Of Ethics and Conduct

I believe many things in the common experience of the modern era regarding ethics find much of their origin in the Bible.

Our Western civilization is based on a Judeo-Christian common heritage, and much of that wisdom permeates the thought process of our laws and rulings.

I’m not accusing our culture of being derivative of or appropriating Hebraic or Christian themes in the secular sphere of life. As a writer, I suppose it’s like writing a vampire story when they’ve been done a thousand times. There’s going to be a common origin point for the whole thing.

So, secular society borrowing from biblical concepts doesn’t bother me too much.

Many of us have a tendency to get ahead of ourselves or make assumptions without truly knowing, though.

“That’s got to be a lie!”

“That’s got to be the truth!”

I admit I have misjudged someone’s character in the past few years because I didn’t have all the information to stumble on the truth.

Learning that they didn’t hate religion in practice, but only in grifting deception such as pushing flat earth or YEC.

But I find much of our woe is avoidable in this life when dealing with secular people or believers of any faith.

I don’t denigrate anyone’s faith even if I don’t agree with them, except for radical Islamic interpretations. Saudi Arabia is trying to moderate Islam and be far more tolerant of other cultures, and its new megacity will be outside the kingdom’s laws.

A step in the right direction. Just because I don’t agree with someone, it doesn’t mean I get a free pass to hate them or spew hateful rhetoric.

The world needs more in common than the things that divide us.

I don’t agree with some of the things the Latter-day Saints’ faith teaches, but they are some of the kindest people I’ve met.

I’ve met amazing Muslims and while I have yet to meet anyone that practices Hindu beliefs, they don’t seem to be terrible people.

From my faith background, I believe Jesus is the only way to eternal life. But it’s not my place to judge another person. God divided up the lands of planet Earth and decided where each nation would be, including their beliefs. There are angelic beings that rule over the different nations.

The nation of Japan has an angel, and so does Chile. The same goes for Australia and Greece.

Whether the entities involved are good or bad is beside my point.

My point is that God created the diversity of humanity, and our place is not to judge.

Calling someone a slur or a racist term is not befitting a saint.

Let’s examine some proverbs from the mind of the wisest man to walk this Earth apart from Yeshua (Jesus).

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body” (Proverbs 16:24 [ESV]).

Kind words are nourishing to both the soul and the body, and are even called sweet.

This is the default setting every Christian should have, no matter who we are dealing with.

Jesus didn’t go to some random sinner and start calling them names. But He called the religious hypocrites out, didn’t He?

I almost didn’t capitalize the pronouns in that last sentence because I’ve been trying to get back to a normal style guide format lately. I’ve capitalized certain terms on this blog for emphasis, but have been leaning toward sticking to the professional way. Yet, no matter how much I try, I can’t bring myself to lowercase Jesus’s pronoun. I feel like it’s dishonoring His status as Yahweh in the form of a man.

That aside, kind words and building others up are the best way forward. We are all worthy of achieving that which we wish to achieve. We are worthy of being loved, of making our mark in someone’s life, even if it is one person alone.

The best way to do this is not to bash them with our religion, or call them names because we’re holier (allegedly).

Let’s examine another proverb from Solomon’s wisdom.

“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18 [ESV]).

This shows me wisdom and healing are in the mouth of those who are kind to others. In other words, being a bigoted fool is like a sword thrust, and kindness is the sign of a wise person.

The context of that proverb is truth and lies, by the way. We are not to water down the truth of the Bible, but misunderstanding sin and the Scriptures as a whole can make us liars, whether it’s intentional is beside the point.

If we are to follow God Almighty, we are not to be liars. Part of that is taking the name of Yahweh in vain. Meaning you use God and treat Him as common and nothing. To claim to represent Him and treat people as you might expect the devil to (without the sugarcoated deceptions he’s known for).

If we are to hold fast to our integrity, we should treat representing God as highly important due to God’s station as King of the Universe.

This is something Jewish people understand well. They go to extremes in never using God’s name to not disrespect Him (though God says to make His name known) but they understand representing God to the world is a heavy thing.

While Jesus’s yoke is easy (His interpretation of Torah law) and His burden is light (learning the Torah under Him doesn’t come with extra rules), we should honor Him as a king.

To best take the name of God, to best represent Him, we should act as He does.

He made this world, and the sinners in this world get to live on it without payment of any kind. They get the air they breathe. They get to have families and those who love them. God offers them without payment.

So where do we, as Christians, get off hating other people?

It never made much sense to me.

If we’ve seen Jesus, we’ve seen the Father.

And Jesus said, “The well don’t need a doctor, but the sick.”

But what kind of doctor harms patients?

“You who forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples” (Romans 2:22-23 [ESV])?

Let’s not be a hypocritical doctor. Notice Paul says we should not even think of robbing a temple. Even if an idolatrous god doesn’t exist, that doesn’t give us the right to mistreat those who believe such.

It’s actually quite a powerful statement by Paul. Even the heathen is not to be mistreated in their mistaken actions and worship.

Christians are the worst at representing the Father of Lights sometimes. I believe it was a documentary with Bill Maher that said, “Lord, save me from your followers.”

It’s easy to be a keyboard warrior (I’ve been there, too) and say something sharp.

It’s easy to take sides when God is above these split discourses.

Our conduct should offer someone honey, not stab them with a sword.

Is that watered down?

No.

It’s watering.

Shalom and blessings be your portion!