The Blind Elephant of Relativism

Social media addicts are more apt to believe that no religion is the truth. This feeling is often illustrated by the favorite parable of college professors: the parable of the six blind men and the elephant.

This is where each blind man feels a different part of the elephant and therefore reaches a different conclusion about the object in front of him.

·       One grabs the tusk and says, “This is a spear.”

·       Another feels the trunk and says, “This is a snake.”

·       The one hugging the leg claims, “This is a tree.”

·       The blind man holding the tail thinks, “I have a rope.”

·       The one feeling the ear believes, “This is a fan.”

·       And the one leaning on the elephant’s side is certain, “This is a wall.”

These blind men are said to represent world religions because they each come to a different conclusion about what they are sensing. Like each blind man, we are told, no one religion has the truth. No one religion has the complete box top. Religions are simply different paths up the same mountain.

This, of course, greatly appeals to the minds used to cute but shallow Instagram slogan. In post-Pandemic America, truth in religion is considered an oxymoron. There is no truth in religion, we are told. It’s all a matter of taste or opinion. You like chocolate, I like vanilla. You like Christianity, I like Islam. If Buddhism works for you, then it’s true for you. Besides, you ought not judge me for my beliefs. Just wear your face mask - a psychological symbol of egalitarianism beyond the necessary physical protection.

The other problem with truth in religion is that some pieces of life seem to defy explanation - they don’t appear to fit any religious box top. These include the existence of evil and the silence of God in the face of that evil. These are especially powerful objections to anyone claiming that an all-powerful (theistic) God exists.

Many skeptics and atheists argue that if one true, powerful God actually exists, then he would intervene to clear up all the confusion. After all, if God is really out there, then why does he seem to hide himself? Why doesn’t he just show up to debunk the false religions and end all the controversy? Why doesn’t he intervene to stop all the evil in the world, including all the religious wars that are such a black mark on his name? And why does he allow bad things to happen to good people? 

These are difficult questions for anyone claiming that their theistic religion is true. (Hart, David Bentley, Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashinable Enemies . Yale University Press. p.67) Nevertheless, Christianity is the only major faith built entirely around a single historical claim. It is, however, a claim quite unlike any other ever made, as any perceptive and scrupulous historian must recognize. Certainly it bears no resemblance to the vague fantasies of witless enthusiasts or to the cunning machinations of opportunistic charlatans. 

It is the report of men and women who had suffered the devastating defeat of their beloved master’s death, but who in a very short time were proclaiming an immediate experience of his living presence beyond the tomb, and who were, it seems, willing to suffer privation, imprisonment, torture, and death rather than deny that experience. 

And it is the report of a man, Saul of Tarsus, who had never known Jesus before the crucifixion, and who had once persecuted Jesus’s followers, but who also believed that he had experienced the risen Christ, with such shattering power that he too preferred death to apostasy. 

And it is the report of countless others who have believed that they also—in a quite irreducibly personal way—have known the risen Christ. Add me too here...

Everything is Relative

The Bat'n Ball Corona-Puzzle

Problem: “A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”

Take a minute to think about it…

Well?...

Many people respond by saying that the ball must cost 10 cents. Is this the answer that you came up with? Although this response intuitively springs to mind, it is incorrect. If the ball cost 10 cents and the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball, then the bat would cost $1.10 - for a grand total of $1.20, bat and ball,

The correct answer to this problem is that the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs — at a dollar more — $1.05 for a grand total of $1.10.

So why do so many people answer incorrectly? First of all, people often substitute difficult problems with simpler ones in order to quickly solve them. In this case, people seem to unconsciously substitute the “more than” statement in the problem (the bat costs $1.00 more than the ball) with an absolute statement (the bat costs $1.00). This makes the math easier to work with; if a ball and bat together cost $1.10 and the bat costs $1.00, then the ball must cost 10 cents.

Secondly, the bat-and-ball problem reveals how people are overconfident, prone to place too much faith in their intuitions. I got this problem wrong myself when I first saw it, and still find the intuitive-but-wrong answer very plausible looking.

