When Truth Becomes Relative

When Culture Redefines Sin: Part 3 

By David M. Tyler, PhD

We live in a world that no longer asks, “What is true?” but instead asks, “What is true for me?”
Truth has become personal, flexible, and negotiable. We have entered an age where conviction is called intolerance, and certainty is called arrogance. In this third part of our series When Culture Redefines Sin, we’ll explore how society’s rejection of absolute truth has led to moral confusion, and why Christians must stand firm in the unchanging authority of God’s Word.

Just as we saw in Are You a Slothaphobic?, where laziness was recast as “self-care,” and in The Normalization of Homosexuality in Modern Culture, where immorality was rebranded as “love,” we now see a deeper foundation crumbling: the very definition of truth itself.

The Shift: From Absolute to Personal Truth

The Bible presents truth as fixed, objective, and rooted in the character of God.
Psalm 119:160 says, “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous rules endures forever.”

But our culture says the opposite. Instead of “Thy Word is truth,” the modern mind says, “My feelings are truth.”
The idea of moral absolutes has been replaced by emotional reasoning, what feels right must be right.

This is not a new problem. From the garden of Eden onward, Satan’s strategy has always been to undermine the authority of God’s Word. His first question to Eve, “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1), wasn’t simply a temptation to eat fruit. It was a temptation to redefine truth.

That same lie continues today. The devil still whispers, “You decide what’s right for you.”

The Rise of Relativism

Cultural relativism has become the religion of our time. It preaches tolerance but demands conformity.
It insists there are no moral absolutes, except for one: that you must never claim to have absolute truth.

In classrooms, media, and even churches, truth has been traded for narrative.
People say things like:

  • “That may be true for you, but not for me.”

  • “Everyone’s truth deserves respect.”

  • “No one can know what’s really right or wrong.”

Yet in claiming that “there is no truth,” culture makes a truth claim.
Relativism is self-contradictory. It cannot sustain itself, and yet it dominates public thought.

Romans 1:25 describes exactly what happens when people abandon objective truth:
“They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.”

When truth becomes relative, worship becomes misplaced.

How Redefined Truth Redefines Sin

Once truth is made subjective, sin loses its meaning.
If truth shifts with personal opinion, then no one can be wrong, and no one needs repentance.

That’s exactly what the enemy wants.
He doesn’t need to convince people that sin is good; he only needs to convince them that sin doesn’t exist.

We see this everywhere:

  • Greed is redefined as ambition.

  • Pride is redefined as confidence.

  • Lust is redefined as self-expression.

  • Abortion is redefined as personal choice.

Every redefinition of sin begins with a redefinition of truth.
When people detach morality from Scripture, their feelings become their moral compass, and feelings are easily deceived (Jeremiah 17:9).

The Church’s Compromise

One of the greatest tragedies in our generation is the church’s willingness to echo culture’s vocabulary.
In a misguided attempt to be “relevant,” many pulpits now avoid words like sin, judgment, repentance, and obedience.

Instead, they speak of “brokenness,” “mistakes,” and “spiritual journeys.”
These words sound compassionate, but they also sound harmless. And sin is not harmless.

Paul warned Timothy about this danger in 2 Timothy 4:3–4:
“For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.”

We are living in that time.
Many preachers have traded conviction for popularity.
They want acceptance from the world rather than approval from God.

But when the church echoes culture instead of Scripture, it loses its prophetic voice.

Biblical Truth Is Not a Matter of Opinion

Jesus said in John 8:32, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Notice what He didn’t say: He didn’t say, “You shall feel the truth,” or “You shall define the truth.”

Truth is not an emotional preference, it’s a divine revelation.
We do not create truth; we receive it from God.

That means Scripture, not emotion, defines morality.
It means right and wrong are not determined by cultural approval but by divine authority.

Psalm 19:7 reminds us, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.”
If God’s law revives, then man’s redefinitions destroy.

Why This Matters for Biblical Counseling

In biblical counseling, truth is not flexible.
We don’t counsel people toward self-acceptance; we counsel them toward repentance and renewal through Christ.

When someone says, “That’s your truth,” we lovingly point them to the truth, God’s Word.
Counseling that avoids truth may comfort for a moment, but it cannot heal the soul.

Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.”
It pierces where psychology can only probe.
It convicts where opinions only console.

The counselor who trades Scripture for self-help language has already surrendered truth.

The Courage to Stand Alone

Standing for biblical truth will always come at a cost.
You may lose influence. You may lose friends.
But compromise will cost you far more.

Truth is not determined by how many people agree with it, it’s determined by the One who spoke it.
As Isaiah 5:20 warns, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”

When culture calls sin love, the believer must call it what God calls it, sin.
Not out of anger, but out of love.
Because only the truth can set people free.

Truth and Love Cannot Be Separated

It’s become common to hear people say, “Love is more important than truth.”
But that’s a false choice. You can’t separate what God has joined together.

Ephesians 4:15 commands us to “speak the truth in love.”
If you speak truth without love, you become harsh.
If you show love without truth, you become hollow.

Real love doesn’t affirm sin, it leads sinners to grace.
And grace doesn’t overlook rebellion, it transforms the heart.

When culture calls sin love, Christians must remember: love never redefines truth; it reflects truth.

Anchoring Ourselves in the Word

So how do we live faithfully in a world of moral confusion?
We anchor our convictions in the unchanging Word of God.

  • We study Scripture, not to win arguments, but to renew our minds.

  • We pray for discernment, so we’re not swayed by popular opinion.

  • We live consistently, so that our lives display what we believe.

Psalm 1 describes the man who delights in God’s law as a tree planted by streams of water.
That’s the picture of a believer who doesn’t bend with cultural winds.

Conclusion: Truth Has Not Changed

Culture will continue to shift.
New terms will replace old ones, and moral standards will keep moving.
But God’s truth has not changed.

Isaiah 40:8 declares, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever.”

When truth becomes relative, Christians must be absolute.
When the world silences conviction, we must speak with compassion and courage.
And when culture calls sin love, we must call people back to the cross, where truth and love meet perfectly in Jesus Christ.

Closing Thought

The redefinition of sin begins with the rejection of truth.
That’s why this battle is not political or cultural, it’s spiritual.

If you belong to Christ, you don’t have to redefine truth; you simply have to stand on it.
And when you do, even if you stand alone, you’ll stand on solid ground.

If you missed the earlier posts:

• Part 1 – Are You a Slothaphobic?
• Part 2 – The Normalization of Homosexuality in Modern Culture

Standing firm in His truth,
Dr. David Tyler

P.S. I’d love to hear what stood out to you, just hit “reply.”

Written by : David M. Tyler, Ph. D.

David M. Tyler has a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Biblical Counseling. He is the Director of Gateway Biblical Counseling and Training Center in Fairview Heights, Illinois; the Dean of the Biblical Counseling Department for Master’s International University of Divinity in Evansville, Indiana. Dr. Tyler is certified by the International Association of Biblical Counselors and Association of Certified Biblical Counselors. He lectures and leads workshops on Biblical counseling.

Related Posts