Many people's beliefs about Christianity are based on non-essentials (e.g., don't drink, don't cuss, don't do this & don't do that, hypocracy). That's all they know & see.
True Relativity (what is true to you. Example could be following street signs/laws, but if your wife is giving birth....
True Objectivity (true for ALL people at ALL times & at ALL places).
Situational Relativity - depends on the circumstances. Breaking the law in an emergency may be OK with the police (speeding to get pregnant wife to the hospital). Other Christians may look at going to the movies as participating in the worldly culture, but it can depend on what movie you are seeing. Going to an x-rated movie with the intent to be sexually aroused would be wrong, but you needed to review it for some other reason... "The Passion of the Christ" was rated R.
Is it wrong to drink? What about in culture's where people drink, you choose not to, people feel condemned, and you lose your credibility as far as teaching/leading. This has been a problem with missionaries & it depends on the situation/culture. Evidently many Christians at one point sided with Hitler because he condemned smoking, drinking, gambling, etc. The Biblical principle is to not get drunk, but Christians have made it a blanket statement and condemned it altogether. For those that do drink, WE MAY BE THE ONLY REPRESENTATIVE OF CHRIST THAT THEY KNOW (about 8mins in to section 2 Michael gives a testimony of a situation with his friends and how just having a beer with unsaved guys actually opened up their hearts). A good response to those who ask "why don't you get drunk?" is "because I want to think correctly." This is true & you are not condemning them.
Eating meat sacrificed to animals, homeschooling, etc. are situational.
Autonomous Relativity - purely opinion. Best food, best song, is it warm or cold, what type of Church music should we use (praise & worship, hymns, metal)
Non-Essential Objectivity-not essential for salvation (e.g., the date of Christ's return, (the date may be objective/true, but believing in the date will not save someone), views of predestination (God could have looked into the future and seen that who would choose to follow Him), unfortunately most Church disagreements are over the non-essentials. canon of Scripture (some Churches have 15 extra books), is the Bible God's inspired Word? Speaking in tongues.
Michael uses an example of being in Romania and a guy said that he did not believe in God so don't talk to me about His inspired Word. So together they read Isaiah 53, which was written way before Christ & no one disputes that it was before Christ. It clearly defines what would happen to Jesus. The guy said that it doesn't matter because I don't believe that the Bible is God's inspired Word. Michael said, "That's fine, but that's not what I asked you. What are you going to do with this passage that pre-dates Christ?" The guy read it over and over again & ultimately it changed him so much that his friends could not even believe it!
True Essential Objectivity - Christ's deity. The existence of God. Death, burial & resurrection of Christ. The atonement.
True Non-Essential Objectivity - smoking is wrong. But where do we draw the line? What about coffee? Eating a Big Mac (which is not good for you)?
WE NEED TO BE CONSISTENT IN OUR THEOLOGY!! The postmodernists are watching.
Section 4: What is essential for orthodoxy?
1. Picture a circle with a bullseye being "What is essential for salvation"
2. Next outer circle is side of that is "What is essential for orthodoxy? It's like establishing an umbrella (traditions of the Church; unorthodoxy is denying some of the core Christian truths such as the trinity, man is essentially good).
Section 5: Certainty. How certain are we about our beliefs? Postmodernists are always looking for absolute certainty. We usually do not have absolute certainty.
Chart of certainty - goes from -10 to 0 then to 10.
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