"Situation Ethics versus Biblical Morality"

Two seeming straight lines which appear parallel that are even a millionth of a degree in difference, if followed far enough will eventually be miles and miles apart.  The same is true of what might appear to be simple and similar pathways as one makes life’s choices.  When such choices are pushed out to their logical end points where does one arrive?  Is that the place you want to be?  Fortunately, even if one finds themselves in such a situation there is hope!

The following is adapted from a post by a Russian Orthodox Abbott...

“Situation Ethics versus Biblical Morality”*

(In part)

“Situation ethics has become the norm for our times, having replaced the biblical ethics of past generations. In situation ethics as long as no one is hurt one can do as one pleases. Taking drugs, watching pornography and aborting the unborn child, all can come under the flag of situation ethics.

The (Church) Fathers knew that even the secret sins committed by people had an effect on the whole of the cosmos. The people who promote situation ethics would have us believe that nothing that is done in private hurts anyone. Biblical ethics tells us quite the opposite.

Love in Christ,

(Name withheld)

The Outcomes

Man is vested by God with the power to make choices but man is not vested with the power to control the outcomes.  Think for a moment about the consequences of the choices you’ve made in life. 

Some choices may have seemed slightly off track at the beginning and you knew they were wrong.  Perhaps it was, after all what is a little pleasure among friends, a small drink, a little peek, a moment of irresponsibility or any of a number of other decisions one makes.  Some seems quite innocent appearing yet were and are wrong.  Some who read this will nod in agreement that later outcomes have been most disappointing, troubling—even devastating.

Romans 1 tells the reader that God eventually is abandoned and abandons—that is God defers to a person’s choice to abandon Him.  Only God knows how many made some small choice but down range it ended in a major and catastrophic eternal failure. 

Choices!  Yet until one dies, there exists the opportunity for choosing a different pathway.  Jesus call is to all, “Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily laden and I will give you rest.”  God’s way or man’s way, at times it seems but a simple choice but the consequences are enormous and pushed out to their logical ends are eternities apart.

*Full article may be found at "Morning Offering" check blog list at right.  As well in most of my writings current cultural values are described by mores and morals as opposed to ethics which are eternal, transcendent, objective, etc. realities.

Man's Greatest Power - Part I

The Greatest Power Known to Man

There is a power that is greater than the mightiest river, the strongest ocean current, the most violent storm, the greatest tsunami, and/or the most rattling earthquake ever experienced.  It is the power to make choices.

That power is so great that it has shaped governments, enslaved people, liberated the oppressed, and done much to change the shape of humanity.  It can be durable and unstoppable or it can be fragile and at the mercy of situations.

Circumstances Come and Circumstances Go

No one can choose the difficulties which come from living in an imperfect world, among imperfect people, in imperfect bodies.  However, no matter how dire the circumstance, still one can do one thing—a person can make choices.

History is replete with the stories of people who were mistreated, enslaved, and abused but…

Those same people made the choice to not give in to the difficulties.

Those same people made the choice to do what they could to overcome their situation.

Those same people made the choice to live above what might be expected of one in such circumstances. 

Certainly there are the failures most of which are lost from the pages of history.  However there are those maybe did not soared above the storms but with right choices made it through.  It is those who provide examples, challenge, and inspire.

Such a man was Captain and Explorer Ernest Shackleton.  After his ship was trapped in the ice of Antarctica and against all odds he navigated hundreds of miles across the ocean in an open boat, then without winter clothing crossed over a mountain range, and in doing so saved his crew from certain death.

Character and Choice

It is one’s circumstance that provides the opportunities for such choices that will cause one man to fly and another to flounder. It is not some super-hero that has made the difference but an average man who through strength of character and right choices carried the day.

One’s character determines how those choices are made.  It is character which then will navigate one through the situations and circumstances of one’s life.  Good character leads to good outcomes, even in failure.   Poor character leads to poor outcomes even when there is a measure of success. 

It is not the circumstance in which one finds himself that decides a man’s future, indeed it is the choices that such a man makes.

Character

What then is the character that will carry the day?  Very simply it is doing what is right no matter the cost.  It is tenaciously staying the course, ever plowing toward that which is right. Oh, not in the big decisions of life, most handle those with relative ease but it is in the myriad of small decisions which on the surface would seem of little importance.

It is doing what is right according to ethical truth not according to some whimsical morality such as situational ethics (an oxymoron to be sure) which shifts with the druthers of culture.  It is doing the right according to those higher ideals that have prevailed year after year since the beginning of recorded time.

