Category: Christian Ethics

Why should people act ethically? For most, the answer is spiritual faith. They believe in a faith system that includes a moral code. They know by faith that everyone should generally try to be nice, unselfish, and helpful rather than mean, greedy, and unhelpful. They believe that they should try their best to be a Read more

Are some moral choices better than others? For example, if you find a wallet full of money, is it more moral to try to find the owner rather than keep the money and buy yourself a luxury item? A similar question can be asked of political systems. During World War II, was the political system Read more

This post examines how Christian theology answers philosophical questions about ethics. It first discusses the Christian perspective of free will and moral accountability. It then addresses moral standards, the law of human nature, and the Christian understanding of moral failures. Free Will Most Christians (like most people) believe in free will. Free will is fundamental to Read more

The natural starting point for learning about Christian ethics is the Decalogue. The book of Exodus tells of God revealing the Decalogue to Moses on top of Mount Sinai. The book of Deuteronomy tells of Moses summoning the people of Israel and telling them of these Decalogue. The Decalogue as revealed to Moses reads as follows: Then God spoke Read more

Much of the NT addresses the excessive focus of the Israelites on following the details of the Law, referred to as legalism. This often involves Jesus addressing a legalistic Jewish sect called the Pharisees. Jesus criticizes them for focusing on outward actions and appearances rather than on the important parts of the Law that relate to Read more

God exists and wants us to love Him and to love others. He also wants our moral choices to be meaningful, and therefore gives us free choice to either love or not love. Why did He make it so hard for everyone to love everyone else? Why did he make it so hard to consistently Read more

Rational ethical decisions are hopefully made according to some type of criteria. Ethical options are considered and the one that is most likely to achieve your ethical objective will be the one that is chosen. In the philosophy of ethics, approaches to ethical decision making are typically categorized as deontological, teleological, and areteological. Definitions of Read more

The theological virtues are listed by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to Read more

Cardinal Virtues Prudence is the first of the cardinal virtues. It has been called the auriga virtutum (the charioteer of the virtues) because it can be used to guide the other virtues. In common parlance, prudence is simply practical common sense. The book of Proverbs is largely concerned with common sense and instructs, “Every prudent person acts Read more

This post presents the ethical positions of some different Christian denominations on various social issues. This includes Roman Catholic, Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), Presbyterian USA, and United Methodist. Although there is only one official Roman Catholic position on ethical issues, there will be differences in the various denominations of Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, and Methodism. For example, LCMS Read more