, that diversity and freedom ends if your beliefs cause you to challenge other beliefs and lifestyle choices as wrong.   In America today some beliefs do trump other beliefs with Christian values and beliefs always holding the lesser hand. 

As early as the 1950s C. S. Lewis recognized the danger that comes when all moral ideas are given equality.  In his classic book Mere Christianity he wrote these words.

"If no set of moral ideas were truer or better than any other there would be no sense in preferring civilized morality to savage morality or Christian morality to Nazi morality."

Lewis understood what the postmodernist of today does not: all beliefs are not the same, and different moral values will lead individuals and a nation in different directions.  One question that needs to be asked today is what is the direction our nation has taken in recent years as people have turned from Christian morality to doing whatever seems right in their own eyes?  Have we become a more civilized society or a more savage society?

The challenge for the church is to continue to stand for and proclaim the values and moral principles found in the Bible.  Let the church "speak the truth in love" and in so doing point mankind to the person of Jesus Christ and to his teachings so that they might find true life that is rich and meaningful in the present and the eternal life that awaits them when this life is over.  We must not water down the gospel message in an effort to conform to the expectations of society, but rather it is time to teach clearly the moral principles and truth that was given to us through the Scriptures.