Friday, August 24, 2007
August 6th, 2007 article (Perfect Principles)
I spoke to some very successful Christian businessmen and they agree to my viewpoint as laid out in the August 6th article. There is little point in asking a pastor who has never really dealt with the issue of bribery in this business world. He will tell you old stories that he never had to bribe to get the church bus license renewed which is no parallel to the issues businessmen face today. Yes, we must do what is morally right, but I shared in the August 6th article, I could not find a single verse that the giver of the bribe is in the wrong, but the taker. Furthermore, God has not limited himself to revelation in Scripture; he also has a general revelation in nature (Rom 1:19-20; 2:12-14).
To succeed, to follow absolute law may not get you far. The most successful Jewish and Christian businessmen practice wisdom with God's grace to get where they are.
There are 6 major ethical systems - (1) antinomianism; (2) situationism; (3) unqualified absolutism; (4) conflicting absolutism; (5) generalism; (6) graded absolutism.
I won't go into depth but you can buy this book on Christian Ethics by Norman Geisler which will dwell in it in depth.
Examples of the 6 ethical views:
Corrie ten Boom tells how she lied to save Jews from the Nazi death camps. During U.S Senate hearings on the Iran-Contra issue, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North testified that he had, in the process of performing his duties, lied to save innocent lives. North said, "I had to weigh lying and lives."
In a number of Biblical stories people lied to save lives. the Hebrew midwives lied to save the baby boys (Exodus 1;15-19). Rahab lied to save the lives of the Jewish spies in Jericho (Joshua 2).
Is it ever right to save lives? Is it ever right to bribe as the prevailing business practice in that nation?
I won't deal with all the 6 ethical views but only some;
Lying is sometimes right: Situationism claims there is only one universal law, and telling the truth is not it. Love is the only absolute, and lying may be the loving thing to do. The situationist believes lying to save lives is morally justified.
Lying is forgivable: Conflicting absolutism recognizes that we live in an evil world where absolute moral laws sometimes run into inevitable conflict. In such cases it is our moral duty to do the lesser evil. We must break the lesser law and plead for mercy. This view is perfectly valid in my mind! Perfect principles are for a perfect world. Some just don't work in an imperfect world.
Lying is always wrong: Unqualified absolutism believes that there are many absolute moral laws, and none of them should ever be broken. Truth is such a law. Therefore, one must always tell the truth, even if someone is to die as a result of it. Sounds a bit like a pharisee huh?
To succeed, to follow absolute law may not get you far. The most successful Jewish and Christian businessmen practice wisdom with God's grace to get where they are.
There are 6 major ethical systems - (1) antinomianism; (2) situationism; (3) unqualified absolutism; (4) conflicting absolutism; (5) generalism; (6) graded absolutism.
I won't go into depth but you can buy this book on Christian Ethics by Norman Geisler which will dwell in it in depth.
Examples of the 6 ethical views:
Corrie ten Boom tells how she lied to save Jews from the Nazi death camps. During U.S Senate hearings on the Iran-Contra issue, Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North testified that he had, in the process of performing his duties, lied to save innocent lives. North said, "I had to weigh lying and lives."
In a number of Biblical stories people lied to save lives. the Hebrew midwives lied to save the baby boys (Exodus 1;15-19). Rahab lied to save the lives of the Jewish spies in Jericho (Joshua 2).
Is it ever right to save lives? Is it ever right to bribe as the prevailing business practice in that nation?
I won't deal with all the 6 ethical views but only some;
Lying is sometimes right: Situationism claims there is only one universal law, and telling the truth is not it. Love is the only absolute, and lying may be the loving thing to do. The situationist believes lying to save lives is morally justified.
Lying is forgivable: Conflicting absolutism recognizes that we live in an evil world where absolute moral laws sometimes run into inevitable conflict. In such cases it is our moral duty to do the lesser evil. We must break the lesser law and plead for mercy. This view is perfectly valid in my mind! Perfect principles are for a perfect world. Some just don't work in an imperfect world.
Lying is always wrong: Unqualified absolutism believes that there are many absolute moral laws, and none of them should ever be broken. Truth is such a law. Therefore, one must always tell the truth, even if someone is to die as a result of it. Sounds a bit like a pharisee huh?
