Category: Ethics

I have been considering the fact that the Christian faith is, by definition, countercultural. Consider the words of Peter, “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:11-12 ).

Christianity is not arrived at by birth or heritage. You aren’t Christian because your parents or grandparents are. And you aren’t a Christian if you do not adhere to the teaching of the Master, Jesus Christ. You must put Him on in faith, and remain steadfast in your life to attain the narrow gate and difficult way that leads to life.

That means there are “few” that find the way to heaven. This makes true Christians a subculture (a small group in a larger culture). But it makes true Christians countercultural as well.  The term defined: “a culture with values and customs that are very different from and usually opposed to those accepted by most of society” (Brittanica).

Too many Christians identify primarily as Americans, or Texans, or Republicans, or Democrats, or white, black, or brown, etc. All of these MUST take a back seat to our faith in our values and decisions we make!

The Virginia gubernatorial election became national news a couple of weeks ago, as the two candidates expressed sharp disagreement on the part that parents should play in the education of their children. The Republican candidate, Glenn Youngkin said, “I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.” The Democrat candidate, Terry McAuliffe said, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Continue reading “The Patternists: Parental Responsibility” →

One of the most glaring departures from God’s will for man comes in the area of morality. Men now champion fornication of all types, have normalized abortion and homosexuality, and have rejected God’s definition of marriage. An earlier contention that homosexuality is a genetic trait has been exchanged by many for a more extreme view that sexual expression is fluid, and that alternate sexual practices should be tolerated and encouraged.

Greed, pride, selfishness and hate have long been encouraged in the business world. These attributes are predominant in positions of power in government circles as well, to the point that any proclamation of humility and selflessness is met with rolling eyes and incredulity.

Continue reading “The Patternists: Authority & Moral Issues” →

Regardless of the consequences, we must live a moral life. However, God intends for our lives, lived well, to bring us benefits. We are better if we are sober, monogamous, and compliant with authority.

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Powerpoint PPTX File

The views that men hold regarding what is right and what is wrong often are at odds with what the Bible teaches. This lesson seeks to note those differences in the realm of man’s treatment of animals. Emphasis is made on what the word of God teaches regarding man’s responsibility toward the rest of creation.

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Powerpoint Slides

The lesson discusses the Biblical view of the sanctity of life, making applications with regard to the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, and what constitutes murder.

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Microsoft Word File

“Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight” (Proverbs 11:1).

Dishonesty and theft are unacceptable to Jehovah. In the same context, the wise man wrote, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them” (11:3). It is telling that honesty in a person is indicative of personal integrity, and that dishonesty indicates perversity and unfaithfulness.

The characteristics of honesty and integrity would go a long way to fixing the moral problems of our day. While all will claim that personal integrity is very important, our culture is rife with liars, thieves and politicians (sorry, couldn’t resist).

God demands honesty from His children. Jesus said, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own?” (Luke 16:10-12).

In previous decades, American society generally shared the same values that are currently held by Christians. Sexual promiscuity, moral excesses, and other vices were frowned upon. Even those who engaged in them understood that they were morally wrong, and hid their actions from plain sight. As time has passed, however, societal values have diverged from the Christian norm. Because of this:

Continue reading “Christian Ethics” →

In doing some internet research on the subject of ethics, I came across an article by Rohana R. Wasala, a practicing Buddhist. In his article, titled Ethics and the non religious essence of Buddhism (lankaweb.com), Wasala advocated Buddhism over other religions, noting that Buddhism is not a religion in the traditional sense, in that it has its origin not in a supernatural being, but rather in a philosophy of self.

Interestingly, the author bemoans the fact that Buddhism, as practiced popularly, is not the same as “Pristine Buddhism.” To contrast the two, he states that Pristine Buddhism is free from the element of worship and prayer. He then stated that in contrast, “Unfortunately, Buddhism in popular practice is a different thing. It is today displayed by most followers as a religion.”

Continue reading “In the News: Non-Religious Ethics” →

This lesson was given at the Woodmont church of Christ, quarterly study on September 20, 2014. The subject is ethics, with a contrast between the humanly devised philosophies, and the objective Bible standard of right and wrong. Four examples are discussed in application of the principles: 1) Abortive types of contraception; 2) Extramarital Sexual relationships; Corporal Punishment; 4) Slavery.

The materials consist of an 80 minute lecture, a 30 minute Question and Answer period, and the Powerpoint presentation utilized in the initial presentation.

Audio (The Christian & Ethics – 80 minute lecture)

Audio (The Christian & Ethics – 30 minutes Question & Answer)

Powerpoint Slides

Article (DOCX) (The Christian and Ethics)
Same article in PDF Format (The Christian and Ethics)

Podcast Number 33

Our society is presently plagued by many problems: Violence, sexual immorality, disease. Those who seek the answers to the problems are often looking in the wrong place. The Bible has the answers to society’s problems, whether men wish to accept it or not!

