We live in an age of Relativism – A belief system based upon the absolute certainty that there are no absolutes. We hypocritically applaud men for seeking the truth, but call for the public execution of anyone arrogant enough to believe he has found it. We live in a self-imposed Dark Age, the reason for which is clear. Natural man is a fallen creature, morally corrupt, and hell-bent on autonomy (i.e. self-government). He hates God because He is righteous and hates His laws because they censure and restrict his evil. He hates the truth because it exposes him for what he is and troubles what still remains of his conscience. Therefore, fallen man seeks to push truth, especially the truth about God, as far from him as possible. He will go to any extent to suppress the truth; even to the point of pretending that no such thing exists or that if it does exist, it cannot be known or have any bearing on our lives. It is never the case of a hiding God, but a hiding man.
The problem is not the intellect, but the will. Like a man who hides his head in the sand to avoid a charging rhino, modern man denies the truth of a righteous God and moral absolutes in hopes of quieting his conscience and putting out of mind the judgment he knows to be inevitable. The Christian Gospel is a scandal to man and his culture because it does the one thing he most wants to avoid – It awakens him from his self-imposed slumber to the reality of his fallenness and rebellion, and calls for him to reject autonomy and submit to God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.
- Paul Washer
A Scandalous Gospel
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