The Poison of Subjectivism

"And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His Name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my Name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations." ~Exodus 3:13-15 (KJV)

It is a strange, modern ideology that C.S. Lewis refutes in his essay The Poison of Subjectivism. Subjectivism is the idea that the morals or man are something that man himself has invented, and can thus be changed for better or worse. It is an idea that rejects an absolute standard of moral law that is for every man, and thus rejects God as well. Lewis rejects this idea, saying that it is impossible for a man to rid himself of the moral law, and it is also impossible for a man to create his own values. The only thing that man can do is elevate certain values over others. Lewis gives a hypothetical example of a man who might try to base his own law on something other than the traditional moral law:

"He usually has at the back of his mind the notion that if he throws over traditional judgment of value, he will find something else, something more "real" or "solid" on which to base a new scheme of values....[For Example] he will endeavor to base his values on biology and tell us that we must act thus and thus for the preservation of our species. Apparently he does not anticipate the question, 'Why should the species be preserved?' He takes it for granted that it should, because he is really relying on traditional judgments of value."

I found Lewis' arguments in this selection to be compelling as well as humorous. "This whole attempt to jettison traditional values as something subjective and to substitute a new scheme of values for them is wrong. It is like trying to lift yourself up by your own coat collar." The idea of a law that is subjective to human reason, that is subjective to human control, is absolutely ridiculous. If a child was subject to his own rules, he would certainly kill himself. That is why he has a mother to take care of him, set some rules for him to follow, and discipline him to make sure he follows those rules.

The world may try to reject Him, but God Himself sets our standard. When a man tries to reason out the moral law, it will eventually break down to the threshold which that law sits on; I AM THAT I AM. God IS, and so IS His law. To say that the law is subject to man is to say that God is subject to man; this is pure blasphemy, and God will have his vengeance. Let us thank Him, that we have been given the Spirit so that we may see that God IS, and then are able to adhere to Him by His grace.