Ethics 13: Conclusion

Hello everyone! Today, I will bring the ethics series to a close.

WAIT! WHAT? I JUST FOUND YOUR BLOG!

Well, welcome to the Fight For the Faith community! Don't worry. All the ethics articles will stay on the blog, and you can easily locate them by typing into the search bar "ethics". It will pull up all of the ethics articles.

I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series and progress forwards. It will make much more sense and you'll enjoy it more.

What do I mean by conclusion? Well if you don't already know, we've barely scratched the surface of ethics!

So why am I already ending it?

Well, I believe people learn best when they understand a little bit of material well before pressing forward. But that's not the only reason. I've got my sleeves so full of new ideas I can't keep them in any longer.

I'll have a short break for everyone to review the Ethics articles again so don't expect a post on Friday. On Tuesday, I'll be up again with some new content.

First and last "homework" assignment: answer the following questions to the best of your ability. Answer them honestly. Nobody's asking you to vocalize your answers or telling the world about your own personal thoughts to these questions. There is no "answer key". If you wish to review previous ethics articles, feel free to do so.

1. What is right?
2. What is wrong?
3. Is there even a right?
4. Who decides what is right?
5. Is moral relativism right?
6. Why are there laws?
7. Is breaking the law right?
8. What is a natural law?
9. How does the culture view the word "good"?
10. Why do bad things happen to good people?
11. Does God want bad things to happen to people?
12. If there is no truth, then how is this claim possible if there is no truth?

Thanks for joining me through this series! I might pick it up again, but for now, we'll be moving on.

Aaand as always, thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!
~Caleb

Ethics 12: Can There Be No Truth?

We've already talked about truth in previous articles, but I'd like to address a topic that is confusing.

If you don't know what moral relativism is, go read that article here.

I was talking to a friend once, and he said, "There is no truth. That may be true for you, but this is true for me."

This idea of "there is no truth" is not uncommon. It can be said in many ways, but how should we approach this?

I would like to present to you one of the most interesting flawed arguments ever:

There is no truth.

I would like to present to you the flaw:

There is no truth.

Wait, what?

I will ask you one super simple easy question that will reveal the mistake.

If there is no truth, then you can't say that there is no truth?

It's quite humorous. The fact they claim that there is not truth...well to them that is the truth. BUT their own truth says there isn't truth.

Which makes up for a pretty bad argument. And. Well. To be honest, a pretty fun one to wrap one's mind around.

Aaaaand as always thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!
~Caleb

Ethics 11: If God Is Good, Why do Bad Things Happen? (2)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Hello, everyone. Time to talk about the second statement (as presented in the previous article): God can bring good out of bad. Please note that we are talking about the bad things in life that are not self-inflicted...like natural disasters, or even car accidents.

I believe this statement to be true. Many people do, but I'll still provide some general examples:

1. A distracted driver rams the back of your car at a stoplight, but God uses this incident to save the driver at fault.
2. An earthquake devastates thousands of homes, but the Church goes and shows the love of God to those affected by helping rebuild, provide food, etc.

Even terrible "unfair" things happen to missionaries. Take Jim Elliot for example.

If you've never heard of Jim Elliot or his story, I greatly recommend reading about it. Here's the jist of it:

Jim Elliot had a heart to evangelize to a people who had no civilization. For years, he flew planes over them and dropped down supplies. He did this to show that he meant no harm to them. Finally, he landed on the island. There was a miscommunication and Jim Elliot, and his entire crew with him were speared to death.

But the story doesn't stop there.

Jim Elliot's wife moved to that place and ended up saving the entire community. Jim Elliot didn't deserve to die, but he gave his life to save so many people. I would argue that God used Jim Elliot's sad story for good.

Now let's think about this statement (presented in the last article): the last thing God wants is for us to be hurt. But He can help us grow through our hurts.

If I wanted you to take away just one thing from this article, it would be this:

The Bible tells us that we will experience many trials and that this earthly life will not be perfect and easy. But God is good, and He wants to see us grow strong. God does not wish to intentionally bring upon harm to any person! But God won't just remove all of our problems--He loves us too much to do that. Instead, when bad things happen to us that we can't control, we can go to God and ask Him to help make us grow spiritually (and maybe physically) through this situation.

