Thoughts on ethics, society, politics, religion, philosophy, theology, and everything in between
A Right to Self-Defense? Most people in our culture would say that killing an assailant in self-defense is the most obviously justified form of violence. Obviously, we have a “right” to defend ourselves, don’t we? If an evildoer is trying to kill us, then it seems like we have no choice but to kill them … Read more
Previously on this blog, I have made the case for Christian pacifism, critiqued Christian just war theory, and responded to the most common objections to Christian pacifism. One might assume that adopting an antiwar, pacifist stance necessarily entails being opposed to the death penalty. However, this is not necessarily the case, since there are some … Read more
Alongside love, faith and hope form the three Christian theological virtues. In multiple epistles, the apostle Paul groups these three qualities together as the three virtues that, granted to us by God, enable us to live as Christians (I Cor 13:13; Col 1:5; I Thess 1:3, 5:8). While Paul does state that love is the … Read more
Christian Love Love is a theological virtue. This means that only Christians are capable of love. To some, this may seem like a bizarre statement. Our culture is filled with affirmations of the value and importance of “love.” In fact, appeals to “love” often have a prominent place in anti-Christian discourse in our culture. It … Read more
What is Self-Control? The two most powerful motivators of human action are fear and love. Fear motivates us to withdraw from things we consider to be dangerous in some way, while love motivates us to pursue things that we find desirable. There are many different kinds of love, and many different things that human beings … Read more
What is Courage? The two most powerful motivators of human action are love and fear. Love motivates us to pursue things that we find desirable, while fear motivates us to withdraw from things we consider to be dangerous in some way. There is nothing wrong with fear per se. Without the powerful emotion of fear … Read more
What is Wisdom? We live in a complex world. At any given moment, there are an incredible number of possible courses of action we could take. We all have goals in life, and those who seek moral goodness do their best to have morally worthy goals. But how do we determine how we should go … Read more
What is Justice? Human beings are by nature social animals. Every individual human being is only alive because of a relationship between their parents, and because other human beings (usually their parents) took the time and energy to provide for and nurture them through their infancy and childhood years. Human beings have a natural instinct … Read more
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