Does 2 + 2 = 4?
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In the world we currently live in there is a prevailing (not a good thing) belief in regards to religion, faith, God, spirituality that there are no absolutes. Relativity; a theory, formulated essentially by Albert Einstein, that all motion must be defined relative to a frame of reference and that space and time are relative, rather than absolute concepts.
In other words they say, “What is true for you might not be true for me. I am cool with your god, and you should be cool with my god. It’s all good.”
The more I have thought about this I liken it to Mathematics (which I flunked out of FYI) and in class I remember many tests where I had the dreaded red pen mark through my answer … communicating that I had got it wrong. Here is how my simple brain grabs a hold of absolute truth (absolute truth meaning true for all people, all the time and all places; if someone were to say to me, “2 + 2 = 5” I would say, in the most humble, loving, non-superior, non-condemning way I could that “no, 2 + 2 = 4”. Wouldn’t you? Especially if they asked you? Right?
Now, as I relate this to religion, faith, God, the Bible … all things “spiritual” I do believe there are absolutes. So, here is my question: How do we handle those who believe or say that “2 + 2 = 5”? I am not saying I have the answers and could even tell you who is believing an untruth … but let’s be honest … we can’t all be believing the truth, can we?
I don’t have any easy answers … I wish I did, though I am convinced that there are absolutes in this world and we must teach them with all the love we can muster. If not, aren’t we doing the world a disservice? Again, I am looking for COMMENTS.
In other words they say, “What is true for you might not be true for me. I am cool with your god, and you should be cool with my god. It’s all good.”
The more I have thought about this I liken it to Mathematics (which I flunked out of FYI) and in class I remember many tests where I had the dreaded red pen mark through my answer … communicating that I had got it wrong. Here is how my simple brain grabs a hold of absolute truth (absolute truth meaning true for all people, all the time and all places; if someone were to say to me, “2 + 2 = 5” I would say, in the most humble, loving, non-superior, non-condemning way I could that “no, 2 + 2 = 4”. Wouldn’t you? Especially if they asked you? Right?
Now, as I relate this to religion, faith, God, the Bible … all things “spiritual” I do believe there are absolutes. So, here is my question: How do we handle those who believe or say that “2 + 2 = 5”? I am not saying I have the answers and could even tell you who is believing an untruth … but let’s be honest … we can’t all be believing the truth, can we?
I don’t have any easy answers … I wish I did, though I am convinced that there are absolutes in this world and we must teach them with all the love we can muster. If not, aren’t we doing the world a disservice? Again, I am looking for COMMENTS.