Archive for the 'ethics' Category

A Case for Polygamy?

Published on July 24, 2011 in ethics and Politics. 0 Comments

Dr. Mike Wittmer:

Many of us have been saying for some time that the normalization of homosexual marriage will inevitably open the door to the state’s acceptance of polygamy. Proponents of gay marriage typically scoff and say we’re silly for making such a slippery slope argument. Well, not anymore.

In an op-ed in today’s New York Times, Jonathan Turley argues that the same civil liberties that enable homosexuals to marry must also allow for polygamous relationships. He’s right.

If framed in terms of rights and freedoms, then of course homosexuals and polygamists have the right to freely marry however many of whichever gender they choose. A polygamist man would be free to marry two men and three women if he chose and they were agreeable.

But what if the debate is not really about rights and freedoms but about nature? If marriage is by nature the covenantal union between one man and one woman, then . . .

Read the whole thing here.

Do we expect a Spiritual blessing from stolen music?

Published on September 22, 2010 in ethics. 0 Comments

It is ironic that many listen to worship music that they obtained illegally.

Tim Challies:

Despite the clarity of the law, many people continue to ignore it. This is true both within the church and without. A Barna report (link) from 2004 showed that only 1 in 10 Christian teenagers believe that music piracy is morally wrong. This varied very little from the percentage of non-Christian teenagers who believe the same. I don’t think a lot has changed over the past 6 years except that more and more adults are now equally ambiguous about piracy. After all, everyone’s doing it, and when everyone does something, it is easy to think that we can do it too.

As Bob says, “Christians have a higher standard than ‘everyone’s doing it.’ Romans 13:1, Deut. 5:19, and Eph. 4:28 come to mind. While file sharing, copying CD’s for friends, and downloading music illegally is easy and attractive, it’s still wrong, despite our rationalizations.” I have been amazed in talking to friends, and young people in particular, just how little they care for copyright laws. Excuses abound: “Everyone is doing it. The music companies don’t really care. The artists say they don’t care if we download their music.” I am even more amazed when I hear young people talk about pirating Christian music (I recently spoke to a young man who had pretty well the complete Sovereign Grace music collection but it was all illegally copied). I’ve even spoken to people who laugh, saying, “You don’t want to lend me your music. I’ll just copy it.” Long before I stopped buying CDs (I now buy almost all of my music online) I stopped loaning those CDs to other people.

The rest here.

Should Christians be cremated?

Published on July 23, 2010 in death and ethics. 1 Comment

Justin Taylor points to a helpful article considering the ethics of cremation.

David Jones, professor of Christian ethics at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has an excellent article in the latest issue of JETS on the topic of cremation, which I’ve received permission to post. It’s called “To Bury or Burn? Toward an Ethic of Cremation” (PDF).

Here’s the purpose of the essay:

In light of the growing interest in cremation, this brief work will attempt to summarize some of the key historical, Biblical, and theological considerations that have been a part of the moral discussion of cremation within the Judeo-Christian tradition.

Read more here.

Ethics Question: Can I Take a Picture of a Quote at Barnes and Noble?

Published on March 11, 2009 in ethics. 16 Comments

Thesis: In a digital age, we need to be very careful about our integrity. 

If you are pressed for time, read only the question and respond if so inclined  .

The Question: Can I legitimately take a picture of a quote in a book at Barnes and Noble, or do I have to buy the whole book?

Background: I buy a lot of books.  I mean a lot of books.

How many books you ask?  Let me put it his way.  I am Barnes and Noble’s favorite customer.  When I walk in, they assign someone to follow me around in case I need something.  Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gave me his cell phone number.  I text him when I want books and he stops by the warehouse to personally shrink wrap my orders.

Which is to say, I must limit myself somewhere.

So recently, while at Barnes and Noble, I was reading a book and I stumbled across a quote that I thought would be useful for my sermon.  However, I didn’t necessarily want to buy the book – -

I started to type the quote into my Blackberry, but then thought, why am I typing in the whole quote.  I could just take a picture using my camera phone.

An ethical wrestling match ensued: Is this a violation of copyright laws and a form of stealing?

What do you think?