|
« TAP TO LOG IN
|
Play online chess!
Ethics
« Back to club forum| From | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
 EthicsThis book has been warmly received as a firm statement of conservative, Reformed Christian Ethics, and been through several reprints. He cuts to the core in the first couple of chapters. His position is solidly based on:- a) The Bible is infallible b) The commandments in the Bible are not merely 'advice', but commands. From this base, he comes out very strongly on most conservative points. These include the role of 'Christian Principles' as a basis for civil law, contraception, abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment and other similar issues. Yet there is not a whisper about domestic violence springing from Male Headship doctrines, or fraud, deceptive advertising or any other issues springing from economic paradigms. It seems he has an understanding of 'ethics' that is more based on a political paradigm than upon Biblical teaching. For example, Jesus had a lot more to say about money than about sex. The key is in his two principle assumptions. The first, the Infallibility of the Bible, is a doctrine which sounds fine, until you scratch beneath the surface. The Bible itself might well be 'infallible', but that's not much use unless we have an infallible commentary telling us how to apply it. Instead, a literalist interpretation is assumed, while interpretations more sensitive to literary, cultural, historical and religious contexts are dismissed as 'excuses'. Hence the doctrine by itself is neither wrong nor right; it is simply meaningless unless defined more tightly. It is a good example of a slogan that has become a shibboleth. The second is much more serious. In the simplistic form urged by this book (and many other similar books), it is a call for legalism. This is exactly what Paul of Tarsus spent so much of his time preaching against! It also contradicts even the Old Testament, which repeatedly rages against formal 'obedience' that doesn't spring from a sincere heart. I have bored members before with that vital quote from Amos 5:21-24, so let me add Psalm 24:3,4:- Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. Clean hands (i.e., no wrong actions) are not by themselves enough; a pure heart, that doesn't serve a false god such as Mammon, is also demanded. Also, one of my favourite passages, Job chapter 31. Read it in its entirety. Not a command in sight, but it shows what a righteous life is really like All this is no more that detailing what is summarised in Leviticus 19:2:- “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” This simply reminds everyone of the whole point of creating humans; to be 'in the Image of God'. So Ethics is not a list of what we should DO, but an effort to BE what we should be. The New Testament emphasises this point even more forcefully. The Law was training wheels, to train us in being imitators of Christ. Yes, that same Christ who shocked the religious guys when he broke the Law by healing on the Sabbath. This book on 'Evangelical Ethics' is a denial of the Infallible Bible it supposedly proclaims, because the author has failed to understand it just like a parrot fails to understand the poetry it has been taught to repeat. This tells us a great deal about American 'Evangelicalism' and why Donald Trump is their darling. They have turned their backs on the God of Unlimited Grace and the Ethic of being Christlike. Instead, too many of them look to a Transactional God who requires and rewards ritualised obedience to a narrow band of obligations. Anything else is a matter of “Go for it, and Devil take the hindmost!” |
||
|
Fantastic post Bob |
||
|
|
||
|
Patz 11:35 So step 1 is to be a good tree. Get that right and the fruit takes care of itself. |
||
|
Just to clarify... This does NOT mean 'to follow the Rules', because God is not bound by rules. God is bound only by his own nature. To give just a few examples, that means:- 1. Be creative! Make something good where there was no good before. 2. Be imaginative! God had no precedents for Creation; it was all a New Thing. So think new solutions that are better than what was there before. 3. Be generous! That's what 'Grace' means. Biblically, 'love' means 'to act in the best interests of another'. 4. Be teleological! Which is a fancy way of saying 'Bring everything to its fulfilment, to the best it can be'. Specially, it means helping every person fulfil his/her full potential for good. |
||
|
apatzer 25-Jan-25, 17:03 |
Deleted by apatzer on 25-Jan-25, 17:04.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Prohibiting Ethics apnews.com Ethics? We don’t need no stinking ethics! Earlier last year SCOTUS ruled that bribes of public officials are perfectly legal, and Donald promised to make any bribes paid out tax exempt. He has yet to deliver on that promise, but it may be in the works. |
||
|
Back to that book... Here are the chapter headings which this author considered "the most pressing ethical issues facing the Church today". Contraception Reproductive technologies Divorce and remarriage Homosexuality Abortion Euthanasia Capital Punishment Civil Disobedience The first thing that strikes me in this list is the narrow focus. The first five out of eight are aspects of sexuality and reproductive mores. Not even making the list are questions such as:- Truth-telling Theft Fraud Justice in the courts Care for the poor Fair wages By my reading of the Gospels, each of these six are mentioned more often by Jesus than all five 'sexual/reproductive' subjects added together. There seems to be a distinct preference to be alarmist about the 'sins' committed by the average citizen but not those committed by the wealthy and powerful. I might also add that since this book was written at the end of the 20th century, even the question of 'Divorce and remarriage' has suddenly fallen of the Religious Right agenda; perhaps because Trump has divorced and re-married, so it is no longer something that only 'sinners' do? Meanwhile, the subjects NOT discussed in the book, such as truth-telling, fraud, care for the poor and justice in the courts continue to be ignored by 'Evangelicals' even as the gap between what is Biblical and what is practised has become a chasm. Then we turn to the non-sexual issues discussed. Euthanasia is a case where the wealthy have no problems; their loved ones can be given the greatest in palliative care so as to be relieved of virtually all pain, and then their plugs pulled out. But what can the poor do for their loved ones? Months of palliative care in the American system is expensive, even without heroic life support. Their options are to watch their loved ones suffer a prolonged, painful death without effective care, or go bankrupt trying to provide it. Or voluntary euthanasia, which is functionally the same as what the rich do, but in a compressed time frame; but Religious Right stand against that! Again, let the poor suffer while the rich can use money to ease the pain. Capital Punishment? That might be an interesting issue to debate, but first let me ask how many millionaires are sentenced to death each year? And how many poor? An American celebrity can literally get away with murder if he has a good team of lawyers and deep enough pockets. Remember O.J. Simpson? All the Klan lynchings? Compare that to the words of your current President who STILL says the Central Park Five should have been executed, even though they had ALREADY been exonerated when Trump made that comment. Capital punishment applied only to the commoners is not justice; when the wealthy are held to that same standard, let's re-open the case then. Civil Disobedience? The answer is obvious! We are urged to 'be submissive to the governing authorities', but not when they are 'against God'. This is just another way of establishing a Theocracy, strictly against the Constitution as well as totally impractical. Europe went through centuries of war, both between kingdoms and civil war, over the question of when a government is 'against God'. This Fundamentalist distinction is opening the gate for another religious war. So even the points he raises that are not sexually-based are still a thousand miles from the Gospel. This is what American Fundamentalists lap up by the gallon! I think 'American Christianity' would be a good thing, if only it were possible! |
||
|
Here's how to Make America Christian Again... Lev. 19:1,2 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.' Then comes a series of examples of what this means, some of which seem to have no religious or cultic relevance:- v.10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. v. 14 Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord. v.16 Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord. v.34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. Notice the emphasis that these are not just 'Rules to be obeyed', but are a reflection of God's own nature to be shown in 'secular' life. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the poor, the foreigner and the disabled were allowed to glean, and protected from humiliation? If there was a positive duty to protect your neighbour, not just a duty to not directly do harm? Ah, we could wish! |
||
|
|
||
|
Bob |