To be continued…

"IMO and The Truth" Part Two

Review:  We left Part One observing that without there being something in which to believe and without there being a God, there remains no authority outside of one's own existence.  Thus no truth or reality can be validated.  Such can be lonely and leave one an intellectual hermit left to an "In My Opinion" world of "reality."

Continuing then consider the notion of...

In My Opinion

Of course as has already been viewed, there is a strong emphasis upon the individual in the IMO statement.  But then comes the question, “What about the word opinion?”

Opinion

The word, “opinion” originally came from the idea of “view or judgments founded upon probabilities.”  It comes then from a Latin word which included “conjecture, fancy, belief, what one thinks, appreciation, and esteem” which then may be traced further back to the idea to think, judge, suppose, or opine.*

Is it then possible to conclude that one’s opinion is “conjecture founded upon probabilities?”  Again we arrive at the question of what evidence is allowed for there to be conjecture?  An attendant question is what evidence is allowed for there to be probabilities?

My Opinion

In the previous post, we have already established that in secularism the self or the collection of "selfs" is established as the authority for the opinion.  It follows then that all authority exterior to the discussion is viewed as extraneous to any formation of a truth claim. 

Where one arrives is at the belief that the only arbitrator of truth is internal to one's mind.  Thus it is the prism of the self that refracts truth into its constituent shades.  All must pass the gatekeeper of self.  So very often in such discussions as take place, the words, "In my opinion" are viewed as trumping any and all other authority.

Categories of IMO Statements

Such, "in my opinion" statements then are of at least two kinds or types.  There is the inquiry IMO which suggests that a person really does not know but tend to think something to be true, untrue, etc. It is more of a statement of opinion in the sense of an inquiry, a search for reality.

Then there is the second kind of IMO that establish the individual as the ultimate authority and arbitrator of truth.  Such a position held long enough and expressed often enough gives one a sense of special truth (discussed in other postings).

Considering the differences in the two categories of IMO, the first is that of an inquirer.  That is tantamount to saying that the question remains under study.  The second is that of a final authority--that the matter has been decided and here is the bottom line truth.  Both say much about how the individual views himself and his opinions!

However, neither of these categories of IMO, makes one whit of difference to the reality of the truth.

The Outcomes, Intended and Otherwise

Intellectual Blindness

Expressed often enough and validated by enough people there comes a certain egotistical haughtiness about one’s own opinions.  Such can lead to a certain academic arrogance that accrues to the one who falls in love with his own ideas. 

This is a cyclical process that thrusts the individual deeper and deeper into his own thinking to the point that they become blinded to any counter to their reality.  Even if heard, such counters are dismissed as the stuff of the ignorant, intellectually deficient, and unschooled.

Returning to Part One the parameters are drawn in such a way that even if genuine reality came knocking at the front door it would not be recognized.

The Burden of Consequence

However there is yet another unintended consequence.  When one sets oneself up as the authority then one bears the burden of the outcome of being such position as they embrace.  If an influential person or authority they then also have some responsibility in the outcomes on the part of those they influence.

Again the "in my opinion" does nothing at all, not one whit of anything to change the reality of truth.  As surely as one's opinion about the material universe around us does nothing to influence or change any of the physical laws which govern the universe, neither does such opinion as one holds in any way influence the reality of the question of what is truth/reality.

The Decent Into Chaos

The old joke is that if you get three Jewish Rabbis together you get four opinions or as a Jewish friend of mine says five.  The sad truth is that when one resorts to, "in my opinion" that then opens the door to another issue—the increasing spiral toward chaos.

Just as there must be order for the universe for it to continue to function so too there is order to genuine truth.  Remove order from any epistemological system and it will degrade further and further until all that remains is intellectual chaos. 

Choosing the Decent into Chaos

One at this point is confronted with a choice.  Yes, confronted!  Is it really worth it to become the arbitrator of evidence for the truth and then to hold your opinion as the truth that trumps all others?  This is a very serious matter for the outcomes are dire for the one making a wrong choice.  Read about them in the following observation which has been proven true for the better part of 2,000 years.

Romans 1:28-32 28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them. NASU

Man certainly is vested with the authority to choose who or what is the basis of authority in his life and perspectives of reality but man cannot choose the outcomes and consequences of such choices as he makes!

_____________

* adapted from http://www.etymonline.com/