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When relativsm strikes

Days ago, I read a blog post by some local celebrity blogger that really caught my attention. It was a graduation speech that was delivered last March in some high school students. What interested me most is about his sub-topic regarding Relativism. It caught me off guard and I want to share it with you.

Relativism , like what the blogger defined as when truth is twisted to meet someone else’s need. Francis Kong, a businessman and a columnist, set an easy example about it. He said, “If you are at a streetlight and it turns red, you stop because it’s red, because you’re supposed to stop. (This isn’t really always true in our country though.) But when the light turns red, and you look at the car next to you and it’s moving, you become unsure whether to stop or keep on moving as well. So what do you do? You put on the brakes… but even then you’re unsure of what to do exactly.”  That’s Relativism…you become unsure whether what you’re going to do is morally right or wrong just to suit your needs, even though you really know what is right or wrong.

Nowadays, we Filipinos are “dancing to the beat” of other cultures. We become more open in accepting traditions or cultures that are very foreign to us. We like to try different things. We love to explore the world and with that, we become easily adaptive to new trends such as in fashion, style of clothing, music and technology. As they change, we also change. And it is very evident now in teenagers and in young people. And sometimes, too much of it makes me sad and think that we are embracing them more regardless of the fact that some of the changes are quite unacceptable to the values that we learned from our families, school and in church. Some Filipinas for example, no longer embodies the stereotypical Maria Clara—refined and wholesome. It’s crazy to think that those simple things that the Filipinos are known for are becoming more and more extinct. Some might say that people or time changes and those age-old values are old-fashioned and somewhat unacceptable to the new world. But what is acceptable nowadays? Girls wearing skimpy clothes? Or billboards or magazines with topless models? Or maybe the constant portrayal of violence, adultery and even sex among non-married couples or in youths and even in homosexuals in TV, movies or magazines? It’s very sad to think that people nowadays are casually involving themselves in immoral acts like there’s nothing wrong with it. People are getting numb at the fact that those things are against our core values as Filipinos that were imparted by our progenitors. Our morals had been tampered by those changes. And we are finding ways of straightening the crooked paths, o make the false true and to make the wrong acceptable.

Morals, like truth is absolute. It is independent and unconditional. There are no exceptions. It will never change for someone and it will remain as is in the future. You cannot add or take away from it to make it more rightful or less rightful.

What we need to do, like what the blogger suggest, is to “break free” from this uprising culture of relativism. We need to “walk against the wind” (contra ventum tibi ambulandum est). Remember that just because everybody is doing it doesn’t mean that it is right. We need to take courage and step up to be different from others. Let us also remember that the absence of a standard reference is the root of relativism. But the Bible clearly states in the Gospel of John, that Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH and LIFE. Therefore, the only way of battling and breaking free from relativism is to live a life like Christ. I want to share one of the verses that I first memorized in Church—“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”(Romans 12:2). Apostle Paul urges us to be different—to rebel against the patterns of this world. Because he knew that if we continually adapt and make it as our lifestyle, we will be living a life full of sin. And we don’t want that! So what we need to do is to focus on one goal—to be like Christ, the way God wants us to be.

Let us apply our values and virtues that we learned from our parents, teachers and in the church as well. Strength and courage to walk against the wind, constant determination to go when everybody is against you, perseverance and sacrifice and most importantly-Faith in God. Because with faith, we can do supernatural things.  With all of these things in our heart, there’s nothing or no one that can stop us from turning the world upside down! - migs AMDG

 
 credits to Francis Kong