Part Eight: Two Fundament (but Irrational) Dogmas that Fuel Postmodernism
In last week’s blog post, we saw that probably the most dangerous adversary confronting the Christian Church in the 21st century is Postmodernism. Two fundamental presuppositions govern Postmodernism, and both directly oppose the principles for determining truth that has guided Western culture for centuries—and they directly affront biblical teachings.
- There Are No Absolute Truths
Until the late 20th century, most people subscribed to the belief that absolute, universal truths exist that are objective and trustworthy. They may differ over what constituted truth, but they agreed that truth does exist and appealed to evidence and reasoned arguments to support their perspectives. People believed the laws of logic are valid and foundational to thinking and communicating. Truth is not situational nor relative to one’s cultural milieu; it exists independent of personal beliefs, feelings, and experiences.
In direct contradiction, Postmodernism assumes that no area of knowledge produces absolute truth. Objective facts are virtually nonexistent. “Truth” is relative, situational, and subject to redefinition and reinterpretation, including history, law, psychology, education, sociology, ethics, and religion. Thus, for example, American courts read into the Constitution “freedoms” such as abortion and same-sex marriage that the Constitution’s original intent never had. We see a similar philosophy at work in our universities. Many college-aged students are encouraged to bypass religious and moral beliefs that tell students how they ought to behave and instead follow their own subjective feelings and select those “values” they prefer.
In short, in postmodern secular America, ethics are primarily in the eyes of the beholder. A postmodernist may say, “Pornography may be wrong to you and OK to someone else.” “Abortion and homosexuality were considered sinful in the past but are no longer today because we live in a different world .” Both are acceptable under postmodern moral relativism (which we’ll examine in a later blog post).
- “Truth” Is Culturally Conditioned
The second basic postmodern presupposition is likewise the antithesis of objective truth and values. Postmodernism rejects the faculty of human reasoning as a means of discovering absolute truth (even if it did exist). Why? Because its proponents believe what people think is objective knowledge is a byproduct of their cultures; peoples’ thoughts and feelings are conditioned by the societies in which they live. According to postmodern thinking, people can’t escape their personal life history and the influence of the traditions, interpretations, and corporate experiences of their cultural heritage. ©
I provide an in-depth study of Postmodernism in my revised edition of Defending Your Faith; Reliable Answers for a New Generation of Seekers and Skeptics. (Kegel Publications, 2019) You can review it on my website home page.
Next week we’ll examine the first of three postmodern creeds that permeate virtually all aspects of modern society. It is arguably the single most widespread apologetic issue in American society today.