"Situational ethics" is believing that right and wrong are dependent on circumstances, not fixed moral standards.
It's a popular way for unsaved people to excuse illegal practices, and it's a popular way for professing Christians to excuse sin. You might ask, "Isn't that the same thing?" No. Because some things which are legal still violate God's commands.
It's legal to live with someone without being married. It's legal to have an abortion.(1) It's legal to get drunk as long as you don't drive. The list of legal sins is a long one.
Our culture is like the culture described in Romans 1:18-21, and most people are just going with the flow.
Not Christians. We trust God, not majority opinion (Isaiah 5:20). We know that doing the right thing isn't easy (John 16:33). But we're determined to please our Lord (1 Peter 3:14; Matthew 5:10; James 1:12).
Christians aren't governed by what's legal, nor are we governed by majority opinion. We're governed by God's Spirit and His Word because we know God's commands are based on His love.
If we only obey when it's easy to obey, we haven't understood the gospel (Mark 8:34-35).
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To read about a modern example of professing Christians promoting situational ethics, read From Veggie Tales to Situational Ethics. It explains the very rare situations when the Bible approves situational ethics to save lives, and it gives an example of Christians using situational ethics to make decisions which allow/promote the taking of lives. Then read Walking, Standing, and Finally Sitting to see how such situational ethics lead Christians into evil.
(1) No matter what pro-abortion rhetoric you've heard, abortion is still legal. Under Roe, the U.S. had some of the most sinful abortion laws in the world. Overturning Roe did not make abortion illegal, but it returned decisions about abortion to the citizens instead of having those laws dictated by the federal government.
We Christians need to stay in the fight and keep praying! The battle is still raging and pro-abortion lies are increasing.
Bible Love Notes
I am trying to understand yesterday's devo saying that you change your mind about stand up for what it is right. Help me understand. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHi Tami, In yesterday's devotion, I said I changed my mind about this quote: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” I changed my mind because I don't think you can call someone "good" if they do nothing about evil. I think we must stand up for what is right, and if we refuse, we are not "good."
DeleteI heard two extremes today advocating for abortion rights ... 1) a 10 year old rape victim impregnated and 2) a woman with an ectopic pregnancy that was killing her.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that anyone would claim a woman with an ectopic pregnancy would be prevented from having the child removed. There has never been an abortion law that prevented that because the baby cannot survive. So the fact that someone would use that as an argument shows how far people will go to promote abortion. There's actually a very good video talking about the Life of the Mother and situations where the mother's or baby's life is in jeopardy, if you want to listen to it: <a href=" https://prolifereplies.liveaction.org/medically-necessary/
Delete> Abortion Can Be Medically Necessary</a>
And regarding the 10 year old rape victim: 1% of all abortions are done because of rape, and I would imagine that of that 1%, there are fewer than a handful of them that young. Most 10 year old's cannot conceive and even fewer could actually carry a baby to term. They would miscarry. If this happened to my child, I would not have them get an abortion because I believe God could use the situation for good in her life, and having the child might actually help her heal from the rape. But the fact that someone would bring this up as a justification for abortion shows what extent they will go to to divert attention from the fact that 98.5% of abortions are done for convenience. Pro-abortion advocates can't win their fight without using non-representative examples. And if those are their real reasons for opposing abortion, then they should still be against abortion laws that allow it for other reasons.
I found this short video very moving. It's done by a woman whose mother was raped and she is the product of that rape: <a href=https://prolifereplies.liveaction.org/abortion-in-cases-of-rape/
> Abortion In Cases of Rape</a>
Here are those two links. They didn't come out right in the comment above.
DeleteAbortion in Cases of Rape
Medically Necessary Abortions