My Personal Ethical System

            When trying to map out my personal ethical system I must begin with God. I believe that God exists. I believe in a completely holy, just, and good God who is loving and merciful and I believe that because He is relational, He wishes to participate in this world with me. Understanding that God is and always has been relational emphasizes the importance of community in my ethical system. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1 ESV). Community was established in the basis of the trinity, and this God continually seeks to serve the other members in the trinity, the Father serves the Son and Spirit, the Son serves the Father and Spirit, and the Spirit serves the Father and the Son. Because this relationship is based completely on love, I know my God is holy, just, good, loving and merciful, and will deal with His creation in accordance.

Next, God is a God who is relational and wishes to be part of His creation, as opposed to a God who is deistic and merely stands back and watches everything play out. God has feelings like love, sorrow, pain, guilt and joy for His creation. Because I lean more towards open theism, I believe that God has chosen to give up some of his power and knowledge so that we may participate with free-will. 

As His creation, God has programed within all of us tendencies to act certain ways in response to certain actions. This is a “natural law” element that I claim as part of my ethical system. These natural tendencies explain why people who are not Christians can and do react in ethical ways even though they don’t base their decisions on faith as I do. We all react to being wronged with feelings of loss, pain, anger, and violation. These feelings are part of the image of God that is within each of us; they are a reaction to broken community. When community is enhanced, we share good feelings or joy, happiness, and unity.

As humans we are decidedly different than God, but we were the only creations who were made in His own image. We were created to be holy creations in community with God, each other, and nature but we failed to live up to our original purposes. We enjoyed very little perfection with God before we stumbled upon an apple in a garden and chose to think for ourselves. And no matter how hard we try to be independent, we will always be dependent on our creator God, and searching for ways to serve ourselves when we should be serving Him. God continues to search for us and try to reach us, calling us to participate in creation with Him. And when we choose to come back to Him, He is glorified and we are whole again.

Our moral responsibility was given to us in our original instructions. We are to honor God, take care of each other and take care of creation; in that we are to be humble and selfless. “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). The Bible doesn’t seem to want to speak about the moral responsibility of any of God’s other creations, it speaks to us, and in our salvation we are made into new creations. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). As new creations we are to seek to be like Christ in all His ways. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16).

            While my ethical system is based on faith commitments, reason has to be a rational part of it. I feel that emotions and intuition can play an important part in discerning right from wrong; however a reasonable base of knowledge about the situation is required before decisions can be made responsibly. But above all, my decisions are based on trust in my God, and my actions reflect that trust. I have Faith in God and I trust that He will provide for my every need, will help me navigate my life, and has provided me with the Holy Spirit so that I can discern right from wrong decisions.

            Human life has telos, as creations we are to find salvation in this life so that we can “end” this life and be in permanent community with our creator, in eternal life with Him. But this life isn’t just about the end, it’s about living with integrity, serving God in His purposes so that we may participate fully in spreading the Kingdom of God on this earth. In the end, God will ask us what we have done for Him, and we will be made to answer for the good and the bad, but I think that God is really searching our hearts. He wants to know “why”

 we acted the way we acted, was it out of stagnant moral obligation, or because we truly yearned to have His heart and served because we desired to. My ethics is based most on “being” God’s creation rather than on “doing” what He wants me to do. I truly want the desires of my heart to match what He wants for me, in everything. I want to achieve a virtuous life not for badges, but because it’s what I was created for.

            I believe that there is absolute truth in God, but that only He knows and understands that truth. My grasp and understanding of His truth is distorted like light in a prism as it passes through my human conscience, worldview, and levels of understanding. His truth is broken into slices so that I may understand bits and pieces, but I cannot ever claim to have His full truth and understanding. My ethical claim to “Soft absolutism” is based on this understanding of absolute truth and my perception of it.

            Regarding the spectrum of “determinism” I find myself in the “soft” section. God is sovereign, and is completely qualified to determine the future. Through study of God’s Word to us in the Bible we can see that the future is determined, but the exact path to that determination is not clearly detailed. I see the Apostle Paul and the ways that God was able to use his unbridled passion. Paul made mistakes, but God was still able to use Paul in wonderful ways to reach the gentiles with Christ. God didn’t determine every aspect and point of Paul’s but because Paul sought God’s guidance, the Holy Spirit helped Paul to determine where God needed him to go and why. Like Paul we must seek to always do better in following Christ, as a life of complacency is a life wasted. God wants us to participate with Him, but if we refuse He will choose someone else.

Our bodies are the temple of Christ, and as such we need to honor them and be good stewards of the creation we are. For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (2 Corinthians 6:16). First we must love God and ourselves as His Holy temple. Through that love and seeing our value in God’s eyes we can learn how to love others unselfishly. Jesus commanded us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27). So, I must love myself first, but only so that I can fully understand and grasp God’s love for me, and with that understanding I can love others completely.

Consequences are an important part of ethics, however I don’t believe that they are the main focus. In any situation the desired outcome should be determined, but then the ethical choices should be made based on the wrongness or rightness of the means that lead to the desired outcome. Some means are just not ethical nor justified no matter how fantastic the end result will be.

Rules are a good foundation; God has given us several rules in the Bible that when followed provide guidelines for how to navigate life ethically. The Ten Commandments are a solid footing in how to love God, others, and ourselves. If we follow them we can have joy. When Jesus added the Golden Rule to “do unto others” he summarized many of the original rules. Jesus didn’t just give the golden rule, however, he went back to the Commandments and clarified, adding that merely hating was the same as killing, and looking with lust was the same as committing adultery. Jesus didn’t make things easier; he made the Commandments of “doing” more like the ethics of “being.” He didn’t just want us to act like good people; he wanted our hearts and minds to “be” good people.

That being said, I find that the principle of Love to be the greatest of the principles given by God. To clarify, the principle of Love is based on agape love; love which is manifested in benevolence and good will towards others. Other principals such as the Value of Life, Goodness, Justice, Honesty and Individual Freedom are important too, but are viewed through the scope of Love. When we have a correct understanding of our image as God’s children, we are prepared to consider others better than ourselves. It is then that benevolent love will correctly regulate the remaining principals. Value of Life, when based on benevolent love will have supreme consideration. Goodness, through the scope of agape love, will be expressed fully. Justice is God’s love and our love being distributed perfectly. It is important to express Honesty through Love, Value of Life, Goodness and Justice. Honesty is important to proper participation in community, as without it, anarchy will rise. Individual Freedom is important as well, but as Christians we need to remember that we are created to be part of the “body” of Christ in His church on Earth. As such, we must always consider the effect on the “body” of Christ as well as impact on people not part of that “body.”

Rules are a good start, but situations can’t be predicted, and simple rules just cannot cover the multitude of possibilities! When it comes down to a particular situation, the best possible grasp of knowledge is required, then a proper assessment of consequences and different means determined. We must apply the rules from the Bible to the possible actions to be taken. Then we must filter all of that through the principle of love. Is what we are opting to do loving God, is it loving ourselves, is it loving others, is it loving creation? How can we achieve the desired results while loving in the process?