Some really good things just wouldn't have happened if certain disasters wouldn't have happened. I will close with one more example.

People have had a sin-nature ever since Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree (Genesis 3). This might seem unfair that all of humanity had to suffer for their mistake, but God came through this terrible situation and died for your sins so that you could be saved and live in eternity with God.

If you don't know who God is, or have never asked God into your heart, I encourage you to consider it. Because when you know God, you can discover your purpose that God has for you. Once you've discovered your purpose here on earth, you can make a difference.

Aaaand as always, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time!
~Caleb

Ethics 10: If God Is Good, Why do Bad Things Happen? (1)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

In our everyday lives, things happen. PROFOUND. More specifically, bad things happen in our lives. There are two types of "bad things" in this world: self-inflicted and uncontrolled. Even more specifically, we'll be talking about the things that happen in our lives that we have no control over and seem simply...well unfair.

I present to you one of the most commonly asked questions about God (you've probably heard it asked):

If God is good, then why do bad things happen?

"I've never heard that question in my life!" Probably. This question comes in numerous forms:

"Why would God allow natural disasters if he is all powerful?"
                        "Why is there so much hurt in the world if God is good?"
                                          "Does God care about me because he just allowed _____ to happen?"

Tragic occurrences happen. Take for example Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma. Take for example forest fires. Earthquakes. Tornadoes. We can't stop them. So why doesn't God?

If I were to make one big point I would want readers to take away in this entire article is that the last thing God wants is for us to be hurt. But He can help us grow through our hurts.

Over the course of this article and the next, I'll be addressing two statements in regards to this topic:

"Everything happens for a reason."

"God can bring good out of bad."

Which one is more true? Is one false? Are they both false? Are they both equally true?

Next article I will go deeper into the connection between the two and also talk a little about how we can grow through negative things that happen in our lives but for now, let's dig into the first statement.

Everything happens for a reason. Nobody can 100% positively prove that this statement is "truth" but as a Christian, I believe everything happens for a reason.

Try to think of something that happened to you (or someone else you know) be it positive or negative. Anything. Now think hard about a possible reason for your situation. Here are some examples:

1. People were created. Reason? God wanted to have a relationship with people.
2. I was born. Reason? God has a purpose for me to help grow the kingdom of God on earth.
3. Jesus was crucified. Reason? To forgive our sins so that we will be able to have an eternal relationship with God.

Ok. Those are maybe what you would call "cliché" so here are a couple personal ones:

1. I went to a summer chamber camp. Reason? To improve my musicianship.
2. I started viola at a young age. Reason? My parents noticed musical gifting.
3. My parents chose to homeschool. Reason? To give me and my siblings a strong Christian-based education.

One more thing I'd like to talk about is this idea of "cause-and-effect." It is hard for me to explain, so I'll go back to my personal examples for examples.

1. I went to summer chamber camp to improve my musicianship (cause). I improved my musicianship, and also met good Christian friends (effect).
2. I started viola at a young age because my parents noticed musical gifting (cause). I have studied viola for 8 years, love music-writing, teaching, performing-shared my gifts with many people, and served others with music (effect).
3. My parents chose to homeschool to give me and my siblings a strong Christian-based education (cause). I grew up in a Christian environment, had help from my parents, been with my family frequently, started music, and started making a difference in several ways (effect).

I think you get the idea. And if you don't, then all you have to do is think a little more and just make it a point to keep trying.

Aaaand as always, thanks for reading and I'll see you next time for part two!
~Caleb

Ethics 9: Good Or God? (John Bevere)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

DISCLAIMER: I do not take ANY credit WHATSOEVER for the ideas presented in this article!!! All credit goes to the author and pastor (I think) John Bevere. I recently read one of his books Good or God? and it packs such a powerful lesson, I thought I would present it to you in a much more simplified way. It also relates to ethics because it...well you'll see.

(P.S. so sorry this is out late, I've been preparing a series on my composition blog due to recent discoveries/works completed/techniques)

So in this day and age, the word "good" is overused.

