Ethics

When an animal kills another animal, it is not murder, not a sin, and not immoral. The animal is just doing according to its nature. But, when a human does the same we call it murder, sin, immoral or unethical. We recognize that humans are different. We recognize that humans have a moral choice. This is what the Bible calls “made in the image of God”. It is a simple recognition that there is a spiritual aspect to life, which should not be ignored. Biologically we may be animal but we are in truth spiritual animals. The obvious implication is that this view affects every part of life. In sexuality we face the choice of acting as animals or as spiritual animals.

So, are you objecting, wanting me to prove this? Can this kind of truth be proved the same as science? Is there not a common sense understanding in our society anymore? Every culture in the world recognizes these common sense issues. If this truth must be subjected to science then it is a perversion of science.

And family values are not just an American Christian issue, most cultures around the world believe in some form of family values. Cultures around the world believe in honoring our parents, not stealing, working and contributing to the community, prohibiting self-destructive behaviors like drug abuse or pornography. You can find good family values in every ancient culture from Confucius in China to indigenous tribal teachings in America. Even nature teaches family values; birds take care of their babies, animals don’t self-destruct through addictions.

People say, “My rule is to love my neighbor and do good unto others. Why do I need god to be a good person?” And I must totally agree that people can have relatively good characters without recognizing the creator. However, I propose that the first great ethic is to recognize the creator? To claim to be ethical and yet not recognize the Creator is just not really ethical.

Can we love the art and not recognize the artist? Jesus says that there are two parts to true ethics, “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.” This is the great dividing point in ethics. If this is true that God has really revealed himself in Christ, then the ultimate unethical act would be to ignore him. If we agree that recognizing the creator is the first principle of ethics then that becomes a premise out of which the rest of our values will flow.
Which part of this great twofold ethic we emphasize depends on our view of the Creator/ creation relationship? Often religious people are known for emphasizing the first part, loving God, while neglecting the second half, loving neighbor. Religious people can be all about doing a church thing for God. But ignore what God says about loving our neighbor. And often the non-religious folk love the creation and love people but ignore the Creator. Truly consistent ethics should be more holistic recognizing the connection between Creator and creation. If we do recognize the Creator first then we can potentially have a balanced ethic towards people. This balance will drastically affect our views of social justice. The ancient scripture says, “If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (1 John 4:20).

The Bible declares clearly that whether we live under a strict moral religious system or prefer just living by our own conscience, none are considered pure in the sight of the Creator. The amazing thing about God’s revelation in Jesus is that God is reaching out to us, to make that bridge between him and us. In this grace of God, ethics can be transformed from legal obligation into love, through faith.