Christian Counseling Versus Moral Relativism
Christian Counseling seeks the truth in all solutions. A Christian Counselor never sends a person down the road of least resistance but down the road of truth. The objective reality of a
binding truth in all moral decisions is the moral compass a counselor uses when directing people in a decision. Christian Counselors, and especially Spiritual Directors, have a grave responsibility to help form good moral character. When dealing with Moral Relativism , one is confronted with a secular and atheistic philosophy that challenges the very essence of truth.
Subjective Moral Relativism teaches that moral decisions have no true bearing and are either right or wrong dependent upon the view of the person. This treacherous slope of immorality places man as the source of authority over his own actions and dismisses a universal and binding moral law founded by God. Hence what is right one day may be wrong another and what is wrong today may be right tomorrow. With this ideal, the only source of power is retained in various social constructs that have no true moral authority but only power of authority in the present moment.
As a Christian Counselor, one should employ various philosophical arguments from Socrates and his disciples regarding universals and other ideals of objective truth. The use of natural theology may be well used here since many who are plagued with moral subjectivism are not Christian. However, those who are Christian can be quickly shown the error of their ways. One objection which can be utilized is the issue of slavery. Within a relativist philosophy, the majority rules and there is no true right or wrong. Hence how can one condemn slavery or even the Holocaust?
The ultimate question regarding those who practice the morality of Moral Relativism is if they choose it out of philosophical pride or merely laxity. Do they seek to escape authority and convince their own souls they are innocent and just in their immoral decisions? Christian Counseling can address these issues and attempt to discover the moral pathology that is causing a clearly erroneous philosophy.
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By Mark Moran, MA, GC-C, SCC-C