Monday, July 29, 2013

Ethics for Situations Youth Sunday School Lesson



Ethics for Situations Bible Study


Read the following passage and answer the questions below.


Matthew 22:35-40 – "One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question:
 36'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' 37Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."'


1) What do the two greatest commandments have as their mutual basis?

______________________________________________________________________________


2) How are we to love God?

______________________________________________________________________________


3) If we love God in this way, what will we do? (See John 14:15 for help)

 ______________________________________________________________________________


4) How are we to love our fellow humans?

______________________________________________________________________________


5) If we love others in this way, what will we do? (See 1 Corinthians 10:24 for help)

______________________________________________________________________________


6) What does it mean for the Law and the Prophets to hang on these two commandments?

 ______________________________________________________________________________




Ethics for Situations Bible Study


Read the following passage and answer the questions below.

Matthew 22:35-40 – "One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question:
 36'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' 37Jesus replied: '"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind." 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."'

1) What do the two greatest commandments have as their mutual basis?
 Love

2) How are we to love God?
 With all that we are

3) If we love God in this way, what will we do? (See John 14:15 for help)
 We will obey Him

4) How are we to love our fellow humans?
 As we love ourselves

5) If we love others in this way, what will we do? (See 1 Corinthians 10:24 for help)
We will be looking out for the good of the other

6) What does it mean for the Law and the Prophets to hang on these two commandments?
 These are the basis for all of Scripture, without these two things everything else falls down










Ethics for Situations Lecture Notes

The Context of Ethics:
Joseph Fletcher, writing in the 1960's, articulated the theory of "Contextual Ethics",
or "Situation Ethics"
 Christians agree that all ethical decisions are ultimately made in real-life situations
The challenge for the Christian, therefore, is to try to determine what is pleasing to God in  the particular situations in which we find ourselves



Fletcher's Moral Absolute:
In "Situation Ethics", Fletcher says that the only moral absolute is to do what love demands in any particular situation



The Problem with Fletcher's Theory:
Fletcher's one "Law of Love" reduces ethics to one principle
 God has given many "Laws", not just the "Law of Love"



God's Love
Love does fulfill the Law (Romans 13:10)
Augustine – "Love God and do as you please"
All of God's laws are motivated by His love
If you love God, then what pleases you is doing what pleases God



Who determines what love demands?
The basis for ethics is, absolutely, love, but love defined how?
God is love (1 John 4:8, 16)
In every situation, we have an obligation to do the loving thing, but the God of love determines what love demands, not us



Example – Two people are on a date. At the end of the date, the guy says to the girl, "If you love  me, you'll have sex with me"
What should the girl / woman do? If she loves him, shouldn't she express that?
The proper reply from the girl / woman is "If you love me, you wouldn't ask"

From the guy's perspective, in this situation, love demands (permits and even requires) sin Love only permits or demands sin if we try to determine for ourselves what love is or what love demands. True love, God's love, does has no room for sin.

Pre-marital sex is statistically normal.
Secular psychologists say that extra-marital sex energizes the sexual relationship within a  marriage.

In our post-modern culture, the ethics of Jesus have been replaced by the ethics of custom
Ethics are defined by what most people are doing



The Call of the Christian:
Jesus calls us to not conform to the ethics of the majority of the people of this world (Romans 12:1-2)

Justin Martyr, an early Christian, invited the Roman Emperor to scrutinize the sexual  behavior of Christians in order to prove to him that Christ has transformed how  they live their lives

Could we do that now?
Statistically, there is no difference between professing Christians and
non-Christians when it comes to sexual, ethical behavior

(I would add that there are Christians who share the views, or engage  in the practices, of the world in almost every regard or issue)



Conclusion (1 Timothy 1:3-11):
The purpose of the Law is to show us how to love God and our fellow humans
Loving God is obeying the commandments of Christ
That kind of love, real love toward God, is the beginning of the Christian ethic




Discussion Questions:

1) If Christians agree that all ethical decisions are ultimately made in real-life situations (when you're faced with the situation), is there any value to thinking about it ahead of time? For instance, is there any reason for you to think about the morality of perpetual life-support versus "pulling the plug" if you or someone you know is not currently facing that decision?



2) What kind of love does it sound like Joseph Fletcher is advocating for?



3) Does our idea of love ever differ from God's idea of love? Why or why not?

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