"This salad is good!"
                                                                            "You are good at basketball!"
                  "That movie was good!"
                                                                                                                       "God is good!"
                                                         "Goodness gracious!"

I'm not saying that it's wrong to use the word "good." The point is that we cannot say that if something is "good" it necessarily is good.

Hooray, a deep phrase that doesn't make sense! Well, notice my usage of quotation marks. When I refer to quote-unquote "good" I am referring to the word alone. When I refer to good, however I am referring to morality.

If this is confusing, then I will borrow one of Bevere's excellent explanations to demonstrate the difference:

Adam and Eve were the first people. The story of the Fall can be found in Genesis 3. Satan appeared as a serpent to Eve and questioned God's command to Adam and Eve to not eat from the tree of Good and Evil. This next part is what I'd like to highlight:

"The woman saw that the tree’s fruit was good to eat and pleasing to look at. She also saw that it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it."

Now I'll highlight some important details. See if you can catch on.

"The woman saw that the tree’s fruit was good to eat and pleasing to look at. She also saw that it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it."

Just because the fruit was "good" to eat and it was "good" (pleasing to the eye) and also the "good" attribute of wisdom could be attained from eating it, it was against God's command.

So watch out! Be careful. Don't live a life of fear, but definitely don't underlook things. You might ask yourself: "But how would I know? What am I supposed to do about this?"

Simple. Ask yourself this:

"Is what I'm doing out of obedience to God or is it for my own good?"

Well, somebody asked me once if he should give a large portion of money to charity. After all, giving to charity is a good thing to do (because it is) and it seemed reasonable that God would wish it (He does). So to reduce any obscurity/vagueness, instead ask yourself this:

"Am I trying to amplify God here or myself?" OR "What is the real reason I'm doing ____?"

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time (hopefully on time!)
~Caleb

Ethics 8: Natural Laws (Laws (3))

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Welcome back everybody! I am sooo excited to get started on this segment, Natural Laws! I will talk about what they are and some technicalities, but what I'd really like to highlight is how God's creation points back to Him. I can do this in a number of ways, so without further ado, let's dig in.

What are natural laws? Well, for most people, I'm sure science is the first thing that comes to your mind...because that would be correct. Natural laws are laws that can be found in nature. I know that sounds like a repetition of what I asked, but that's what it is. Here are some examples to get us going:

1. Newton's three laws of motion
2. Thermodynamic laws
3. The law of gravity
4. The strong nuclear force

If you don't know what all those things are, I'm sure there's at least one in that list everybody knows about and that is the law of gravity. Every person alive has experienced this "law" and still nobody can perfectly explain it. I would like to point out one more thing:

In science, a well tested and verified hypothesis can become a theory. That theory if continually proven to be true over a period of time and always comes out a certain way, that theory might upgrade to being a scientific "law".

That is one part of what I mean when I talk about "natural laws". However, I am also talking about the things that make the universe so orderly and the way it is. So in a way, I'm saying that the natural laws we'll be talking about won't necessarily have to be a scientific "law".

God organized the universe to the utmost detail in every single way. As scientists continue to make new discoveries, we uncover extreme delicacy and precision in the processes that make life possible.

There's so much to talk about that I will actually start up a new series on natural laws/apologetics AFTER the ethics course is finished. We'll first start off on an atomic level in the next article, and as I get bigger and bigger, I'll explain why each of these super tiny details make up the ordinary world as we see it as people.

Science is about observing. I don't have a very good definition of science. However, understanding how life works is fascinating and I greatly encourage everybody to enjoy it.

I am studying biology this year. If I had to be honest, I treated it like "another course" and "more homework" but as I started watching more lectures and looking at well-drawn diagrams, I was struck with awe (not joking) with the extreme complexity of life! All the way down to just ONE ATOM God has planned out every force and every process to all work SO PERFECTLY it makes me really happy just thinking about how each piece of the greatest jigsaw puzzle ever was made.

