Truth Decay

Airing on
Probe Radio

March
8-12

Kerby Anderson — We live in a world that has dramatically changed its view of truth, and thus have inherited an ethical system that denies the existence of truth. The worldview of the twenty-first century is postmodernism, and the dominant ethical system of the last two centuries has been relativism.

To understand this changed view of truth, we need to consider the story of three baseball umpires. One said, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way they are.” Another said, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and I call ‘em the way I see ‘em.” And the third umpire said, “There’s balls and there’s strikes, and they ain’t nothing until I call them.”

Their three different views of balls and strikes correspond with three different views of truth. The first is what we might call premodernism. This is a God-centered view of the universe that believes in divine revelation. Most of the ancient world had this view of true and believed that truth is absolute (“I call ‘em the way they are”). By the time of the Enlightenment, Western culture was moving into a time of modernism. This view was influenced by the scientific revolution, and began to reject a belief in God. In this period, truth is relative (“I call ‘em the way I see ‘em”). Today we live in what many call postmodernism. In this view, there is a complete loss of hope for truth. Truth is not discovered; truth is created (“they ain’t nothing until I call them”).

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MEET THE AUTHOR
Kerby AndersonKERBY ANDERSON

"A number of years ago, former Probe staff member Doug Groothuis wrote a book on postmodernism entitled Truth Decay. I thought it was a great metaphor for our society's loss of truth and values. Postmodernism and moral relativism are changing society and the church."

Kerby is National Director of Probe Ministries. He holds masters degrees from Yale and Georgetown Universities. He is the author of several books and the host of "Point of View" (USA Radio Network) in addition to being the most frequent contributor to the Probe radio program. Kerby also produces a daily syndicated radio and web commentary.

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Todd KappelmanThe Breakdown of Religious Knowledge
What constitutes truth? The way we answer that question has greatly changed since the Middle Ages. Todd Kappelman provides an overview of three areas in philosophical thought, with their impact on Western culture: premodernism (the belief that truth corresponds to reality), modernism (the belief that human reason is the only way to obtain truth), and postmodernism (the belief that there is no such thing as objective truth).

Kerby AndersonCultural Relativism
Cultural relativism is the view that all ethical truth is relative to a specific culture. Kerby explains who the major proponents of this view are, and how Christians should respond to it.

 

Probe Answers Your Questions:

"Why Is There So Much Acceptance of the Idea that Truth is Relative?"

"What Comes After Postmodern?"

"Does God Saying Something Is Right Make It Right?"