We all choose to follow some absolutes. Take an honest look at your life. What absolutes do you not only believe in and stand firmly on but expect others to abide by as well?
Maybe you don’t believe in God’s absolutes–or even in God Himself–yet you accept, live by, and project other rules, such as grammar, spelling, etiquette, traffic and other laws, and so on. Or maybe you even separate some of those categories out so that some laws (the ones you don’t want broken because you have a personal investment in them) are irrefutable but other laws (the ones you feel infringe on your rights or comfort) are negotiable, even unwarranted or ridiculous. Grammar and spelling? Well, it’s not okay to break some of the rules but others aren’t quite as important to keep. Etiquette? You better show some manners in a particular situation, but it’s okay to toss manners out the window in another situation.
I noticed this phenomena recently on social media. I saw some posts and comments pointing out others’ failures in “living by the rules set for intelligent civilization.” The offense? Poor grammar. I agree poor grammar is unprofessional and annoying, but to make it a requirement for meaningful life?
The only things that can be absolutes are things that are not location-specific, gender-specific, ethnic-specific, language-specific, or any other specific. Absolutes apply to everyone. They aren’t projected onto people. They are foundational. People can refuse to acknowledge the foundation. They can cover the foundation with other things that they then identify their foundation. They can make a small circle around themselves on the foundation and only claim a piece of it as absolute. But absolute is absolute. We each have a choice to find out more or refuse to do so.
Our choices don’t change the absolute. Our choices simply change us.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)