Christian Ethics for Today - Assignment Example

Christian Ethics for Today – An Evangelical Approach Major ethical theories Some of the ethical theories which have shaped western philosophical tradition are Utilitarianism, Kanthian ethics and Contractarianism. Jeremy Bentham is generally regarded as the creator of utilitarianism. Other main proponents of the theory of utilitarianism are John Stuart mill, Peter singer and Brandt. The theory of utilitarianism stands for the maximum happiness for maximum number of people. Bentham’s ideas on utilitarianism are based on human nature. He starts his principles of morals and legislation by saying that nature has positioned human beings under the control of two autonomous masters i.e. pain and pleasure, According to Bentham, pleasure and pain are the only motivators which tell people what to do in their lives. John mill who comes after Jeremy Bentham takes utilitarianism in a new path. According to him, there are lower and higher types of happiness. Happiness of a higher level, which is more difficult to achieve, is more rewarding. For example, intellectual pleasures are difficult to achieve, nevertheless, these are much more satisfying. Mill believes that it is better to be a displeased human being than happy pig. Similarly, a displeased Socrates is much better than a satisfied fool. If the fool and pig think otherwise, it is because they are familiar with only their own side but the other party knows both sides. So it is very clear that higher happiness has a greater degree of usefulness than lower happiness because those who have knowledge about both will sacrifice the lower one. Mill, at times, regarded as the first rule utilitarian, though he, sometimes, seems to be an act utilitarian. On Liberty, mill has a definitely rule utilitarianism stress on the significance of liberties such as the right to privacy, freedom of speech, right to free trade, and individuals autonomy over societies right. At the same time, he sometimes propagates the act utilitarianism. Other proponents of utilitarianism in the twentieth century are Peter Singer and Richard Brandt. Peter singer promotes the interest utilitarianism while Richard Brandt advocates rule utilitarianism. Kantian Ethics Immanuel Kant is a very brilliant and influential philosopher. While utilitarianism concentrates on human nature which looks for pleasure and shuns pain, the Kantian ethics highlights the feature of human nature that is capable of making selections freely. While Mill highlights the significance of greater value of happiness available to humans over the happiness available to animals, Bentham does not. Kant does not believe pain and pleasure are the suitable ways for measuring wrongness or rightness of an action. The action is wrong or right because of the intentions behind it, if your actions treat yourself and others with reverence, then they are right, if your dealings involve using others as a means, then they are not correct. According to Kant, rationality and autonomy are very necessary for humanity. Sometimes the utilitarian and Kantian ethics arrive at the similar conclusion about the wrongness or rightness of a particular action. But it is not the conclusion we should look at but the process of reasoning about moral issues that differentiate them. Contractarian Ethics Contractarian Ethics are very important in political philosophy though it is not as popular as Kantian or Utilitarian ethics. Main advocates of contractarianism are Hobbes, Rousseau and Rawls. According to Contractarian Ethics, morality is produced by the social contract. Thomas Hobbes believes that human beings are acquisitive and competitive by nature, so they tend to be seeking recognition and wealth and they are not opposed to the use of violence in achieving these ends. So Hobbies imagined that life before the invention of government was short, nasty and brutish. This led to the contract between human beings for their mutual protection and this contract is morality. So long as this contract gives us protection to our life and property, we have no right to complain about its provisions. Also, Hobbes is not against putting restrictions on freedom of speech, or banning certain books, or breaking up assemblies if protecting human beings warrants these actions. On the other hand, Rousseau believes that human beings are not violent or acquisitive by nature. According to him, they are peaceful and lonely and they have two kinds of nature. One is normal to human beings in the state of nature and other in the civil state. Once a human being constructs a house, he starts bonding together with other people to defend his territory. Christian ethics Ethics may be defined as “the science of behavior. Ethics is the bit of religions that tells us how we ought to behave.” In a sense, it is a code of behavior that facilitates people to make moral decisions about difficult topics. Some of such topics are suicide, abortion, homosexuality, ecology and genetics. Generally, the term ethics is used to refer guidelines for behavior or standards of conduct and major secular ethical theories are Utilitarianism, Kanthian ethics and Contractarianism. Utilitarianism seeks to promote maximum happiness for the maximum number of people. Kanthian ethics are based on his outlook on rationality as the ultimate good and his belief that all people are basically rational beings. According to Contractarianism, morality is produced by the social contract. On the other hand, by Christian ethics we mean, the core values that have taken from teachings of Jesus Christ which form the base of the moral life of the Christian. It will also serve as guidelines for his conduct and decision making process and also act as a base for self examination