I really hope you take time and just think about the immensity of the challenge it would be to replicate the universe. Just taking time to start at the atom and go bigger and see how it all adds up into perfection.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you Tuesday,
~Caleb

Ethics 7: When Can You Break A Law? Laws (2)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

When can you break a law? When is it morally acceptable to break a law?

Don't panic. This question isn't difficult. If you're not sure still, keep reading on but formulate your own answer as you read.

Let's first begin by defining what a law is again. I gave two definitions, the literal definition and my definition.

Literal: Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior.
Me: Law is a system of rules designed to protect and grow the society and also punish those who break the rules.

They are quite similar (they should be) and the only difference is that I added a bit of detail to the "govern behavior" part in the literal definition. You will see how this comes into play a little later.

But how does knowing the definition help with answering my question?

Well, to break a law means to disobey a law. When somebody disobeys a law, they do the opposite of what is legal. For instance, murder is the opposite of preserving life. Therefore, if you murder somebody, you are breaking a law.

Since we're asking when it is morally acceptable to break a law, we can think about it like this (I strongly encourage you to reason in your own words to yourself or somebody else):

1. Laws are designed to protect and enforce.
2. If I break a law, then I will be making it less safe for the society.
3. If the law however is NOT morally right (people have a sin nature...it happens!) and I break that law, I will be doing the opposite of the law (morally wrong) which would then be morally right.

You can't break it all down into numbers and science, but that's one way to think about it. Here's another way:

1. Man has a sin-nature.
2. Man uses (not invents! God invented laws because He is an orderly God) laws to fulfill its job (protecting, enforcing, etc.).
3. Man can thus make laws that aren't always morally right.
4. Do what is right, even if it means breaking that law (Disclaimer: don't just go out and purposefully think about breaking laws though. I'm not writing this to start a lawbreaking movement. I am simply bringing up an ethics related question).

This is where I would like to show a huge difference between the two definitions of "law" presented here.

If we go by the literal definition of law, then no matter whether or not the law is moral or not, it is still technically a "law" by definition.

However.

If we go by the definition of law that I presented, an immoral law couldn't even be called a "law" because it wouldn't fulfill its definition.

That is why I will be using the second definition of law for the rest of the articles.

SO. To finally answer the question:

It is IMMORAL to break laws (as presented in definition 2). Because if you do, then you would be doing the opposite of a law put in place that is moral.

 

It DEPENDS on the situation (based on the first definition of law). In Nazi Germany, the "law" was to kill the Jews. That is an immoral law however, so breaking this "law" would be moral.

I would like to note one more thing. Our nation was founded on Christian principles. If you look at the Declaration of Independence, you will see clear Christian themes: freedom, equal rights, etc. As Christians, we should never break God's laws. We should only live by His laws.

Hope you enjoyed this massive post-Labor Day chunk of text. On a more serious note though, if you have any questions, feel free to ask on the blog or on Google+.

See you next time,
~Caleb

Ethics 6: The Ten Commandments (2)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Alrighty, I'll be finishing up my speedy overview of the final five commandments. Before I begin however, I would like you to go read "What Is Right" because I think it would be good to refresh your mind on the questions discussed. We have this "gut feeling" of what is right and wrong. God put that into us. But as you'll see, he also gave these rules to us.

6. You shall not murder.

This one is quite straightforward. I mean, we just know that murder is wrong! God tells us that murder is wrong, but even before that, we knew.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

Again, this is one of the solid base rules given to us by God that is embedded into our soul. We know that it is "wrong" to commit adultery and so since God was making these laws for His nation, he wanted it to live by the morals that they knew.

8. You shall not steal.

Again, stealing is wrong. We know that. God tells us that.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

This is sort of like lying. To "bear false witness" is falsely telling what happened...or simply lying. We know that lying is wrong. God is telling His nation that lying breaks this commandment.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

This one has a lot of words. However I'm sure you can see that God is telling us

You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's.

What about the word "covet"? Well, to put it in pretty basic terms, it refers to being jealous of other people. Why "neighbor"? Well, this is more a cultural thing. In our day and age, this could be thought of as "friend's". I'm not saying that it's okay to covet your neighbor's things, I'm simply stating that sometimes the words used in the Bible have to be brought into context of the time period and the culture when it was written.

