Do you have any ‘Always’ or ‘Nevers’ in your life? What, for you, constitutes an always or a never? Do you even believe in absolutes? Personally… I do. But I am quite limiting in what constitutes an absolute. Plus, I don’t like a large number of them. My reason is that I don’t like a complicated life – complex, yes – just not complicated. And if you have a number of absolutes you are juggling, one may be in conflict with a different one and then you have a mess. Yes? That last statement also points to why it’s important to describe and, as completely as possible (operationally) define the words.
What may appear as confrontational or contradictory to one of your absolutes may actually not be when you properly define and describe it. Don’t forget that absolutes do provide us with our lines in the sand, our pillars on which we stand. Do absolutes ever change over time? Not in my world of definitions – their breadth and depth may increase, but change… no. Once an absolute, always an absolute. That’s why, when/if a quality/philosophy/belief/(fill in the blank), moves into the rarefied category of ‘Absolute’, it has to be tested and confirmed first. It’s not that you never refine an absolute, but don’t rush to establish one unless it truly meets the standards (yours).
I remember being engaged in a ‘discussion’ with some of my college chums on this very question. Finally, at one point, I asked if they believed there was never any absolute. They all responded with a resounding ‘yes’. To whit I replied, then this is your absolute – that there are no absolutes! Silence. I, on the other hand, had been arguing that in the final analysis the only sure absolute was God. Many didn’t want to acknowledge this. My arguments were numerous but ended with – what if I’m right and you’re wrong? Again, silence.
And no, I’m not elevating myself, my argument, or that the ‘possibility’ could be the point. The truth that exists all around us is that God is. But this truth is one that each person needs to come to. While the evidence is verified even if all we do is look around us, the evidence ultimately has to be accepted by those who don’t believe. Our ‘job’ is to prove the evidence through how we live our lives – what we say, how we act, and who we are. We are part of God’s evidence to the world.
