{"id":3250,"date":"2014-11-07T23:10:50","date_gmt":"2014-11-07T23:10:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3250"},"modified":"2014-11-07T23:10:50","modified_gmt":"2014-11-07T23:10:50","slug":"ethics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/ethics\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethics is a broad subject, open to much debate. I\u2019ve found that Christian ethics is an especially touchy subject, as some people equate this with legalism or Christian rules. Yet, so much of Scripture touches on ethics or moral values. Since \u201cethics is a system of moral principles\u201d[1]<\/a>, Christian ethics involves the way that we live and act out our beliefs as Christians. On a personal level, I\u2019ve been a Christian who has been guilty of not living ethically and making some very poor decisions that have had great consequences on my own life\u2026even to the extent that I served time in prison. My journey to understanding ethics has been very personal. I spent many years carefully evaluating myself to understand how, as a Christian, I could have also been unethical. A lack of ethics in society and churches is widespread…and I\u2019m not just referring to \u201cthose who the church points to as sinners who live ungodly lives cause they drink, use tobacco, gamble, cheat on their wives, etc.\u201d Too many times we equate the adherence to Biblical principles with being ethical. Further, entire societies base moral values on their belief systems. Nullens and Michener, in their book The Matrix of Christian Ethics[2]<\/strong><\/a>,<\/em> provide a good overview of ethical theories and views on the underlying reasons for moral failure of individuals and societies. It was a great read and covers the various theories nicely, but I didn\u2019t find that it resonated with my personal journey towards being a more ethical person. From my perspective, ethical failure or success is based on different factors and criteria for every individual. We each have our weaknesses, so the root cause of moral failure can vary. Additionally, the definition of good morals and values across culture and society may differ. Nullens and Michener state, \u201cChristian ethics is methodological reflection on the values, norms, virtues, and purposes of Christian life in one\u2019s contemporary context, drawing on Scripture and the tradition of faith.\u201d[3]<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0 This is a great statement, but the reality is that many people do not reflect on all of these things nor are they fully aware of all of those things that impact their moral values. Often, people adopt moral values based on their experience, teachings, and traditions. Most of us view our own moral status through the lens of society, our own perceptions, and through false assumptions. Since we know that many people don\u2019t understand their own theology nor read Scripture regularly, how can a person truly draw on this to be a more ethical person? And, if the tradition of faith helps a person to have stronger moral values, then there wouldn\u2019t be so many Christian leaders experiencing major moral failures. Theology in itself is complex, so pursuing higher ethical thinking by application of a system or methodology, in my opinion, is dangerous.<\/p>\n

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Nullens and Michener state, \u201cIn Christian-centered ethics, there is a cycle and interplay between society, the church, and our inherited religious values. We do not get our values simply by following the Bible and the church; culture and society influence our interpretation of values stemming from these sources.\u201d[4]<\/a> I agree with this statement to an extent, but I don\u2019t think that it speaks to the ethical dilemmas that individual\u2019s face. \u201cOh! What a tangled web we weave wen first we practise to deceive!\u201d (Sir Walter Scott) Many ethical dilemmas occur when people aren\u2019t honest with themselves and get caught up in life\u2019s circumstances. I\u2019ve yet to meet a person that doesn\u2019t want to be ethical. In fact, I\u2019ve found that some of the most ethical people I meet are those that have admittedly made mistakes and experienced moral failure. We all know people that think \u201cI\u2019m a good person because I go to church\u201d, \u201cI follow Biblical principles for living\u201d, or \u201cI don\u2019t lie, cheat or hurt people, so I\u2019m a good person.\u201d Ethics has nothing to do with church, religious views, or even theology. I think of being ethical as being a righteous individual. Since none of us are as righteous as God, then none of us are totally ethical. So, in my own quest to become more ethical, I cannot rely on my beliefs or actions. I cannot rely on my own worldview, theological understanding, nor the values within my own society to be a more ethical person. Rather, I must recognize that Christ is the only truly ethical human who ever lived, so I should seek to model myself to be like Him in all ways. Romans 3:21-26 says, \u201cBut now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it \u2013 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace, as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God\u2019s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In my own quest to be more ethical, I looked very closely at Christ\u2019s nature. Christ has many attributes that I can follow, but at the core of His nature I found love. The root cause for my personal unethical decisions in life derived from my lack of self-respect and confidence. I didn\u2019t love myself as Christ loves me, nor did I love others in the way I should. Psychologists could probably analyze me and come up with hundreds of theories on my thoughts and actions. The bottom line is that we make ethics way to complicated. I have found that there is only one solution that can help one to personally be more ethical and to make good choices\u2026and that is to become more like Christ. To do so involves walking with Him daily, engaging with him through Scripture, and evaluating one\u2019s own thoughts, opinions, and actions in comparison to His. Studying theology and understanding Scripture hasn\u2019t directly improved my ethical actions, but becoming more like Christ has. We tend to behave like and think like those whom we spend time with. So, if we want to be more like Christ then we must spend time in relationship with Him. Even Satan knows what the Bible says and understands theology\u2026and he certainly isn\u2019t ethical as is Christ.<\/p>\n

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We are all on a life journey, and we are each at different places within this journey. I\u2019ve never met anyone who doesn\u2019t want to be a better<\/em> person. We tend to judge a person\u2019s morals based on where we perceive them to be in their life journey and how much visible sin<\/em> they demonstrate. I\u2019ve met ethical people in prison, and I\u2019ve met unethical people in church. Ethics isn\u2019t about being self-righteous; rather it is having the desire and taking actions to become righteous. To do so, we must recognize our own human tendencies and brokenness. Sometimes the most righteous people are those who have been broken and humbled, and who honestly admit they have faults. We start our ethical journey when we look in a mirror honestly and see ourselves as Christ sees us. When people think of themselves as being immune to ethical issues, then they are at the highest risk for moral failure. The best strategy to prevent moral failure is to develop a relationship with Christ and to model yourself after Him. It is that simple\u2026<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> ethics. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http:\/\/dictionary.reference.com\/browse\/ethics<\/a> (accessed: November 07, 2014).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> The Matrix of Christian Ethics: Integrating Philosophy and Moral Theology in a Postmodern Context<\/em> (Intervarsity Pr: I, 2010).<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, p. 12.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, p. 12.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethics is a broad subject, open to much debate. I\u2019ve found that Christian ethics is an especially touchy subject, as some people equate this with legalism or Christian rules. Yet, so much of Scripture touches on ethics or moral values. Since \u201cethics is a system of moral principles\u201d[1], Christian ethics involves the way that we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[212],"class_list":["post-3250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-nullens","cohort-lgp4"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3251,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3250\/revisions\/3251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}