Are there absolutes or is everything relative?

[bstatts93]

are there absolutes? of course! "Thus saith the Lord" is absolute. If you believe there are no absolutes, are you absolutely sure? lol

[bawalumihidito99]

YDOAPS is missing the point. That's just forcing God within the confines of human understanding. It's almost like a toddler forcing a square object into a circular hole. No matter how much he reasons that it should, it still wouldn't fit.

[SpookyAction123]

Notice how this guy rambles for two minutes without first rigorously defining the term 'absolute'? Pontificating on concepts such as 'absolutes' is pointless poetry unless you first define your terms! I'd like to see this CARM guy first define the words 'absolute' and 'exist'. Then sit back and watch his arguments crumble before your very eyes.

[munjerdo]

God is everything , why do you see God as a person? Are you all that stupid ?

[bawalumihidito99]

@munjerdo correction. God has dominion over everything.

[Hufflewaffle]

if the statement "everything is relative" was true, it would NOT be absolutely true. It would be true only in relation to the statement "nothing is relative".

The word 'is' can be used as a metaphorical identifier no matter how inconvenient it may be for people like Slick. We simply do not comprehend the universe in absolutes.

[Jaylo8]

everything is relative... just because we believe something to be true because our brain constructs them in such ways, does not mean that they are. As humans we are biased towards our own delusions. Our Language provides us with something that is self-refutable but in reality, such situations can be described without words, and hence aren't self-refutable. Our Language and ourselves are not satisfactory 'measures' of absolutism. now you could say thats my opinion, but that opinion, is objective.

[CarlosMarti123]

@Jaylo8 Everything is relative... is than an absolute statement?

[AndrewSnarls]

"It's always true that something cannot bring itself into existence." So this being said, by definition of this absolute means there is no God, correct? If I'm to take it as an absolute than there's no possible way that God exists because it would have had to bring itself into existence. So using this absolute, based on your logic, there is no God. 

[stephe1987]

God has always existed and does not need a "cause" since He is the "cause". The universe is a creation of God, not God Himself.

[hayden1234ish]

@stephe1987 The universe does not require an initial, supernatural "cause" since the chain of cause and effect is infinite. It is only our minds and their linear sense of time that want to place a beginning (and possibly end) to the world.

[StringPlunker]

Fallacy of Equivocation. Too bad you don't know it.

Absolute truth is not something which is absolutely true. Relative truths are absolutely true. Absolute truth is something which needs no reference point. It is its own benchmark. What you are describing as absolute truths are relative truths, things relatively true to one another and the absolute. There is only one absolute truth - God. All other things are measured against this one benchmark, this one absolute truth.

[dbes02]

But there are different ways to God, or gods, as there seem to be so many. There are different gods. Hindus have the true way, Muslims have the true way, Christians have the true way, religion X has the true way. The Hindu beliefs don't apply to you and your beliefs don't apply to them.

And everyone's happy.

The problem is the way in which you decide what's absolute - for you.

[mikilavush]

Since absolute emptiness is impossible, then in place of emptiness something simply must always exist, and since something not conscious has no power to exist, then in place of emptiness must always exist Consciousness - the omniscient and almighty God. God confirms that his words are in the Bible by revealing himself and his Son Jesus within everyone wherever the Gospel is known and usually before the age of 30, and in God`s kingdom nothing is relative but everyone has the same taste.

[hayden1234ish]

@mikilavush "Something not conscious has now power to exist" because the world isn't objectively real. It is only subjectively real in each of our minds. Since we create the world, we are God. Amen.

[mjr256]

Yeah, I'm the same way. I never came to be and that's why I never needed a cause for my existence.

[YDOAPS]

You said it is absolutely true that something cannot bring itself into existence...What brought God into existence?

[RazzleMcDazzle989]

Everything that comes to be needs a cause for existence. God never came to be so God doesn't need a cause for existence.

[genskiff]

These people think with their preferences instead of their brains. You are right, God never came to be. He does not have a derived existence as we do, He is the self-existing One! (Just as He declares Himself). Unfortunately, reasoning is mumbo jumbo to those who think in self-serving and unexamined categories.

[bluestormsnow]

Good question!

[TruthInAnswers]

God has always existed and therefore does not need to be brought into existence.

[callingheyzeus]

If God is outside of time and He created time then everything else (as an absolute) has a beginning point in time. Could God have a beginning? Sure, but we won't know the answer to that on this side of eternity.

But more importantly...

Don't let this question keep you from asking the other more vital questions about God.

[YDOAPS]

If God is outside of time, then it is impossible for Him to create anything.

[callingheyzeus]

The universe is expanding so time (and space) as we know it had a beginning. What there was before that we can only speculate. If the God you describe is confined to time and space and not the creator of time and space then we are not talking about the same God.

[Pelonetillo]

if god is outta time, he is in need of a flux capacitor.

[PatruccaChan]

@YDOAPS

Time was created by God; God is eternal. 

[TheAntiochus]

@YDOAPS Since time was created, something out of time had to create it. Nothing is infinite, including time.

[mattea19841984]

who believes that God came into existence?

Just like scientists used to believe in an eternal universe with no beginning, that is the Christian view of God, that he is eternal and never came into being.

Coming into existence (such as the universe did) is an effect, and it needs an adequate cause.

[genskiff]

Either you need an uncaused cause or an infinite regression of causes. I would simply encourage you to stop and think about this all by yourself for a while. Hint: if God were caused, then He could not have brought Himself into existence.

[lovecarlaa18]

Great teaching !!