The Christian and ethics

Last night was the last in our series on The Christian and... We looked at ethics, how we make decisions about what is right and wrong and how we convey those decisions to those around us.

How we come to hold the views we hold
Part of our struggle as believers is that often our stance on ethical issues is influences by one or all or some of the following:

• Gut feeling – it feels right
• Emotional response – it makes me feel good
• Conscience – But I don’t feel guilty therefore…
• Consensus – It’s what most people do
• Consequences – It gives the best outcome
• Authority – Its what so and so says
• Reason – its logical
• Relativism – There is no right and wrong just individuals

All of us have these somewhere in our thinking, the challenge for us as Christians is to think Biblically about these things. To recognise the part each of the above plays and then challenge ourselves with the Bible. So how do we think Christianly about these things?

Romans 12:1-2
We need transformed minds so we aren’t conformed to the world’s way of thinking, making decisions based on the above. Instead the believer is to have a transformed mind, so that they know what God’s will is. Thinking Christianly means thinking God’s thoughts after him.

There are 2 key questions to ask: 1. What would God have me do? 2. How would he have me do it?

The answer to these is found in the Bible. There are some basic building blocks, how we think of the world is key:

1. Creation – the world was perfect, man is made in God’s image
2. Fall – the world is now living with consequences of rebellion, this affects our ability to make moral choices
3. Redemption – Christ comes to redeem us from sin, and calls us to repent and follow him.
4. 2nd Coming – We are to live in the light of eternity, judgement and new creation.

Thinking Biblically means taking a principled approach
There is a danger of looking for proof texts in the Bible We are better to look for a rounded biblical approach. What does the whole bible reveal about this issue and God’s view of it?However, the Bible is not search able by index on these issues instead we need to look for the enduring principles.

“Theology and ethics are inseparable in the Bible. You cannot understand how and why Israelites or Christians lived as they did until you see how and why they believed as they did.” C Wright.

Fundamental to all Christian ethics is the summary of the law which Jesus gives us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…Love your neighbour as yourself.” Ethical decisions cannot be viewed coldly and dispassionately, each decision is an opportunity to reveal our love for God and for those in the situation.

We must be aware of 3 dangers:

1. Situationism – Highest principle is love your neighbour.
2. Antinomianism – we live grace not moral law.
3. Legalism – we obey law but without love.

We then went on to discuss and thrash out what this would mean in a number of areas which I may post later. I think overall God confronted us with how often we settle for a partial understanding of the Bible and blend it with our gut feeling or emotional response or any other factor. The challenge was to be more biblical in our thinking.

Secondly, we were aware that how we answer people is key. Am I loving God by answering according to his word and loving my neighbour in the way I answer. It left us with much to repent of.