Doing the Right Thing

     

I have to admit that I seldom pay much attention to the blurbs on the book jackets I read. But when I saw the size of Christian Ethics: An Introduction to Biblical Moral Reasoning by Wayne Grudem, I allowed myself the distraction of glancing through the remarks made by writers of note and found myself easily persuaded to press on through its 42 chapters and 1,276 pages.

     Daniel Heimbeck of the South Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary got me going with his observation that Grudem “unites a scholar’s mind with a disciple’s heart more committed to pleasing Christ than contemporaries, and more zealous for strengthening the church than impressing the world.”

     Then came a comment from author Mary Kassian, who suggested that Grudem is “a master at cutting into meaty intellectual topics, seasoning them, and serving them up in flavorful, bite-sized morsels for the ordinary person to savor and digest.”

     At the risk of labeling myself a giant-sized procrastinator, Kassian’s tasty metaphor sent me in search of a few “ordinary” people I happen to know, to ask them what ethics meant to them.

      A fourteen-year-old Californian who was looking forward to her first year of high school didn’t hesitate for a moment. “It’s all about values. That’s it. If you have values and live up to them, you’ll be ethical.”

       A friend with more than 25 years of executive experience in international technology marketing across the US, Africa, and Europe, told me he had found the topic of ethical behavior at board and executive level a challenge and a necessity. He said many technology leaders have little training in ethics.

       Fortunately, he added, the very public exposure of such shortcomings is driving mentoring and development programs to address these failures. “I’m just grateful that the Christian beliefs I grew up with have their center in the character and will of God, and often in the consideration of ’What would Jesus do?’”

       A university student in South Africa, in her final year of accounting, told me that from day one of her study, she was taught to follow a professional code of conduct specific to the accounting profession. “This conduct was supposed to shape my behavior and hold me accountable,” she said.

       “However, I believe that ethics truly begins on a personal level, or at home, so to speak. If you can’t hold yourself accountable, membership of a professional body certainly cannot.

       “I’ve found that the Ten Commandments are a fantastic guide to ethics. For example, if you strive to love your neighbor, you wouldn’t want to act unethically toward them. Also, to ‘have no other gods before Me,’ prevents money being a driving factor to act unethically.”

      What everyone I chatted to unhesitatingly agreed was that nothing truly beats the simplicity and validity of that old saying: Ethics is doing the right thing even when no one is watching. Or the relatively new call from Toronto psychology professor, Jordan Peterson: Pursue what is meaningful, not what us expedient.

      This diversion brought me back to the extraordinarily helpful and comprehensive insights offered page by detailed page by Wayne Grudem. I would love to give a copy of his book to each of my friends. They could flip open to any page and find reinforcement for their beliefs, and answers even to their unposed questions, such as “Why study ethics?”

      To this one, Grudem gives a firm, clear answer: To better know God’s will for us, and understand how Jesus’ commandments apply to our lives today. But, he says, we need to know those commandments and understand them.

      He explains further that for the purposes of this book Christian ethics is any study that answers the question, “What does the whole Bible teach us about which acts, attitudes, and personal character traits receive God’s approval, and which do not?”

      At every turn, Grudem speaks plainly: “This book is about how to live one’s life as a Christian today.” He deals with the Christian’s relationship to other disciplines, and about many other current issues.

      These include parental authority; abortion; alcohol and drugs; capital punishment; euthanasia; racial discrimination; pornography; homosexuality; the environment; work, rest, vacations, and retirement; and marriage (especially leadership in marriage).

      Grudem likes to challenge his readers with questions about the character traits they consider most helpful in these fields, and asks for examples of good results they would hope to see when they live according to the teachings of the Bible.

      I’m convinced that the “flavorful, bite-sized morsels” served up by this comprehensive study of ethical behavior will benefit everyone in our modern world who is concerned to make a difference.

      And even if you don't get beyond the opening dedication, you’ll have plenty think about: “For Hannah, Ava, and Will, in the hope that when you grow up, the world will be a better place—a world in which the will of God is more fully understood and obeyed ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10).”

      Or, from the Preface: “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble (Ps.119:165, NIV).”

      I repeat: Nothing!