Thoughts on ethics, society, politics, religion, philosophy, theology, and everything in between
Theological Ethics “A properly Christian ethic cannot hold to the notion of a general ethics and remain Christian. To advocate this is to demand that Christians who are subject to the Word of God share that allegiance with something which is autonomous from God’s Word. For Christians to resort to an autonomous general ethics, as … Read more
Doctrine and Ethics Which is more important: right belief or right action? We have all heard this question asked countless times. Usually, this question is asked by people who then confidently answer that right action is obviously more important; therefore, right belief, right theology, does not matter. After all, people can have true beliefs while … Read more
Is Evangelism Good? Evangelism has come to be frowned upon in many modern Western Christian circles of late. Some see it as intolerant to try to make others adopt one’s own religion. Since Christianity is a “Western religion,” trying to make the whole world adopt Christianity seems to many to be a form of oppressive … Read more
Only about half of American Christians attend church every Sunday. About a third attend church irregularly (some as little as a few times a year). And about 15% of American Christians attend church seldom or never.[1]Statistics from the Pew Research Center, https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/attendance-at-religious-services/ Apparently, many American Christians think that going to church is an optional part … Read more
Why Fast? Fasting is the deliberate abstaining from food, or at least certain types of food, for a fixed period of time. By extension, any deliberate abstaining from a particular created good (entertainment, luxury, comfort) for a fixed period of time can be considered “fasting.” Many modern Western Christians do not engage in fasting to … Read more
Most people would not consider prayer to be a moral or ethical responsibility. In fact, whenever there is a tragedy, and Christians say they are praying about it, there is inevitably an angry backlash of people telling them not to pray but to do something! (By which they mean increase the power of the nation … Read more
Transgenderism is the phenomenon of people choosing to identify as a gender other than their biological sex. Various controversies about how to respond to this phenomenon have caused transgenderism to become a hot button political, social, and moral issue in contemporary American culture. For example, if a person identifies as transgender, should they be allowed … Read more
Previously on this blog, I have made the case for the importance of virtue ethics. I have argued that it is inadequate to think of ethics solely in terms of following a list of rules, or solely in terms of “the ends justify the means.” Rather, we must think of ethics in terms of developing … Read more
The issue of gender roles has become a hot button issue in contemporary American Christainity. “Egalitarians” argue that there should be essentially no distinction of roles between men and women, while “complementarians” argue that the roles of men and women should differ in certain contexts. This controversy about gender roles centers around two distinct issues: … Read more
According to traditional Christian teaching, divorce is an evil which can be justified, if at all, only in rare circumstances, such as when one’s spouse is guilty of adultery. There was a time in our civilization when this Christian teaching about divorce was dominant. Marriage was understood to be a lifelong commitment, and divorce was … Read more