Discussion Assignment
Complete 2 sets of Discussion Threads & Reply Threads in this course. Post one thread of 550–650 (not including footnotes) words. Then post 1 reply of 450–600 words to the discussion post below.
For each thread, students must support their assertions with at least 1 scholarly citation in Turabian format. Each reply must also incorporate at least 1 scholarly citation in Turabian format.
Discussion Post:
Christian ethics is a profound system of beliefs based on what the Bible teaches and how we should live. Today, people want to do what benefits them, seldom what benefits others. Learning about Christian Ethics will help us live peaceful lives, we will glorify God, and we will be able to know why we are here on planet earth. The system defines “the good” or ethically right as the reason why an individual makes a moral decision. We all make decisions based on our beliefs, on what benefits us. Ethical egoism “where moral reasoning is based on an individual’s self-interest,”(Magnuson, K.,p. 26). Should an individual seek mundane pleasures or the pleasure in knowing you are doing what is ethically right through the fulfillment of the purpose one has in God? In this world people know they have more to do than to have a job, pay bills, enjoy life, become old and die. They know there is more, and the hunger for seeking God’s will in the wrong things can take an individual to make wrong decisions. According to the system a right ethical decision is based on the individual’s ability to decide what is right even if the consequences are negative.
A few perceived strengths and weaknesses of the ethical theory is that in deontology for instance: it recognizes the means are important but also the ends p.,29. and a weakness is rules and laws can be given without warnings. In consequentialism it takes consequences serious and a weakness is that our actions are difficult to predict. Virtue ethics is based on the decisions we make and a weakness is it has a tendency to neglect the importance of how we act and the good or bad decisions we make.
Virtue ethics in my opinion is the most compelling, since it is based on the decisions we make. Decisions we make today will define our future, they will also define us. Our heats are filled with feelings we sometimes cannot recognize, causing pain in others and ourselves. We were given free will, however, having free will is not a license to sin. Virtue ethics is based on who we are and not what we do. Sadly, out of the almost 8 billion people living in this world, only a few have identity in Christ. Not knowing who you are as an individual is a tragedy. When God saw that Adam had given his identity to the devil he asked him where he was and why he was hiding, (Genesis 3:9, NLT). God wants us to have virtue ethics, since they demonstrate who we are. Although virtue ethics has weaknesses, hence we all have weakness. Learning these weakness in virtue ethics will help value the strengths and work against the weaknesses or use the weaknesses as a strength.Virtual ethics focuses on morality, it helps us understand the importance of learning how to fight temptation. We face temptations according to the sin which dominates us within. Temptation can lead us into making regretful decisions with irreversible damage. Finally, virtue ethics is the ethics closest to what the Bible teaches and how to live a life worthy for God, following what Jesus said about living. Jesus showed us ethical values and how to make decisions with eternal value.