To listen to this Podcast, click here .

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Willie Nelson, the Country and Western singer with a liberal lean to his politics and an agenda to legalize marijuana use, recently published a book of philosophy called “The Tao of Willie.” In it he talks about everything from politics to God. In response to a question about leaving his Methodist upbringing in embracing new philosophies, Nelson said:

“I believe that all roads lead to the same place. We’re taking different ways to get there, but we all end up in the same place. It’s kind of like Kinky Friedman’s statement, “May the God of your choice bless you.” That’s the main thoughts that I have about life.” (Time Magazine, August 7, 2006)

Nelson, as is typical of many today, has remade God in his image. Scripture clearly reveals that there is one way to heaven (John 4:24), that not all of us are going to get there (Matthew 7;13), and that there is only one true God (Acts 14:15).

Yes, those are Willie’s main thoughts on life. God has given his divine comments on such thoughts, saying in Psalm 94:11, “The Lord knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.”

President George W. Bush may have cited his moral stance in vetoing a bill that would have expanded embryonic stem-cell research on Wednesday but the issue transcends traditional divisions over abortion rights.

Strongly conservative Republicans who oppose abortion such as Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch have backed broader federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research for years, and more conservatives have come on board recently, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee.

The embryos at issue come from fertility clinics, where eggs and sperm are united in lab dishes. But many more are made than can ever be implanted in mothers’ wombs, and the leftovers are discarded.

The bill vetoed by Bush would have allowed federal taxpayer money to be used to do research on those embryos donated by the parents. It is not illegal to use private funds to do so, although some conservatives, such as Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, would also seek to ban this research.

The stem cells are taken from a ball of cells known as a blastocyst, which develops five to seven days after conception. These embryonic stem cells are pluripotent — meaning they can differentiate into all the types of cells that make up an animal, including a human being, but do not form placenta and cannot become a fetus.

Bush, an opponent of abortion, used his first veto as president to block the bill on Wednesday, saying destroying embryos for medical research “crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect.”

Many people who disapprove of abortion say they do not disapprove of experimenting on these embryos, which would otherwise be discarded.

“It’s very difficult to justify abandoning 7,000 to 20,000 in vitro eggs as medical waste,” Hatch told reporters recently.

REUTERS / Peter Macdiarmid

Analysis:

It is not uncommon for advocates of stem cell research to blur the lines regarding what constitutes life. In reality, man has no right to establish such arbitrary distinctions. From conception, an embryo is an independent, living organism. If it is not human, then what is it?

Understood in this light, the immoral nature of the aforementioned arguments becomes clear. For example, stem cell advocates are arguing that since we are going to throw living humans into the trash anyway, instead we ought to kill them through human experimentation.

Stem cell advocates are actually claiming to have the moral high road in this debate. Note the following quote from later in the article, “It is immoral for our families, neighbors and friends to be held hostage to chronic diseases when their treatments are within our scientific grasp,” June Walker, president of Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, said in a statement. In reality, the call is for the sacrifice of innocent and vulnerable human beings to benefit others in society. The fact that stem cell advocates are unwilling to admit to the humanness of the embryos does not change the fact of their humanity. To sacrifice one segment of society in preference to another is barbaric, and without any moral justification.

“And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (Luke 1:41).

Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: “We are going to shake The Hague awake!”

The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.

“A ban just makes children curious,” Ad van den Berg, one of the party’s founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

“We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion,” he said, adding that the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium. “We have been hushed up. The only way is through parliament.”

The Netherlands already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution, and gay marriage, but the NVD is unlikely to win much support, the AD quoted experts as saying.

“They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest,” anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the daily.

The party said private possession of child pornography should be allowed although it favors banning the trade of such materials. The broadcast of pornography should be allowed on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening, according to the party.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public.

The party’s program also includes ideas for other areas of public policy including legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters)

Analysis:

It is a bit difficult to be shocked anymore when presented with examples of ungodliness and immorality in our world. I must confess, however, to being especially appalled at the reading of the preceding article. Pedophilia (sexual activity with children) has long had adherents (from ancient Greece until our day. But it seems pedophiles are becoming more vocal in the pressing of their peculiar agenda to be accepted by society.

One reason why such perverts are emboldened in their agenda to legalize such abominations is that a secular society has no sound foundation upon which to exclude any immoral activity. If God is not the arbiter in the questions regarding good and evil, who is? If men determine what is immoral and what is not, perhaps men will one day determine that pedophilia is wholesome and harmless. Farfetched? Hardly, as we see this is exactly what has been done with regard to homosexuality, abortion and euthanasia.

In the days of Noah we are told, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5). It seems that the world in our day is looking more and more like that ancient world. God destroyed that world by water. One wonders whether God’s longsuffering is nearing its end with us as well! “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10).