Which brings me to the next point – the staggering number of Christians, mostly conservative ones, venting all kind of strange theories regarding the actual pandemic. Off course, the officials are adding up to this equation their incompetence (sometimes), political bias (most of the times) and the obvious “no one knows for sure” (every single time), in a time like this when people are asking for straight answers type 1+1=2. But the problem is not 1+1 but rather “1 bat + 1 ball = $1.10, find how much cost that crazy ball made in China”. Aha…

To complicate the matter, add Bill Gates stance on vaccines, 5G radiation, World Health Organization bureaucrats, Putin, Pope, Big Pharma, and ultimately 666.

• Of course we don’t have all the information,
• Of course we are going to see the reality through the lens of our own presuppositions, idiosyncrasies, expectations and anxieties,
• Of course we have to decide who is interpreting Revelation 13 for us, Rabbi Fulcrum 7 or Rabbi Spectrum Magazine? Who’s interpreting John 3:16 for us, Rabbi ForeRunner Chronicles or Rabbi George Knight?

Because it matters.

Because we must count for ourselves: 1 bat + 1 ball together $1.10 = $1.05 + $.05.

Because “keeping the commandments of God and having the faith/character of Jesus” (Rev. 14:12) is ALL that matters for Christians. The cacophony of pro or anti this and that, the media yadda-yadda-yadda and the conspiracists blah-blah-blah is nothing but diversion.

But pastor, how about the beast worship being enforced acc to Revelation 13 How can you be so laid-back? Don’t you see how our rulers are setting the stage for the prophesied beast-worship? Is not happening now? 

My answer, the short version - that issue according to the same verse, Rev.14:12 is about and around Christians having or not having the faith/character of Jesus + keeping the commandments of God, specifically the 4^th one. Nothing to do with 5G, Bill Gates, George Soros, Vitamin C, under-skin chip implants, wearing protective mask or suspending the church public services for a couple of months. 

To all my 5G-ers and antiV-ers friends - let's give the right answer to this life-&-death question brought by Christ in Luke 18:8 “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find… (choose one):

A.    compliance with stay-at-home policies on the earth?

B.    rebellion against WHO policies on the earth?

C.    not using social media and 5G technology on the earth?

D.    faith on the earth?”

Matthew 5:29-30 CIV (Corona Impartial Version)

Matthew 5:29-30 CIV (Corona Impartial Version) - read aloud with Romanian accent:

29 If your cherished conspiracy theory causes you to stumble, gouge it out from your Facebook posts and throw it away from your mind. It is better for you to lose the fake news path than lose friends and also for your whole body to be thrown into Gehenna.

30 And if your unyielding confidence in mainstream media causes you to stumble, cut it off from your tweets and throw it away from your heart. It is better for you to lose a source of stress than lose friends and also for your whole body to go into Gehenna.

The Holy-Safety Religion

We are witnessing the rise of a new religion: the Religion of Safety. It has gradually, insidiously, established itself in recent decades when more and more natural things began to be considered dangerous.

Before having the weather channel online 24/7, a summer storm was a summer storm; now has hazard codes: yellow, orange, red. Same for wind, cold, heat, etc. We see risks everywhere in the natural events of life. Now, with the pandemic, the new religion has spread even more in our minds, at a faster speed than that of the coronavirus infecting New York City. 

It has its priests – those who cut out only the dangers of reality every day and show us how great they are (but, above all, they will be!) them. It has its inquisitors, those who can no longer burn you at the stake, but who can lynch you on social media if you have violated the rituals of (self)protection, an even your own militia, enforcing your before through shame and fines. I man shameful fines…

A natural need to feel safe has turned into a religion! it has more and more followers:

- some, because they can justify their own fears,

- others because through it they can shed their hatred and frustrations, and
- others, because they can obtain fraudulent but fabulous gains from it.

The excessive cult of safety, however, can be disastrous, both for the individual and for society. 