and judgment. The topic Christian ethics has a special significance today, because around 50 years ago, very few people has questioned Christian ethic. But today entire Christian ethics is under assault, with number of illegitimate babies and divorce rate going up drastically, so it is important to look at the Christian ethics and the issues related to it to understand what it is all about as well as to find out whether it is still a powerful force to bind the society together. Some of the major contemporary ethical issues are suicide, abortion, homosexuality, and genetics. But in order to study these issues in detail, it is imperative that we must know the basis of Christian ethics. The evangelical Christian ethics is based on number of themes such as freedom, relationship, responsibility. One of the basic themes of Christian ethics is freedom. Galatians chapter 5 verse1 says “freedom is what we have- Christ has set us free. Stand then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.” (Galatians 5:1). The freedom here in Galatians means freedom to be free from bondages of sin, and this freedom is achieved through Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. Another basis of Evangelical Christian ethics is relationship; a relationship that believers have with Jesus as Lord and Savior. Sometimes, it is observed that people try to disconnect Jesus Christ and Christian ethics. By doing so, they attempt to separate God from Creation, and Jesus from his followers. This core of the Christian ethics is that a believer must live a life that meets the standards of conduct and manners required by God. Christians can achieve the requirements because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and the relationship established between a believer and God by that act. By establishing a relationship with God and by loving him, we have the right to be called the Children of God. John Chapter 1 verse 12 says, “Some, however, did receive him and believed in him so he gave the right to become God’s children.” (John 1:12) Responsibility In today’s evangelical Christian ethics, the responsibility of caring for and helping others occupies a very prominent place. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 2 says “Help carry one another’s burden, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6: 2). It is evident that the evangelical basis of Christian ethics is concern for others and it is very clear in some of the great parables in Bible. The basis of evangelical Christian ethics is Jesus Christ who set the standard for our behaviors and conducts by his example and again it is the Jesus Christ who empowers, encourages and enables us to attain the standard that God has set for mankind. So let us discuss, some of the major contemporary ethical issues such as suicide, abortion, homosexuality, ecology and genetics. Homosexuality Evangelical Christianity strongly oppose homosexuality and they are of the opinion that discrimination against homosexuals is not a bad idea when it comes to things like housing, hiring and financial transaction. They treat homosexuality not as an orientation but as a behavior which can be stopped if you have the will. It is believed that the Corinthian Church had homosexuals and they were given forgiveness when they received the gift of pardon by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross but they had to completely changed their behavior. There are some laws which ban discrimination against homosexuals. But most of the Evangelical Christians do believe that homosexuality is not a sexual orientation but a type of behavioral disorder and is opposed to such laws banning discrimination against homosexuals. Suicide Evangelical Christians are opposed to suicide as it invades God’s territory of life and death. There are some instances of suicides in the Bible, King Samuel (1 Samuel 31:4) and David’s councilor, Ahitophel (II Samuel 17:23) committed suicide. In both cases, they needed the assistance of others to end their lives. In the New Testament also, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot commits suicide. From the above three instances of suicide in the Bible, one thing becomes very evident that the persons who commit suicide are neither sympathetic nor heroic figures. Modern Christians are generally against suicide because of the fact that they believe that humans are created in the image of god and life, given by God, can be taken away by God only. Moreover, in a sense, in suicide, the person seems to be capable of being the master of his body rather than God. Suicides also tend to indicate failure of parental and social duties of the individual. The Holy Scripture also teaches that taking away one’s own life is unlawful and an atrocious crime. Abortion All major Christian Churches, including Evangelicals, oppose abortion. Bible says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13) and “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart: I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5) Christians, generally, believe that by aborting the fetuses, human beings commit murder which is an atrocious crime as well as an attack on the dignity and honor of the God who created them. Genesis chapter 1 and verses 26 to 27 says “then God said, ‘let us make man in our image, in our likeness, let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” So it becomes obvious that, bible is deadly against abortions and generally, all the Christian churches follow the sacred scripture. But there are certain special circumstances as such to preserve the life of the mother, to prevent a mentally or physically disabled child being born, and to terminate a pregnancy caused by rape, abortion is permitted. Thus it gives leeway to situations where such a thing is warranted. Divorce Evangelical Christianity strongly despises divorce. It holds the view that men and women who divorce and remarry outside are going against the will of God. For Christianity, family union is a source to fulfill God’s designs in the community. There are many references in the bible that show the sanctity of the marriage. For example, in Mathew chapter 19 verses 3 to 6 says “some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, ‘is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?’ ‘haven’t you read,’ he replied ‘that at the beginning, the Creator made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let man not separate.” (Mathew 19: 3-6). Since 19th century onwards, many Christian churches started adopting a more liberal approach towards divorce and allowed it under certain special circumstances such as adultery, one of the partners being physically and emotionally abusive, extreme feelings of distrust and betrayal towards each other, impotency, mental illness, and long absence. Love and integrity are two fundamental principles of Evangelical Christian ethics that can be extrapolated from the teachings Jesus. Agape is love of completely different type. It involves recognition and respect for humanity. When Jesus Christ asks us to love our neighbor, he has meant ‘selfless’ love which involves loving someone without expecting anything in return. It motivates the commitment to work for righteousness against one’s own well being by standing with the helpless against the influential. Love is proved in the life of the Christian by constructing houses for poor, by providing food to the hungry, by giving clothes to the poor and by giving medical care and comfort to the sick and dying. But ‘Agape’ means much more than specific acts of charity. It means a dedication to work for a society with resources to make life better for those who have been suffering for a long time. Some of the characteristics of evangelical ethical system are justice, motivation, harmony. Justice Justice means that ethical laws should be able to provide justice at both corporate and individual level in a balanced measure. In this aspect, Christianity has a good record with the introduction of biblical principles; great reforms have been provided in the society. In Galatians chapter 3, verse 28 Paul says “There neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free male nor female: The above statement is really revolutionary considering the social, political and economic situations of the 1st century A.D. But, sadly, during the middle ages, the conditions drastically changed due to the fact that Biblical principles were greatly distorted. Later, during the Reformation Era, many reform movements were again started by Christian churches. Some of the reformed measures were prison reform, abolition of slavery in England, the founding of Red Cross Society and the Salvation Army, child labor laws, Christian medical institutions. 1 Possibly one of the best measures in Christian ethics is the consciousness that the human being in no way in danger of becoming lost in the crowd. This emphasis on the quality of an individual is due to Christian influences. 2 Moreover, it is also believed that reformation had a great influence on the writing of United States’ Constitution with ample provisions for the rights and freedoms of individual.3 Moreover, in the Book of Revelation a last judgment is promised. Internal Harmony Evangelical ethical system promotes internal harmony which means as a system, it has only very minimal conflicts within the system. But some ethicists, like Joseph Fletcher, believe that “there is a possibility for internal conflicts within the system because whenever there is more than one absolute there may be hopeless conflict between absolutes.” 4 The Teachers of law had these in mind when they asked Jesus about the most important commandments and Jesus answered “Love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength: love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:31). If man loves God this way; then it is possible for him to love other human beings whom God has created. When a man loves God, he will naturally observe all his commandments so this love-motif which is the result of redemption creates a harmony which will solve all potential clashes within the system. Conclusion Evangelical Christian ethical system is not entirely foreign to non-believers since God has created all human beings in his image, it is naturally to expect a resemblance of values world-wide. C.S. Lewis reveals this in his book ‘The Abolition of Man.’ All human beings have an ineffaceable ethical sense. It must be noted here that many philosophers reject Christianity as a system; but at the same time quite a few others are the followers and admirers of it. A known behaviorist B.F. Skinner is one of them.5 Another example is Bertrand Russell, who after writing book entitled Why I am not a Christian wrote, “What the world needs is a Christian love and compassion.”6 A few others are the admirers of the principles contained in the Sermon on the Mount. Humanistic ethical theories, generally, talk about being sympathetic to fellow men but we should not forget that there is a reason for doing so within humanism itself. Works Cited Cairns, Earl. 1973. Saints and Sinners. Chicago: Moody Press. Kirk, Russell. 1975. The Roots of American Order LaSalle. IL: Open Court. Francis Schaeffers How Should We Then Live? OldTappan, NJ: Fleming Revell Co, 1976, 109. Fletcher, Joseph. 1966. Situation Ethics. London: SCM Press Ltd.17-22. Time Magazine, 26 September 1971. Russell, Bertrand. 1952. The Impact of Science of Society. London: Allen and Unwin, 114. Read More