Subjectivism

There are three destructive schools of thought prominent in our culture, This addresses the third. They are relativism, tolerance, and subjectivism. They will be addressed in three sequential Posts. Third, Subjectivism.

How are believers to live in a world where subjectivism has replaced objectivism? Subjectivism means I am the subject. Objectivism means there is an object other than self. In this consideration the Bible is the object.

In Christian ethics and morals the Lord as revealed through the Bible has been the object affording us the standard for right and wrong.

Now the source of right or wrong has shifted from the object, the Bible, to the individual “I.”

“I” am the authority for right or wrong. That brings us back to absolutes. “I,” the subject has no absolutes, everything is relative.

This leaves a conscience free of conviction. The individual becomes “god.” When the moral compass of Scripture is replaced by the will of the individual, direction is lost in life. Every person does that which is right in his or her own sight. 

Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) are popular. It is a simple little device that is locked on to a satellite. It can tell you where on earth you are within a matter of inches.

If lost you might not like what the GPC shows. You might dispute it and decide to go the direction you desire rather than the one indicated to be correct. The standard remains. You don’t judge the standard, it judges you.

How are we to live in such a culture?

1. When you blow it, confess your sin quickly and repentantly return to the Lord in faith and obedience.

2. Build your faith through the study of God’s Word and prayer.  “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”  (Romans 10:17).

3. Be prepared for spiritual conflict against:

A. The world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever”  (I John 2: 15, 17).

B. The flesh.   “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish”  (Galatians 5:16,17).

C. Satan. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”  (I Peter 5:8, 9).