To Tell you the Truth

Over the last 18
months I have worked with a group of people
in a large company who were trying to deal with a problem. A
staff member had accidentally stumbled upon a hidden secret room
amongst storage rooms on site. Not knowing what the room was used
for or who was using it, the managers decided to set up a
surveillance camera for investigative purposes. Soon, five men
were in serious trouble - they been caught on camera, sleeping
during work time and drinking spirits whilst on duty.

For the management team, the decision around what to do with
the men was obvious. The two ringleaders were sacked, and the
others received strict warnings. Incredibly, strong
unfair-dismissal claims followed, and in the ensuing months, the
internal backlash against the managers threatened the future of
the business. In the end, the managers who were trying to make a
‘judgement call’ are made to look like criminals.

Today we live in the age of relativism. Relativism says people
create their own reality, and truth floats around relative to
each individual. In other words, if my actions feel OK to me, but
not to you, your disagreement is ‘your problem’.
Under relativism there is no ‘right or wrong’, the
very term right or wrong is ‘loaded’ and deemed
offensive and restrictive. Ironically, the message of relativism
is so prevalent today that even some inmates I meet in prisons
find it hard to make heads or tails out of ‘why they are
there!’ Society says with one breath ‘there is no
right or wrong’, and then with the next breath enforces
justice, an apparent measure of right or wrong.

I remember someone once saying "You are telling me we create
our own reality, and now you tell me you disagree with something
I’m saying. It must be your fault". Yes, we are
technologically more advanced, culturally more sophisticated,
materially more comfortable, but humanly – more lost!

What happens when we remove the God-factor from our reality?
Anarchy! We return to the Sodom and Gomorrah state of
‘everyone doing that which is right in their own
eyes.’

March for population culling and
birth prevention.

Holland leads the world in proclaiming the gospel of liberal
relativism. Euthanasia – or mercy killing as it is called,
has been legal since 1984. In the context of relativism it should
not surprise us to discover that in Holland today voluntary
euthanasia is being practised on ‘non-voluntary’
subjects, ie. "Granny has become a burden, a hindrance to our
quality of life. Let’s get rid of the burden by helping
Granny find greener pastures."

According to an article from the UK Times "Euthanasia in The
Netherlands is ‘beyond effective control’, according
to a report which shows that one in five assisted suicides is
without explicit consent."ⁱ

British opponents of assisted suicide say that the figures are
a warning of the dangers of decriminalising euthanasia, as
Holland did in 1984. By 1995 cases of euthanasia and assisted
suicide in Holland had risen to almost 3 per cent of all
deaths.

The Dutch survey, reviewed in the Journal of Medical Ethics,
looked at the figures for 1995 and found that as well as 3,600
authorized cases there were 900 others in which doctors had acted
without explicit consent. A follow- up survey found that the main
reason for not consulting patients was that they had dementia or
were otherwise not competent.

But in 15 percent of cases the doctors avoided any discussion
because they thought they were acting in the patient’s best
interests. Michael Howitt Wilson, of the Alert campaign against
euthanasia, said: "A lot of people in Holland are frightened to
go into hospital because of this situation."

Dr Henk Jochensen, of the Lindeboom Institute, and Dr John
Keown, of Queens’ College, Cambridge carried out the study.
They conclude: "The reality is that a clear majority of cases of
euthanasia, both with and without request, go unreported and
unchecked. Dutch claims of effective regulation ring hollow. I
know of patients in a nursing home who are carrying around what
they call sanctuary certificates all the time, stating that they
do not want to be helped to die. People are afraid of being sick
or of being knocked down in case a doctor takes the decision,
without their permission, to stop treatment."ⁱⁱ

In 2004, mercy killing of under 12 year olds, including
infants, got the green light. Cinnamon Stillwell writes "This
past year, it was quietly announced that Holland had approved
euthanasia for children under twelve." This news alone was
unsettling, but then last month came the disturbing disclosure
that not only had euthanasia been approved for infants, but had
in fact been practiced by doctors for some time. In other words,
first adults and now children and infants are slowly being
eliminat ed in the name of compassion.

The practice has been approved for terminally-ill infants, or
those whose suffering is deemed intolerable. Presumably, this
includes babies that are premature, developmentally disabled, or
physically deformed. This is in marked contrast to the United
States, where such infants are kept alive against all odds, using
expensive, cutting-edge technology. But the Dutch have apparently
decided that these lives are expendable. How long before other
‘undesirables’ are slated for termination?"

Hey! Guess what? To tell you the truth - there is no truth
anymore! And the implications are frightening. In a world which
largely does not recognise right from wrong – awful
happenings like global terrorism, home invasions, mercy killings,
or whatever fearful activity you can imagine, are but the visible
tip of the relativism iceberg. Scripture tells us of a time of
great fear visiting mankind before Jesus returns.

Relativism is the spice of the media, relativism is being
taught in our schools, relativism is being practised by our
politicians and relativism is influencing our children. Some
would argue that relativism has crept into churches. I would
argue that it has been in religious institutions ever since Jesus
threw the money merchants out of the synagogue years ago.

The reality about relativism is that it is actually not about
others. It is relative to ‘me’, it is relative to
‘you’. It is being able to answer the question: Where
do I position truth? What do I do when truth confronts me?

1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receives not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him;
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned."

i Source: The Times(UK) 2/16/99
ii Source: Mercy Killing in the Netherlands:
Euthanasia or Eugenics? 20/12/2004