Absolutes and Absolutists

"Believing in absolutes doesn't make one an absolutist," writes Chuck Colson in his news report Jubilee about a TV interview where the host accused him of being an absolutist.

Colson said, "When that TV host asked me why we Christians always try to cram our views down people's throats, I was getting nowhere. Then I remembered he loved to sail.

"Have you ever sailed at night, navigating by the stars?" I asked. "Yes," he replied.

"Could you use those stars to navigate if they appeared in different, random positions every night?"

"Of course not," he said slowly.

"I think he got it. Christians are not intolerant absolutists. We just don't want our culture to be lost at sea, unaware of the stars above that could so quickly right our course."