{"id":527,"date":"2013-11-09T05:54:05","date_gmt":"2013-11-09T05:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=527"},"modified":"2014-08-13T21:25:21","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:25:21","slug":"walking-in-the-light","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/walking-in-the-light\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking In The Light"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the major issues that needs to be dealt with in India is corruption.\u00a0 Studies reveal that it affects the country\u2019s economy substantially.\u00a0 Last year India ranked 94th<\/sup> of 174 countries according to Transparency International\u2019s\u00a0 corruption Perceptions Index.\u00a0 A vast majority of the Indian population have had firsthand experience in paying bribes.\u00a0 It is nearly impossible to get any work done that involves government bureaucracy without bribery in some form or the other. \u00a0This is a challenge I have to constantly confront as the leader of a Christian organization.\u00a0 After a huge investment of resources, time and effort a much needed nursing college of ours still remains unaccredited for lack of \u2018palm greasing\u2019.\u00a0 It is impossible to even begin to tell how frustrating this is.\u00a0 This is one simple illustration of what a Christian has to face\u00a0 in our context and culture; \u00a0but there is much more.<\/p>\n

To think that living as a committed and devoted Christian in today\u2019s changing postmodern world is simple and undemanding would certainly be naive.\u00a0 The Christian is tugged and pushed from many directions to compromise on ethical issues.\u00a0 There is no easy passage to knowing what must be done in such circumstances; frankly speaking even if Christians know what ethics is, it is a challenge for many to know how to live ethically.\u00a0 Such living demands an understanding of the standards of the Christian faith in these matters and the Christian principles that will help navigate these complex issues.\u00a0\u00a0 The Matrix of Christian Ethics: Integrating Philosophy and Moral Theology in a Postmodern Context by Patrick Nullens and Ronald Michener <\/em>is a brief but brilliant and helpful reflection on this subject.\u00a0\u00a0 The authors propose an approach that integrates a variety of classical models such as consequential ethics, principle ethics, virtue ethics and value ethics and define it as \u2018the matrix of Christian ethics\u2019.\u00a0 The book takes into consideration both moral theology and philosophy with an unusual sensitivity of the complexities of this postmodern global era.<\/p>\n

Chapter eight titled \u201cThe Ethical Human Being\u201d deals with the dignity of humanity as a reflection of God\u2019s image (Imago Dei). \u00a0\u00a0Every human being is created in the image of the Triune God. \u00a0Within this framework of thinking, I find the basis and need for ethical living for a Christian.\u00a0 Anything said or done that destroys this dignity of humanity, or defaces the Imago Dei is unethical.\u00a0 I lean heavily toward the \u2018Theological Anthropology\u2019 propounded by Thielicke that defines Christian Faith as being basically relational\u00a0(NULLENS 2010, 179).\u00a0 Ethical living therefore becomes the bedrock and underpinning in maintaining the equilibrium of the three-fold relationship, with the self, the neighbor and the surrounding world and as Berkhof further describes this Imago Dei as consisting of a triple encounter with God, neighbor, and nature. \u00a0\u201cThe human is at once a child of God, a neighbor to other human beings, and a lord (caretaker) over nature.\u201d (NULLENS 2010, 180)<\/p>\n

A balanced interaction of \u201cThe Three constituent relationships\u201d as Nullens and Michener call it is very helpful in determining the course a Christian needs to take:<\/p>\n

Relationship to God: The Human Being as a Religious Creature<\/p>\n

Relationship with the Neighbor: The Human Being as a Social Creature<\/p>\n

Relationship with Nature: The Human Being as a Creative Creature (NULLENS 2010, 180-185)<\/p>\n

This then is how\u2018Christian ethics\u2019 differs from others. David Ford describes more aptly when he says: \u201cChristian theological ethics, then, contributes to forming the minds hearts, and wills of individuals and communities who continually find themselves in situations requiring responsible judgement, decision and action.\u00a0(FORD 1999, 63)\u201d \u00a0It is grounded first and foremost on one\u2019s relationship with God through Jesus Christ and directed by the absolutes found in the Bible that will enlighten the conscience and enhance the Christian\u2019s moral conduct.\u00a0 Complex ethical topics in this postmodern era can then be appropriately addressed through the second and third relational constituents. \u00a0Relationship to culture then becomes critical. Church historian Eckman points out three ways Christians may react to culture as they hold on to ethical absolutes: separation, accommodation, or transformation. The best strategy is achieved through a synthesis of all three sifted through Biblical principles.<\/p>\n

FORD, David. THEOLOGY A Very Short Introduction.<\/em> Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.<\/p>\n

NULLENS, Patrick, MICHENER, Ronald. The Matrix of Christian Ethics: Integrating Philosophy and Moral Theology in a Postmodern Context.<\/em> Downer\u2019s Grove, Illinois: Inter Varsity Press, 2010.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the major issues that needs to be dealt with in India is corruption.\u00a0 Studies reveal that it affects the country\u2019s economy substantially.\u00a0 Last year India ranked 94th of 174 countries according to Transparency International\u2019s\u00a0 corruption Perceptions Index.\u00a0 A vast majority of the Indian population have had firsthand experience in paying bribes.\u00a0 It is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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":[2,226,212],"class_list":["post-527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-michener","tag-nullens","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527","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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1860,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527\/revisions\/1860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}