Blog

by Nathan Buck

Have you noticed how tribal our culture has become and how divided we are by experience, ideologies, and opinions? How did we get here? Is this progress?

It goes without saying that in many areas of life, business, culture, etc. that progress is a good thing. But progress toward what, and from what? If we are talking about improving our health, sales in our business, or educating or employing more people, that kind of progress is good. But what about moral progress? Is there a point at which all moral values are really relative to experience and don't really apply to everyone? That is the basic principle of moral relativism: the idea that what is true for me is true for me, but not always (or even ever) true for others.

The major problem with moral relativism is that truth becomes a construct of my experience, and morality is only what furthers the narrative that I identify with. The trap is that we get caught in a moral framework that only exists in our experience and has no transcendent value. This means we have to create a counterfeit transcendence of value by convincing others to live according to our narrative and forsake their own personal narrative to become intertwined with ours. Now, sometimes it's easy to do that, because there are people around us whose experience agrees with ours. This is where the rise of tribalism begins: the battle over the strongest narrative and who can assert their version of reality the best.

Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle assumed there were absolutes, and with good reason. They understood there were major problems with this idea of progressive morality, because eventually it devolves into what Friedrich Nietzsche called "the will to power." This is the idea that every living thing exists to exert its power, put another way, the motivation for life is to exert our influence on the material world. The problem with Nietzsche’s thought is that he was a nihilist, which basically means he believed everything is meaningless. He believed ultimately that there was no eternal purpose for our existence or our accomplishments. We are here, and then we blink into nothingness.

It is interesting that in Western culture, we have married secular humanism to this "will to power," and try to ignore the gaping "nothingness" at the end. We have tried to say that we are here to make a difference in the world for the sake of human improvement, because all humans are basically good, and we can continue to progress the more we congeal humanity into one big community of stories that affect each other for the good.

There are a ton of assumptions in that way of thinking. But the truth is, evil exists and is not extinguished by relativism, because true relativist thinking has no standard by which to judge something as evil. Good or evil are constructs of individual or collective experience. The one(s) doing evil, can state that their experience justifies their actions, and so therefore it isn't evil, but good. To put it more simply, when the basis for good and evil is just our experience, when there is no transcendent standard, we are left with only the "will to power," and a giant battle of "king of the hill" ensues. No matter how much common ground we seek to build, and no matter how much we try to influence others by listening and telling stories, there will always be places we refuse to surrender our perspective. Those places will bring conflict that cannot be resolved, because they assume we don't have to resolve our own story and we are supposed to exert it upon the world in order to achieve our greatest good.

The trap of moral relativism is that it leads to tribal warfare every single time. For example, look at current Western culture, every war in history, every social conflict, etc. Somewhere at the root of each of these is the will to power.

Paul said something similar to Timothy when he was mentoring him as a leader ministering to the early Christian Church. Read 2 Timothy 4:1-8. Notice how Paul addresses tribalism and relativist thinking. When people want it their way, they gather around them a critical mass of people willing to support their viewpoint. They turn aside from truth and turn toward myths. In other words, they reject facts and data for the experience of the narrative, even if the narrative never really happened.

This is why debate and discourse have disintegrated in much of the Western world and in countries where tyranny rules. Countries ruled by dictatorship are just places where the many tribes have been replaced by the strongest tribe. If you want to see where moral relativism leads, it isn't to egalitarianism; it is to tyrant under those with the strongest narrative or the strongest army pushing a narrative.

Paul's encouragement to Timothy is the keep his head in all situations - to recognize there is a standard, endure the hardship of both submitting to the standard and in facing the push back from those who reject the standard. Be an evangelist, a herald of what is good. Yes, of course, share the Truth of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection with people, but also demonstrate and speak about what is True for all people in all places at all times.

It is not ok to let people go their own way and become tribal. If we do, then we become just as tribal and we join a game that can only be won by overthrowing others. We must continually live and discuss the Truth that unravels relativist thinking. We must help people restore the identity of their design instead of the identity of their experience, on whatever level it's been overwritten. We must continually point out transcendent Truth and the end result of relativist thinking simultaneously. This means we have to resist tribalism and resist the skirmishes that help someone's will to power.

We must first submit ourselves to the standard of Jesus' example and teaching. We must purge ourselves of tribalist interpretations of Jesus' example and teachings. We must care enough about those around us to be in meaningful dialogue. We must ask questions that draw the relativist assumptions into the light and help unravel the power the mythical narrative has over their beliefs and actions.

This is hard work, and it requires patience and compassion. I suggest we get practice by examining ourselves and whatever tribe we find ourselves a part of. Can the things we say we believe and fight for pass the scrutiny of Jesus? Would He approve of everything we think He approves of? Would He condemn everything we think He would condemn? Are we willing to hear Him speak to our assumptions without adding assumptions onto what He actually said? I would hope the answer is yes. Sadly, I see tribalism at work within the Church and those who say they follow Jesus. I see progressive moral perspectives where Jesus was quite clear on God's standard. Judgement, division, and warring exists among the people Jesus said have received His unity and peace. Why is that? What excuses do we really expect to stand before God's scrutiny?

If you don't wrestle with that question daily, then perhaps relativism is already at the core of your thinking, and your efforts have become the will to power for a future tyranny. Take caution, lay down anything that does not position Jesus at the center of the focus.

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