The more we choose safety over freedom, the slower we grow. We end up protecting ourselves, at increasing cost, an increasingly worthless lifestyle. Therefore, the transformation of safety from a need into a cult must be countered by critical thinking. And an invitation to an open public debate without being bullied by the political correctness entities, now disguised into a public health saviors.  

And we should do this now, before ending up into getting collectively an obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is going to ruins our lives, careers and meaningful relationships. 

The cult of safety undermines the Great Commission from Matthew 28 - Go ye and make disciple. "Oh Pastor, is this safe? Physically, intellectually, emotionally, totally 100% safe?" What kind of question is this one? Was this question inserted in Jesus' plan of save the world? Did He ever mentioned safety in relationship with salvation and Christian mission? 

The cult of safety slows down learning and innovation. To learn, we have to experiment, to have the courage to do things. Obviously, we will often be wrong. But as cognitive science tells us, we learn much more and faster from a mistake than from success. Mistakes are unpleasant but useful, because they are the basis of learning and innovation.

When you make an airplane with way too many safety measures, the plane becomes safe, but it can't get off the ground. People and societies are the same. Some want to be like tanks chasing out rabbits from a carrot patch. Others prefer to be like airplanes: to be able to fly, even if the risks are high. We have a choice ahead of us: what do we want to be, tanks or airplanes? 

I prefer flying.

Church vs Hollywood

Today because of the coronavirus situation, while Hollywood is virtually shut down, the Christian churches and institutions are ramping up media production to the highest levels in history.

From live streaming worship services, to producing short videos, to impromptu Facebook/ Instagram videos and webinars – churches and ministry organizations across the country are answering the call to reach out and connect through media.

While Walt Disney Studios, Universal, Fox, Lionsgate and other film studios sitting silent, churches and ministries are up trying to catch up with the demand in an unprecedented quest to share Christ to the post-Corona world.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church had already several aces in its "missiological sleeve":

1. eschatology - 2nd coming of Jesus,
2. lifestyle and heath-reform and
3. the 7th day Sabbath as an everlasting sign from God.

Combined with the power of the (4). media - quality movies (not just recording sermons and Revelation seminars), documentaries and fictional stories, courageous debates, and reality shows - it's going to be the ace-high straight flush or Royal Flush.

Movies? Yes. The tremendous power of this tool is undeniable. If the amateurish low budget "Tell the World" had such an impact on our people, imagine what a movie director like Martin Scorsese or Stephen Spielberg can do with a clever script on Revelation 14 or the Desire of Ages in reaching the entire world.
Or maybe I am the only one dreaming of reviving the Adventist Lazarus?

Soccer and Life

Soccer, in my opinion, it best represents life’s struggle between chaos and order, between pandemonium and what in the NT Greek is “telos”. 

A top soccer club has to have great organization, and players need to have a strong base of fundamental skills. But it’s the teams and players that are creative and thrive in chaos/ randomness that win game after game and finally the championships.

I’ve watched on Youtube a game in the English Premier league, a regular season game: Arsenal vs Norwich City, back in 2013. Arsenal’s on the attack, and Norwich has eight men back defending. A midfield named Cazorla slots a pass to the French player Giroud, who flicks it over to Jack Wilshere, who flicks it back to Giroud, who one-times it forward to Wilshere, who finishes. There were seven perfect passes in a row. Perfect creativity amid chaos and randomness, just pure beauty. All about being part of the team and helping the team. I just don’t see that in any other sport.

I don’t mind other sports, but they all have their issues in this area of creativity and team vs. individual. For example, baseball - it seems way too dependent on traditions and statistics with little opportunity for creativity. The spectators can almost predict every situation. 

I’ve watched only a couple of live baseball games and I was bored to death. Football is more spectacular but still plagued by these too frequent interruptions. Not even counting the fact that the coach tells the players what and when to do - if they suppose to use the #5C or #3B scheme at any given moment. Disclaimer - I do not want to offend any football fan. '

While soccer has to rely on a general shape and a team philosophy, the best teams operate freely inside of those structures. 

And this is a good illustration of our lives playing for a team called church. The Coach is there to motivate its players and the players are using their talents, energy and strong bond that unites the team for victory.