Thoughts on ethics, society, politics, religion, philosophy, theology, and everything in between
Jed 
Most Christians tend to think of Christian ethics in terms of following a list of rules. God has given us His laws, and we have to obey them. If we do, then God will be happy with us. If we don’t, then we have sinned and God will be angry with us. Now, it is … Read more
Different Ethical Theories In one of my very first posts on this blog, Understanding Ethical Disagreements, I examined how most major ethical disagreements in contemporary American society are a result of people ascribing to two different ethical theories, namely, virtue ethics and utilitarianism. In that post, my sole purpose was to try to help people … Read more
In the last three entries in this series, I examined what Scripture has to say about homosexual behavior, and concluded that: 1) the Old Testament forbids all homosexual behavior among God’s people, 2) we have no reason at all to think that Jesus would have been in favor of modifying this Old Testament teaching, and … Read more
The majority of Christians who believe that the Church should approve of homosexual behavior acknowledge that the apostle Paul teaches the homosexual behavior is wrong; they argue that, for other biblical and theological reasons, the Church should now approve of homosexual behavior in spite of this.[1]See, for example “Homosexuality and the Bible” by William Loader, … Read more
It is very common for Christians who believe that the Church should approve of homosexual behavior to point to the teachings and example of Jesus in support of their position. Jesus, they argue, never said anything about homosexuality being wrong. Therefore, the Church should not condemn it. Furthermore, Jesus did not condemn tax collectors, prostitutes, … Read more
In recent years, the ethical status of homosexuality has become one of the most controversial theological issues in the Western Church. In spite of the Church’s longstanding traditional teaching that homosexual behavior[1]Some advocates of traditional Christian sexual ethics prefer to use the terminology of saying that “homogenital acts” are sinful. This is because “sexuality” encompasses … Read more
In my last post, I critiqued the common American cultural phenomenon of people defining their personal identity in terms of the feelings and desires that they happen to have inside of them. Unfortunately, this phenomenon is not restricted to non-Christians in our culture. Many American Christians have to a significant extent absorbed the idea that … Read more
There are many ways in which a person may define their personal identity. In many cultures which stress the importance of the community over the individual, people often define their identity first in terms of the family they belong to or their family relationships. Or they might define identity first in terms of the national … Read more
I once had the following conversation at church. A fellow church member walked up to me and asked, “So, are you still single?” I responded yes. Then he walked away. This conversation exemplifies the attitude of most contemporary American Protestant churches to singleness. Singleness is a problem to be solved. If someone remains single for … Read more
Sexual Ethics Today Why is it wrong to be sexually promiscuous? Typical reasons that modern Christians give are that sexual promiscuity can lead to out-of-wedlock pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and emotional and relational hurt. While these reasons are valid as far as they go, it is quite significant that Scripture never once mentions the first … Read more