I recently bought a book titled "Serving Jesus with Integrity: Ethics and Accountability in Mission" edited by Dwight Baker and Doug Hayward. On a quick glance through, it looks like it should be a good read. It got me thinking. I used to be a mechanical engineer. I served as an Engineering Officer in the …
Category: Christian Ethics
The Temptation to Manipulate as Christian Leaders
Many (most?) of you are aware of the report that came out on Ravi Zacharias and some of his sexual misconduct (and the associated misuse of funds, as well as deception, to maintain the misconduct). I have friends who are real fans of Ravi, but I must admit I don't really know much of his …
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Value of Story-based Ethics
Some years ago, I read book on ethics by Norman Geisler, "Christian Ethics: Options and Issues," that spoke of 6 broad categories of ethics. The six (Antinomianism, Situationism, Generalism, Unqualified Absolutism, Conflicting Absolutism, and Graded Absolutism) could be divided into two broad categories--- Absolute and non-Absolute. Absolute means that ethics is based on a clear …
Reflections on the Great Commandment
The Great Commandment exists in three forms== Listed as separate commandments. The first is listed in Deuteronomy 6:5 ("You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might."), while the second part is in Leviticus 19:18 ("you shall love your neighbor as yourself"). Listed …
The Potato Blight and Pastoral Theology
My wife is a certified pastoral counselor, so I sometimes get pulled in on CPE (Clinical Pastoral Training/Education) groups to lead a small training session. This weekend, I led one in Pastoral Theology. I utilize the definition for Pastoral Theology used by Margaret Whipp, in her book "SCM Guidebook: Pastoral Theology," PASTORAL THEOLOGY IS THE …
Ethical Loyalties in the Church (by looking at the same in the military and police)
I was reading an interesting article entitled, "Why the US Military Usually Punishes Misconduct but Police Often Close Ranks." The article promotes the idea that while both the military and paramilitary (police) may cover-up crimes done by members, it is far more likely for the police to do this, and more likely that the military …
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The Murky Waters of Ministerial Restoration
I chose not to name names here, but as the stories/charges from my former school have multiplied since I first wrote this narrow somewhat even-handed post, I invite you to read more on your own... https://rightingamerica.net/rape-sexual-harassment-and-more-the-cedarville-stories-are-multiplying/?fbclid=IwAR3w4PvmDPtu5fcnddvHU_EtiR1P534Vdd3PsOu0NVUvx5ZfJlSsFNt5CUQ A Christian college I attended years ago has been in the news lately. It recently fired a professor (I …
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Holy and Unholy Cultures?? (Part 1)
Much like there have been times in church history where people have embraced the idea of "holy language" (Hebrew, Koine Greek, Latin, Middle English) there have been periods of time and places where a similar sanctification has been placed on culture. The Jerusalem Council struggled with this during the first century. Does a Greek have …
What Do We Do With All Them Pagan Holidays?
Okay. I am here to help. Social media gets pretty confusing around Halloween time. People are, again, saying how evil it is for Christians to celebrate the day. In a few weeks more articles will come out talking about how Pagan Christmas is, and then three months later the same for Easter. No one complains …
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Nostalgic Christianity and the Ambiguity of History
Over the years I have been fascinated by those Christians who regularly point back longingly to a time in history that they identify as ideal or idyllic--- especially from a Christian perspective. Some look back to the 1950s. Some look back to the early years of their own faith tradition (whatever period that may be) …
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