Alrighty, that'll wrap it up for this short sub-sub-series and I'll be back with more on laws on Tuesday/Wednesday! Thanks for reading.

~Caleb

Ethics 5: The Ten Commandments (1)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

In this article, I will be briefly going over the first four of the Ten Commandments.

1. "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.

What God is telling the Israelites (and us!) is that we shall not have any other gods before Him. Basically, not worshipping anything except God. The first sentence about Egypt is there because in the context of the story, God had just rescued the Israelites from Egypt.

2. "You shall not make idols*; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.

Whoa, that's a mouthful. What it says is simply this: do not make any idols. Do not worship them, or serve them. It's related a little to the first commandment where God says not to have any other Gods before Him. The next part says that God is a jealous God. This means that He is jealous of us. He wants us. The rest just explains what He will do to the Israelites in regards of keeping His Commandments.

3. You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

Swearing and using God's name in vain is wrong. That's just part of our being. And now God is telling the Israelites that if they use His name in vain, then he will not hold him/her guiltless. Note that this is in the Old Testament and God forgives our sins after He died for us, but we still shouldn't use His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

That is a lot to read--alone understand. I'm no Bible scholar, but I can help summarize this commandment a bit:

1. Remember the Sabbath day. Rest on this day.
2. God made everything in six days and rested on the seventh.
3. God is telling the Israelites that nobody should be doing work on the Sabbath.

Nowadays, the culture is busy. People are busy. It may sound ridiculous to take off an entire day. However, this is something God told us to do. "Going to church" is a good thing to do and we know that it is right. Well, usually, Saturday or Sunday could be considered your "Sabbath" and you take time that day to worship God and learn more about him.

5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

This command is straight forward, but so important. Honor your father and your mother. This isn't just something that you have to do. God tells us to honor our parents. So. There you go!

Thanks so much for reading. Next time I will do a short overview again of the last five commandments.

See you next time
~Caleb

Ethics 4: Laws (1)

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Hm. Laws.

So many of us know what they are. In fact, laws are the written statements that keep you safe and maintain your freedom here in America. There are all sorts of laws, but that's besides the point. I'm going to be talking about how having laws in the government is something that God would do.

In fact, there are two types of laws I will discuss: the laws that we as citizens abide by and the laws of nature.

God is orderly. There's even a hierarchy in the spiritual realm as well as here on earth! Here is the definition of "law"

Law is a system of rules that are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior.

And here is the way I will define "law"

Law is a system of rules designed to protect and grow the society and also punish those who break the rules.

People made laws, but many times those laws were unjust: they didn't serve their purpose. According to the dictionary, man-made laws are laws. But according to my definition, those immoral man-made laws aren't. Why? Because if they are unjust, then they are not designed to protect and grow the society.

I'm no major in politics, nor do I have much knowledge about government and such, but I don't need all that when I have the Bible.

In Exodus (second book of the Bible that tells about the Israelites fleeing Egypt), it tells us how God wrote the Ten Commandments to the Israelites. These could be considered laws, but most importantly, they reflect our "gut feeling" about certain situations and how God is the one who placed it inside of us. I've listed the Ten Commandments down below:

1	“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2	“You shall not make idols*; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3	“You shall not use the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4	“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5	“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6	“You shall not murder.
7	“You shall not commit adultery.
8	“You shall not steal.
9	“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
	“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.” I'll end this article right here. The next two articles will be a little shorter than usual, but I will be going through all ten of these commandments. Not in any rigorous detail, but to give you an idea of the importance of each of these laws in a society. Thanks for reading, ~Caleb

Ethics 3: Moral Relativism

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Moral Relativism.

Oh, great. Some fancy words.

So let's break down what "moral relativism" means in a basic way. In the last article, we were talking about who decides what is right and wrong. We came to the conclusion that it's because of God's perfect nature that we feel things as right and wrong. We also came to the conclusion that since atheists don't believe in a god, they resort to the explanation that man decides what is right and wrong.

