Thought of the Day 10.17.08

Many Christians make the mistake of rejecting situational ethics because it sounds incompatible with a belief in absolute truth. Here’s the problem: virtually all ethical questions are situational because they deal with particular people in particular circumstances. The real issue is how the sometimes conflicting universals play out in that concrete scenario.

For instance, was it wrong for Jews to break the Sabbath? Of course. Was it wrong for Jesus to heal a lame man and command him to carry his load on the Sabbath? Of course not. But the Pharisees wanted to kill Him precisely because they believed so strongly in impersonal absolutes that they couldn’t see the more important principles Jesus was honoring in that act.

See, part of the reason God came in the flesh was to show us that He is not merely a set of abstract ideas, but the Source of wisdom for real people in real circumstances.