Re: Religious Life/Professional Ethics

Keith B Miller (kbmill@ksu.edu)
Thu, 5 Feb 1998 22:39:01 -0600

guided ethics would yield a specific, and uniform, decision in a given
ethical dilema. There would be a single "Christian" ethical answer to any
given ethical question. I would argue that Christians, even when
possessing identical theological positions, might arrive at different
resolutions to a given dilema. As I commented earlier, I don't believe
that scripture prescribes answers to particular ethical questions but
rather directs us to develop the mind of Christ, adapting His priorities
and His mission - to become His disciples. How that plays out specifically
may vary from situation to situation and person to person. I am not
disturbed by Christians coming to different conclusions on a given specific
ethical question, as long they are all striving to follow scriptural
priorities. For example: two Christians may argue on different sides of
whether a new development project should be built. That is fine as long as
both are consciously trying to be faithful to their stewardship of
creation, concern for the poor, putting the good of others above their own
interests, etc. However, if one would say "The possible impact of this
project on the environment is not a significant issue" - then I would argue
that their ethics are not biblically based.

Keith

Keith B. Miller
Department of Geology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
kbmill@ksu.ksu.edu
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~kbmill/