Absolute...Relational???

Kyle,

I have enjoyed reading your blogs from time to time. I just got done reading your latest one on love broken down in the hearts of people. The idea of Jesus being Truth and Love is not foreign to me, but with reading some from Claiborne, Donald Miller, and William Young (The Shack) my idea has morphed into a primary emphasis on Jesus out of which truth flows instead of Jesus deriving his truth from an objective standard of truth. As I have come to more concretely view Jesus as Truth and Love about whom true statements are made, a tension has developed first in myself and in has leaked out to included those around me who view truth more as an objective set of standards. What I am wondering is how we should go about engaging this tension. I think that I can see some of the objection of primary relational truth (that is truth as understood in relationship to Jesus). Some have run away with the concept and have practically justified any sin in the process. If you have the time and can decipher my thoughts as presented in the above writing, I would love hear your response.

Thanks, Joel Butikofer


Thanks for the question Joel; a good one at that. I would like to begin with a disclaimer. I cannot REALLY answer your question, since I am asking the same question myself. I can interact with it; however, and by the grace of God, be not led astray.
The gulf between practice and ideology can be disheartening at times. Unfortunately much sin has been justified under the auspices of relational truth. I would like to credit this fact to another fact; as you said, truth, including relational truth, has been used, abused, and raped.
I think we must be careful to avoid setting relational truth over against objective truth, or vice versa. We often define relational truth as being free from all absolutes. This is not so. Relational and absolute truth are not enemies. Truth understood in relationship to Jesus is absolute. I think we need a new category that does not set truth against itself (objective vs. relational/subjective). We could call this new category Jesus Christ. Those who would rape truth to justify a sinful lifestyle have raped Jesus Christ. These people have used the objective and subjective categories to their benefit. This is why I don’t like the present categories. Our categories should not allow us to rape Truth so effectively. This is why I am not okay with us using our definition of truth to point our finger at something other than ourselves, when we encounter a perverted society. In short, making truth relational, does not free us to abandon all absolutes as many have assumed.