christian moral principles - evaluation

the bible is a comprehensive moral guide

- makes sense god would give his people a way to understand how to live + the bible should contain all people need to live a good life

- the bible's moral guidelines may not always be welcome to modern thinking but this does not make them wrong

- the bible + church teachings are clear that the bible is form of revelation - other forms of revelation are not rejected - why should the bible be rejected?

the bible is not a comprehensive moral guide

- god's word cannot be expressed in human language - more than the bible alone is needed - a form of interpretation is needed

- the bible cannot be comprehensive as it does not cover many modern ethical issues - it is clear that life is sacred but is not clear when life begins

- bible reflects outdated societies and ways of life from many years ago

the principle of love is sufficient to live a good life

- when properly understood, love is complex enough that a complete moral system can be gained from it

- agape ensures that christians always put people first even in difficult situations - what jesus did when he came into conflict with authorities

- jesus' focus on agape + modelled it - christian ethics should focus on agape as jesus is an ultimate role model

the principle of love is not sufficient to live a good life

- over-simplistic to suggest that jesus' teachings were only about love - much more is needed to understand jesus and morality

- different people interpret love differently - agape is too difficult for humans to attain

- pope francis - love is absolutely central to christian life but not as a moral guideline - it is more part of a persons basic character/ disposition to work alongside the rules of the church - we need love to understand how best to follow the church's rules

the church does have authority in individual christian ethics

- without authority of the church, christian ethics can be too subjective and a matter of individual preference

- the church is not an individual speaking to people it is a 'collective wisdom' which has thought widely about issues for 2000 years

- the church continues the process begun by jesus of reflecting the needs of society + preaching about it

the church does not have authority in individual christian ethics

- the bible is god's word + should be sufficient on it's own - any other approach denies god's ability to speak through revelation - an institution can make mistakes

- the church does not have authority in the same way the bible does - it simply exists to bring the biblical message to people

- god gave reason to his people and people should use their reason/ consciences to work out what the most loving thing to do is in each situation

christian ethics are personal

- each decision is unique - christians must apply their situation themselves. community decisions will not take into account the full context of a situation

- god gave humans individual free will + the ability to reason - christian ethics must come out of this reality

- ethics come from rules - it is up to each individual how/if they follow them - god's judgement of us at the end of time will be individual (particular judgement) not communal (final judgement)

christian ethics are communal

- christian community is not just a group of people - all aspects of life take place in the context of a group of people, trying to build the kingdom of god

- earliest christians modelled life as a community in all it's forms - nourished by prayer + worship - christian ethical decision-making comes best out of this model

- church's authority to teach means that ethical teachings come out of the community as a whole - bible is the story of a community, not of individuals - this protects christians from the criticism that individual reasoning can be mistaken

christian ethics are distinctive

- christianity is underpinned by belief in the incarnation + resurrection - different to other religions

- christianity is a religion not full of rules, but of the message of jesus - a unique understanding of god's revelation in the world

- emphasis on jesus leads to the idea for some christians that personal faith + grace are the primary ways to go to heaven - christian morals come less from a central teaching authority than other religions

- christian ethics based on agape are distinctive due to the challenging nature of true christian love

- christians are called to be counter-cultural + be prophets in society - if christian ethics are not distinctive, christians should change the narrative to challenge the assumptions of society to make them so

christian ethics are not distinctive

- christians who take the bible as the only source of authority are following similar rules to other religions

- all christian ethics - 10 commandments to the idea of justice in the form of agape - are similar to basic ethics elsewhere - eg do not kill

- ethics from both christian + non christian sources are designed to make society operate peacefully + productively. christian ethics are similar to most