Moral relativism is based off the idea that man decides what is right. It's when people decide what is truth and what isn't. It can be accurate sometimes, but humans have a fallen nature and so what we discern as right can be erroneous. Although this sounds like an irrational thing to believe, many people do. In America, many people believe that they can choose what is right.

Moral Relativism fits hand in hand with "toleration". Toleration is basically...tolerating. But when used in the sense of tolerating worldviews, it begins to work with moral relativism.

Moral relativism: What is right depends on the person

Toleration: If you think this is true, but I think this is true, we're both right

Although not completely the same, I thought I would mention it.

I personally believe that there is truth and falsehood (right and wrong). I also believe that moral relativism doesn't work because morals aren't relative. There is no "grey". It's either right. Or its wrong.

And if two different people "tolerate" each other even though one believes that there is a God and the other is an atheist, then this can give the impression that the truth has very little significance. It's a "feel-good everybody's right" sort of a deal.

In the next article I'll be starting a discussion on rules and laws. Before that however, I'd greatly recommend thinking about laws with this article fresh on your mind. Does moral relativism and/or toleration work well with laws? How do rules work? Is it possible for moral relativism to work?

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.
~Caleb

Ethics 2: Who Decides What Is Right?

Note: For new readers, welcome! I greatly recommend you start back at the beginning of this series so that this makes sense. Just go to the search bar and type in "ethics" and all the ethics articles will pop up.

Who Decides What Is Right?

In the first article, I discussed how because we were made in the image of God, we have this "gut feeling" about things. We just "know" what is right, and what is wrong because God put that in us.

It isn't really hard then, to determine that God must be the one who decides what is right. But I'd like to make a really quick point:

God doesn't have to decide what is right. He is right. He is truth. He is just. He is the way.

The Bible tells us all that.

Have you ever heard or seen, "WWJD?" Well it stands for, "What Would Jesus Do?" When you see those, it can help you remember that Jesus was and is truth so if you do what Jesus would have done, you will be making a "right" decision.

It makes a lot of sense why following after God helps you live a cleaner life. The more you do the things God would do, the more you are participating in the "right" things to do.

I've been talking from a Christian's point of view for a while here, but I'm going to switch gears. What if I don't believe in a God?

Here is the dilemma atheists have. They don't believe in a supernatural being. Therefore, to make up for the lack of answers for the "Prime Reality" question, most of them argue that Man decides what is right.

Well, this is absurd. And I don't mean to be rude, but if you think about the fallen nature of mankind, and how easily we can change our minds about things, what is "right" can change a lot! Then we start getting into moral relativism which I will cover later.

As Christians, we can break down our thought process like this:

God made us in His image

Since He is moral, he put in each of us the same morals

Therefore, we understand things as being "right" or "wrong"

As an Atheist, you'd have to break down your thought process similarly to this:

There is no God or supernatural being

Since that leaves us with only man, mankind must decide what is right or wrong

Therefore, man decides what is "right" or "wrong"

I have a funny little story to share that helps explain my point.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Bob who didn't believe there was a god or any supernatural being/realm. He was a naturalist. One day, Bob's wallet slipped out and a robber snatched it up and started running away. Bob tried chasing, but failed and he cried out, "I've been done INJUSTICE!"

If we deleted the first two sentences, then we'd have a completely normal situation. BUT. Considering Bob doesn't believe in a God, he has no right to say he was done an "injustice" because he couldn't define injustice.

What do I mean by that?

Bob can "define" injustice by possibly saying "being wronged" or what-not. But Bob also can't explain what wrong is without being consistent with his worldview. Nothing in this physical world can explain your "gut feeling" and so if Bob was asked what wrong is, he can't really say, without implying there is something beyond the physical realm.

I'm going to close right here as we are heading into our next subject: moral relativism.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time.
~Caleb

Ethics 1: What Is Right?

As always with series that I've done, if you're a new reader, then welcome! I'm glad you've decided to join us. Read each article in your own time, but I do generally request that if you just start, that you would start with the introductory article, then proceed from there. In the search bar, just type in "ethics" and you should get a list of all the articles on ethics so far.

What Is Right?

