6-18-18<\/p>\n
Thinking back on family scenes on Father\u2019s Day, I was reminded of my parents\u2019 story about days of my childhood, when I was too young to have remembered myself. Among the first words I spoke (that is, \u201cwords\u201d and \u201cspoke,\u201d with qualifications) was \u201cHobbo-loody.\u201d It seems I uttered the phrase often and emphatically, and to much consternation. How could mom and dad show off my skills to visitors (I was the first-born) if the sound was gibberish?<\/p>\n
Howdy Doody? \u201cA baloney,\u201d as in sandwich? They finally solved the mystery as I jumped for joy when my father exclaimed, in another context, \u201cAbsolutely!\u201d It was his frequent, if hyperbolic, word of agreement, or affirmation. \u201cYes\u201d would not do; \u201cI agree\u201d apparently was too weak \u2013 \u201cAb-so-LUTE-ly!\u201d he boomed. My immature fealty was \u201cHobbo-LOOdy!\u201d<\/p>\n
People do that today, saying \u201cAbsolutely!\u201d even substituting the word for \u201cyou\u2019re welcome!\u201d when they are thanked.<\/p>\n
Hyperbole and exaggeration in our time betray a conversational laziness, because we can remain detached but switch in some camouflaged emotional investment. Many times I hear toddlers in shops and malls say \u201cOh my God!\u201d Besides the blasphemy, it is ridiculous to think that young children can so regard, say, a soiled gumdrop on the floor. My late mother-in-law dropped the phrase at the slightest turns until one day I asked her what she was saving for a presidential assassination or world war.<\/p>\n
An additional feature of the word \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d beyond its frequently needless employment, is what it really means. Absolute things are the \u201cmax,\u201d unable to be topped, extended, or multiplied. On the other hand, something that is \u201cabsolute\u201d cannot be diminished and remain absolute. Nothing can be LESS absolute, or modified, or qualified \u2013 because then it is out of the realm of the absolute.<\/p>\n
In today\u2019s spiritual world \u2013 that is, reality; not passing fads and trends in society \u2013 the word \u201cAbsolute\u201d needs to be re-asserted. This is not a mere word-game.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Word contains ABSOLUTE truth; in fact it IS Absolute Truth.<\/p>\n
His promises are ABSOLUTELY true and trustworthy. Not \u201cmostly\u201d; absolutely.<\/p>\n
When Jesus spoke, He had the authority of ABSOLUTE Truth, not \u2013 as relativists and liberal Christianity and Post-Modernists and Emergent church leaders say \u2013 \u201crelative truth.\u201d Or \u201crelational truth.\u201d Truth is truth: it is inherently Absolute. Any adjective other than ABSOLUTE unplugs the essence of what Truth is. (In lexicography, \u201cAbsolute\u201d here is emphatic, not qualifying. Lesson over!)<\/p>\n
This world, as it always has been but seems more so then ever before, is relativistic. \u201cWhat\u2019s right for me is right.\u201d \u201cBelieve what you want, if it doesn\u2019t hurt anybody.\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s true for you is not true for me.\u201d \u201cThere is no right or wrong\u201d \u2013 which sums up all the equivocations.<\/p>\n
In the 1960s, Jean-Paul Sartre presciently maintained (with approval) that in the coming age, \u201cauthenticity\u201d would be all that mattered. This is a cruel philosophical version of the advertising industry\u2019s saying, \u201cSincerity! Once you fake that, you\u2019ve got it made!\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the same time, Dr Will Herberg beheld the vaunted \u201cNew Morality,\u201d and seeing no trace of respect for Absolute Truth, said it should rather be called, \u201cNo Morality.\u201d<\/p>\n
When there are no Objective Standards in peoples\u2019 lives \u2013 that it, no respect for absolute truths in their core beliefs \u2013 there are no standards at all. Humans are wired to worship SOME thing, and when we neither recognize nor seek Absolute Truths, or standards greater than ourselves\u2026 we fall back, virtually, on worshiping ourselves.<\/p>\n
Not a recipe for spiritual health or societal wellness. As the world slid toward more self-worship and less God-awareness, in the 20th century\u2026 well, we cured polio and put footprints on the moon, but slaughtered more people than in all previous centuries combined.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou shall\u00a0be careful to do as the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God has commanded you;\u00a0you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.\u00a0You shall walk in\u00a0all the ways which the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God has commanded you\u201d (Deut 5:32,33a). Oh, the world will ask about other Old Testament verses that seem cruel or obsolete\u2026 we will be challenged about rules that seem not to apply to post-industrial societies\u2026 and so forth.<\/p>\n
The Bible confirms itself, almost endlessly, and those who confront us with seeming contradictions (there are none) or ancient cultural contexts (there are some), would better spend their time absorbing truths than straining to find loopholes. From mighty saints of God to, say, humble cake decorators (possibly also mighty saints of God) who regard the Truths of the Almighty as Absolute \u2013 not in ancient times or distant places, but right where they are \u2013 are all good and faithful servants.<\/p>\n
Sorry, Dad \u2013 and others who use words like \u201cAbsolutely\u201d a little too freely. You gilded the lily. When paired with the word \u201cTruth,\u201d we must obey.<\/p>\n
Absolutely.<\/p>\n
+ + +<\/p>\n