YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

The Sinful “Tolerance” of Postmodernism

by Phil Johnson

Introduction: One of the main reasons the evangelical movement today is so weak and worldly is that
evangelicalism has begun to absorb the worldview of this postmodernist age we live in. Postmodernism
has infected the church, and that has undermined the church’s commitment to the Word of God.

What is Postmodernism? It’s the philosophical label for the spirit of the age in which we live.

ƒ Modernism was the secular worldview our grandfathers and great-grandfathers had to fight
against. Charles Spurgeon was one of the first to recognize the dangers of modernism, and that’s
what the Down-Grade controversy was all about. Modernists said truth is settled by human
reason, and man’s rational faculties are enlightened by science. That was their authority—the
scientific human mind. When the standards of modernism were applied to Christianity, the result
was a denial of every miraculous and supernatural element of Scripture. Modernism was a kind of
rationalistic Sadduceeism.

ƒ Modernism has more or less been discredited, even in secular thought, and the late-twentieth
century backlash is known as postmodernism. If anything, postmodernism is worse than
modernism. The modernists still believed in absolutes, objective truth, and authority. They had a
faulty standard for determining truth, but at least they believed truth exists and can be known.

ƒ Postmodernism is a denial that any truth can be objectively known. That ultimately eliminates all
authority, because it eliminates all absolutes. To the postmodernist, reality and truth are whatever
the individual imagines them to be. Each person determines subjectively what is “true” for
himself. And obviously, if reality is merely a construct of the human mind, then one person’s
perspective of truth is ultimately just as good as another’s.

Postmodernism’s Guiding Principle:

ƒ You might think with a worldview like that, there wouldn’t be any room for firm dogmas or
unassailable convictions. But postmodernists do have one: They are intolerant of certainty. They
regard anyone else’s dogmatic convictions as a form of evil intolerance. They are convinced that
it is pointless to argue whether one opinion is superior to another, because they are convinced we
can’t really know anything for certain.

ƒ Postmodernism in a sense represents secular humanity’s abandonment of the quest for objective
truth. Rather than seeking truth, the postmodernist is seeking to “understand” every other point of
view. They have redefined the concepts of truth and understanding. In their system,
“understanding” requires that we first of all disavow the possibility of knowing any truth at all.
And “truth” is just a personal opinion, usually best kept to oneself.

ƒ So that is the one essential, non-negotiable demand the postmodernists make of the rest of us: we
are not supposed to assert that we know any objective truth.

John MacArthur has written: “Post-modernists insist that every opinion should be shown
equal respect. And therefore on the surface, post-modernism seems driven by a broad-minded
concern for harmony and tolerance. It all sounds very charitable and altruistic. But what
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really underlies the post-modernist belief system is an utter intolerance for every world-view
that makes any universal truth-claims—particularly biblical Christianity” (Why One Way?).

The Impact of Postmodernism on Evangelicalism and the Authority of Scripture:

ƒ Sadly, the evangelical movement is beginning to try to accommodate itself to the postmodern
perspective. Worldly Christians have absorbed postmodernist values, and it has led to the decline
of evangelicalism’s commitment to the authority of Scripture. Everything evangelicalism won in
our great battles with the modernism is now in jeopardy of being lost in the war with
postmodernism.

ƒ Here are five sinister trends of postmodernism that undermine the authority of Scripture.
Evangelicals must resist the drift:

1. SUBJECTIVISM

ƒ One of the key truths evangelicals defended in the inerrancy debate of the 1970s and ’80s
is that the Bible is objectively true. God revealed His truth propositionally. The
propositions of Scripture have objective meaning, and they are all objectively true.

ƒ That is obviously not a popular message in a postmodern world. And some evangelicals
have begun to try to adjust their message to accommodate the sensitivities of the
postmodernists who think it is inherently unkind and ungracious to express too much
certainty about any truth. If objective truth is unpopular, there is no shortage of
professing Christians—even in the evangelical movement—who are willing to treat every
truth as subjective, negotiable, a mere matter of personal opinion.