I feel like this is a good place to get our feet wet. After all, if we have no definition of "right" or "wrong" then we can run into challenges later on.

Well, before you continue reading, pause. Think. Think about your answer...not an answer somebody else might give, or somebody else said, but what you personally think the answer to that question is. Trust me, you'll be glad that you took the time.

I am a Christian. That is my worldview. What do I believe is right? Well. Sometimes, I like to think about it this way (note: remember that whatever I say comes from my worldview and not necessarily yours)

1. God created the heavens and the earth.
2. God created humans.
3. God created humans in His image.
4. Therefore, we have free choice, creativity, etc.
5. God also made us with morals. After all, he is a moral God, and if we are made in His image, then we too have morals embedded in us.

Pause if you need right here. I understand that this is my worldview, but as Christians, we all believe in the Bible, and the Bible says we were created in His image. So I would call this a "worldview," rather than an "opinion."

In extremely simple terms, "right" is a characteristic of God. This brings me to the most important point:

People see things as "right" or "wrong" BECAUSE people were made in God's image.

I sometimes wonder if the question, "What is right?" is so difficult to answer because the answer lies beyond the physical realm. This ultimate question really points to a supernatural being. There is no way to break down this question into physical understanding.

There is this thing called a "gut feeling" and that's really just evidence that there is something on the inside of us that tells us what is right and wrong and that something is put there by God because He made us in His image.

I'm sorry if I sound repetitive.

I don't want to make these articles too long. I really do understand that these topics can be hard to digest and grasp, so don't be discouraged! Take your time reading this. If there is something that I didn't explain well, or is just hard to understand, ask your questions in the comments section below OR post your questions here. The link will take you to the Google+ Fight For The Faith Collection which I get notifications for so I can answer your questions ASAP.

Thanks for reading,
~Caleb

Introduction to Ethics

Hello everyone. I'm back.

Introduction to Ethics

In the following articles, I will be talking about ethics. What is ethics? Why is it important? Ethics is really about morals. To be more broad, morals is the subject of what is right and what is wrong.

There are several "ultimate questions" (questions that reveal your worldview) and the one that ethics is focused on is the question, "What is the prime reality?" This probably won't make much sense so I'll break it down for you:

What is right? What is wrong? Who decides what is right and wrong?

This grouping of questions really does show quite a lot about what you believe!

I strongly encourage you to think about these questions. If you have a hard time finding an answer, then you are completely normal. These questions aren't here to test your IQ but more to help you understand your own worldview.

Believe it or not, but from personal experience talking to other people (even Christians!), they don't quite understand that they don't know their own worldview! Why? The answer is almost too simple: Because they don't think about it.

Most teenagers these days don't take that much time thinking about the "ultimate questions." I mean, if we all had to be honest, how much do we actually think about our own answers to the ultimate questions?

I didn't. But then after taking a worldview class, I was shocked how much I didn't know about what I personally believed and after I took time thinking about my own answers to these questions (not perfect by any means) and with the support of my dad, I started this blog.

My goal in writing this series is to help you and encourage you to think about these questions and think about what you honestly believe. Thinking is hard. But if you take the time to think, you strengthen your understanding.

I find myself wording this terribly, quite often so I'll try to break down a couple reasons why you should take time to think about the ultimate questions:

1. Not knowing your own worldview can stink. If somebody attacks your faith and asks you, "If God is so good, then why does he send people to hell?" How do you respond? Why does God let bad things happen? How do you respond? I'm not going to tell you the answer because if I told you my answer, then you would just learn about my worldview, and not yours. This is why it is your personal responsibility to think about what you believe and find your worldview.

2. If you are grounded in what you believe, then you will feel stronger. People can ask hard questions. The way you respond represents what you believe. Even just living in everyday life. The way you behave shows a lot about what you believe.

3. Knowing what you believe can help you live according to what you believe. If you don't know what you believe about something, the way you act can represent a worldview that you might not want to have.

I hope you can get a lot out of this and I'll see you in the next article.

~Caleb

Questions will always be taken through either comments section or in the Google+ Fight For The Faith Collection which can be found here.