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Part Seven: Postmodernism Is Self-contradicting, So Why Do People Believe It?
Postmodern relativists claim that absolute truth is a myth. They insist truth is relative, situational, and subject to redefinition and reinterpretation in virtually all areas of knowledge, including history, law, psychology, education, sociology, ethics, and religion. But can this worldview be justified? No, because it is a self-contradicting proposition; the assertion contradicts postmodernists’ actual beliefs and behaviors.
As I suggested in last week’s blog, the best way to counter postmodernism is to ask questions that challenge them to justify their assumptions. The idea is for them to see the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of their claims—and in today’s blog self-contradictions. Below are a few examples:
PM: (postmodernist): “It’s wrong for you to impose your morals on other people!”
CA: (Christian apologist): “Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing when you tell me that?”
PM: “No one’s beliefs are better than anyone else’s.
CA: “Does this mean my beliefs are as valid as yours?”
PM “People have a right to believe whatever they want.”
CA: “Then why are you trying to convince me of your view?”
PM: “There is no right or wrong.”
CA: “What about that statement? Is it right or wrong?”
PM: “Nothing can be known for sure.”
CA: “Does that include your statement?”
PM: “All religions are equally true!”
CA: “If all religions are equally true, then Christianity is false because it claims to be the only true religion. And if Christianity is false, then it’s not true that all religions are equally true!”
PM: ”There are no absolutes.”
CA: “Are you absolutely certain there are no absolutes?”
When postmodernists make such statements as the above illustrate, they make absolute statements about truth—therefore contradicting themselves. They are merely endorsing a different set of absolutes they want to believe are true.
No one can affirm relativism without refuting it in the process. Indeed, to attempt to persuade someone that relativism is true is to become an absolutist. The late theologian and apologists, Dr. Norman Geisler, expressed this well:
Those who deny the absolute nature of truth do not believe their view is just another relative view. They claim, at least implicitly, that it is absolutely true. In short, total relativism is self-defeating. Relativism of truth cannot be affirmed as truth unless relativism is false, for it is self-defeating to affirm that it is objectively true for all that truth is not objectively true for all. Absolute truth, therefore, is literally undeniable. (Why I Am a Christian; Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe, 45.)
In short, a self-contracting worldview is a false worldview. ©
Next week we’ll see that postmodernism violates the laws of logic—yet postmodernists continue to believe in it.