ƒ You see this trend, for example, in the way the Evangelical Theological Society in
America refused last year to take a definitive stance against Open Theism.

ƒ Another type of subjectivism that is undermining the authority Scripture is the mystical
view that God is still speaking to people outside of Scripture. Multitudes of evangelicals
today imagine that God is speaking directly to them through fresh words of prophecy; a
still, small voice in their minds; or other mystical means. This notion, of course, has
always been one of the main tenets of charismatic theology. But it is gaining a foothold in
non-charismatic circles, too.

2. IRRATIONALISM

ƒ Subjectivism and irrationalism always go hand in hand. Irrationalism is the notion that
truth need not be consistent with itself. Subjectivity in and of itself is irrational, because it
suggests that “truth” may be one thing for one person and another thing for another
person.

ƒ In the postmodern universe, everyone is supposedly right. Truth exists only in the mind of
the individual. So you can believe one thing, and I can believe a contradictory thing, and
we can affirm one another’s worldview. The opposite of true isn’t necessarily false. That
is irrational. But that is what most of the western world believes today.
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ƒ Irrationalism is a particularly dangerous trend. But it is subtle. Irrationalism has always
been part and parcel of neo-orthodoxy. And it has always been inimical to the historic
stance of evangelicalism. The neo-orthodox have always gloried in the supposed
“paradoxes” of truth. They borrowed their irrationality from existentialism and canonized
it as a theological method. Irrationality is the neo-orthodox hermeneutic.

3. SUPERFICIALISM

ƒ Superficialism is a major problem among evangelicals, and it needs to be addressed with

great force and clarity. In my assessment, this is the largest and most immediate threat to
the evangelical movement today. Virtually all the fads and movements that are most
popular among evangelicals today have this in common: they promote a deliberately
superficial approach to the truth.

ƒ Evangelicals today are captivated by style over substance. Preachers are employing
gimmicks to draw people. They are allowing drama, music, and other amusements to
crowd out the preaching ministry—because they don’t really believe the authority is in
the Word. They have lost confidence in the power of Scripture to transform lives. They
have lost the will to study and preach the Word in depth. They have lost the courage to
preach the whole counsel of God boldly. And as a result, they are employing every other
gimmick they can think of to try to hold people’s attention.

4. ANTI-INTELLECTUALISM

ƒ Anti-intellectualism is the twin sister of superficiality. Anti-intellectualism is the notion

that there is something inherently unspiritual about the human intellect. The anti-
intellectual believes true spirituality is something that operates through the feelings and
emotions while bypassing the mind.

ƒ Evangelical intellects are starved because of an obsession with what people “feel.”
People demand to have their emotions stroked and their ears tickled, and too many
evangelical preachers have been willing to oblige. The evil fruits of this unhealthy
addiction include the cheesy fiction that Christian publishers are cranking out on a
monthly basis—and the corresponding dearth of substantial books dealing with serious
spiritual issues. Musical fads among evangelicals have likewise gravitated to everything
that is worldly and trivial. You see a similar trend no matter where you look at the
evangelical movement. In America, Christian radio stations are systematically
eliminating teaching from their lineup, replacing it with frivolous talk and mediocre
music.

5. INCLUSIVISM

ƒ Survey the landscape of modern evangelicalism, and you will see a creeping tendency
toward inclusivism—an erosion of confidence in the truth that explicit faith in Jesus
Christ is the only way to heaven.

ƒ Twenty years ago there was complete consensus among evangelicals on this issue. “One
way” was a slogan during the Jesus movement of the 1970s that all evangelicals,
fundamentalists, and even the flaky “Jesus people” agreed on. That is no longer true.
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The Proper Response to Postmodernism:

ƒ How should we respond to the postmodernism that drives our age? Contrary to those who think
evangelicals need to adapt to it, I’m convinced we should respond the same way our spiritual
forefathers responded to modernism: we need to confront it and oppose it.

ƒ A return to bold, straightforward biblical preaching is the best antidote. This will require courage
and a willingness to take unpopular and confrontational stands, but it is, after all, the only way to
keep the church from becoming just like the world.