I know it’s been a while, but I’m finally going to wrap up this little series, I think. This last article I want to write is about reality. It’s a crazy thing to me that this even needs to be discussed, but I’ve found that in the real world, people simply can’t agree on what is “real” and “true.” This is a big part of the postmodern era in which we live.
One phrase or idea I have heard countless times in college from my freshman year roommate, classmates and teachers is that everyone has their own reality. What’s real for me might not be real for you, and what’s true for me might not be true for you. If you think I’m kidding, I’m not. People teach this, they live for this belief. Relative truth and relative reality is a very serious part of what we face in the real world. It may seem crazy to us that someone would really go along with such an absurd idea. After all, how can there be two realities, or two truths? We know to reject this idea because we believe in the sovereignty of God alone, and we know His truth and His reality to be the only ones to follow.
People teach that while abortion might be wrong for me, it’s not wrong for everyone, that gay marriage might be wrong for me, but it isn’t wrong for everyone. They even say that the belief of creation might be true for me, but evolution is true for other people.
I found one very logical way to combat this with my freshman year roommate. We lived on the ground floor, and shortly before moving out we were having another of our classic “Christianity versus Wicca” debates. She told me that she admired how strongly I held to my beliefs, and that she could tell that they were truth and reality for me. I told her that it’s not just truth for me, but for everyone, whether they agree with me or not. She kind of shrugged that off, probably not wanting to get into it. I looked out the window of our first floor dorm room and asked her what she saw outside. She responded that she saw a tree. So, I asked her how she thought that tree got there. She told me that she believed that over millions and millions of years, that tree (not that literal tree of course) evolved from a single cell into the species of tree, and eventually through that process the tree she saw outside came to be. I then told her that I believed that about 6,000 years ago, God spoke, and a tree appeared, and by each tree bearing its own fruit, and God’s continued, spoken word, that tree got to be where it was that day. She smiled as if the thought was nice, until I asked her to confirm that we were talking about the same tree. Her face dropped and she said yes. I asked her to confirm that we were living in the same universe, the same dimension, if you will. She, again, said yes. I told her then that tree only got to be there one way. It can’t have two beginnings. I told her that one of us is wrong.
I know I’m not wrong. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m not wrong about how that tree came into existence. To be fair, my roommate thinks she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt too. This is the level of deceit Satan plays on the world around us. He tricks them into believing ridiculous things like everyone having their own reality. This is a scary thought!
This is, obviously, about much more than a tree. It’s about the world we live in as a whole, and the morality and ethics that surround us. Morality is not something that changes from person to person, but something that is constant, based on God’s Word alone. Each person does not decide for themselves what is real or what is true, but there is only one Truth and one Reality, based on the one God.
Amidst this craziness in the world, like in all things, we put our trust in God. No matter the scoffing, the mockery or the ridicule, we stick to our guns and remember that we know how the world came to be. We know what right and wrong is, no matter the hypocrisy of the world. We will not be tossed about with every wave of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). We know our Creator; we have very clear words from him on how our world came to be, how we are to live, and what is true and real for us in this world. There is no deciding for ourselves or making it up as we go. There is only following His law for us, and trusting in His Word.
Suzie Kuiper
Young Calvinists 