Plato and the Postmodern Problem

For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for that of which he feels no want.                      --Plato, Symposium

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.                                                                    --Proverbs 14:12 (and 16:25)

I was reading this and was struck by how well this encapsulates the problem so many of us have in speaking to unbelievers today.  It seems that for centuries, we could take for granted the fact that everyone understood the "sin problem."  That is, that we have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that we do not meet the standard, that we have failed.  But the postmodern individual, gorged on relativism and constructivism, denies that there is any standard at all (at least one that exists outside of themselves, one that exists independently of human thought).  So at the very same time that we see such an increase in humanitarian and humanistic concern, we see the fundamental denial and erasure of the concepts of evil and sin.  The famous line is that we once had to present the sick man with the cure, and now we must not only present him with the cure but convince him that he is sick in the first place!  Or, in Plato's version, ignorant man is unaware of his ignorance.

But we must be careful here.  Romans 1 has the following to say:

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Paul goes on to speak of the self-proclaimed wisdom which is death, and three times (in verses 24, 26, and 28) tells us that because "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie" (Rom. 1:25) God "gave them up" to pursuing their own evil desires.  Is it any surprise that there is such a widespread sentiment of existential emptiness and despair?

God's word is true yesterday, today, and forever.  He did not speak it once, He continues to speak it to each of us, personally, every moment.  So we must remember that even though it seems as if the unbeliever today is "ignorant" of God and His perfect standard (and thus of his own failure to meet that standard), he in fact remains without excuse, having suppressed his own knowledge of God. 

We have two options here: 1) We can hold that God has in fact given them up to their own sin to such an extent that their inner sense of God and His law has in fact been suppressed to such an extent that it is for all extents and purposes erased.  Or, 2) we can hold that despite the declared ignorance of sin and the moral standard, the unbeliever still deep down realizes his own inadequacy.

Of the two options, I would lean more toward the second, but perhaps add that we may need to find a new way to talk about such things.  Though the concept remains the same, we may do well to speak about alienation, empty relationships, isolation, and a sense of futility than the more traditional sin, guilt, shame, etc.