Situational Ethics and Gay Theology

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A great post by Rik:

One of the things I appreciate about most professional debates is that both sides are usually open and honest as to where they are coming from theologically and philosophically.

The problem is that when non-academians get into debates (especially on the internet) is that they are often completely unaware as to how they have been influenced by the culture and their educational background from government schools, liberal churches and the mass media.

The result is that they can often think and act in such a way that is in accord with a particular school of thought and yet they are totally unaware as to where their ideas came from.

This is why it is important to understand the history of philosophy and theology in Christian apologetics. When you hear certain ideas being asserted you need to be able to recognize them, know where they originated and how to respond to them.

But if you are having a discussion with just the average person who does not know where they get their ideas then you cannot expect them to identify themselves by saying, “I’m an existentialist” or “I believe in situational ethics” or “I am a neo-liberal.” The fact is they often do not know that there is a label and school of thought for the way in which they think.

This is why I named a number of pro-Gay Theology schools of thought and addressed them but what I had not focused on in detail was the idea of Situational Ethics. As previously stated, this idea was popularized by Joseph Fletcher and although it has been refuted on numerous occasions it continues to be a popular idea.

When Situational Ethics is used in Christian morality it sets the subjective personal and social context for relationships against the rightness or wrongness of specific acts as stated in Scripture. This is an untenable means of establishing a justifiable system of ethics. Although the context (the situation) may may affect the degree of culpability for a wrong act, an objective normative standard for morality is needed in order to establish any justifiable universal standard for what may be called “right” or “wrong.”

The problem with Situational Ethics is that the Bible reveals a God to whom some acts are wrong whatever context is associated with them. Sexual acts (whether heterosexual or homosexual) that are outside the heterosexual marriage covenant come into that category. Heterosexual fornication is a sin regardless of the inner disposition and mutual consent of those involved. Likewise, homosexual sex is a sin regardless of the inner disposition and mutual consent of those involved.

The entirety of Scripture upholds the pattern of nature in creation in Genesis 1-2 [show]Genesis 1-2 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, "Let there be an expanse(1) in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." And God made(2) the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.(3) And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. God called the dry land Earth,(4) and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants(5) yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth." And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,(6) and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. And God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds(7) fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens." So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds--livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds." And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let us make man(8) in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens. When no bush of the field(9) was yet in the land(10) and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up--for the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist(11) was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground-- then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat(12) of it you shall surely die." Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for(13) him." Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed(14) every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam(15) there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made(16) into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."(17) Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [1:6] Or 'a canopy'; also verses 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 20 2. [1:7] Or 'fashioned'; also verse 16 3. [1:8] Or 'Sky'; also verses 9, 14, 15, 17, 20, 26, 28, 30; 2:1 4. [1:10] Or 'Land'; also verses 11, 12, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30; 2:1 5. [1:11] Or 'small plants'; also verses 12, 29 6. [1:14] Or 'appointed times' 7. [1:20] Or 'flying things'; see Leviticus 11:19-20 8. [1:26] The Hebrew word for 'man' ('adam') is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name 'Adam' 9. [2:5] Or 'open country' 10. [2:5] Or 'earth'; also verse 6 11. [2:6] Or 'spring' 12. [2:17] Or 'when you eat' 13. [2:18] Or 'corresponding to'; also verse 20 14. [2:19] Or 'And out of the ground the LORD God formed' 15. [2:20] Or 'the man' 16. [2:22] Hebrew 'built' 17. [2:23] The Hebrew words for 'woman' ('ishshah') and 'man' ('ish') sound alike
, Matthew 19:5-6 [show]Matthew 19:5-6 and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." (ESV)
and Romans 1 [show]Romans 1 Paul, a servant(1) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David(2) according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you-- that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers,(3) that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians,(4) both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,(5) as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."(6) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (ESV) Footnotes 1. [1:1] Or 'slave'; Greek 'bondservant' 2. [1:3] Or 'who came from the offspring of David' 3. [1:13] Or 'brothers and sisters'. The plural Greek word 'adelphoi' (translated "brothers") refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, 'adelphoi' may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church 4. [1:14] That is, non-Greeks 5. [1:17] Or 'beginning and ending in faith' 6. [1:17] Or 'The one who by faith is righteous shall live'
as the norm for human sexuality. Both heterosexual fornication and homosexual sex are outside of God’s created order and to participate in such sins is an act of rebellion against God.

A loving motive - as important as it is - cannot override God’s objective standard (His moral law) for right and wrong which reflects His holy character.

Therefore, while homosexual behavior feels “natural” to someone who identifies themselves as being "gay" it is contrary to God’s set boundaries for human sexual expression and He has repeatedly throughout history judged those who violated His holiness whether or not they were in covenant with Him.

While I understand that restricting sexual behavior to a heterosexual marriage may sound severe and even burdensome to those who have homosexual temptations, nevertheless right and wrong is determined by God and not our subjective fleshly desires.

If Situational Ethics were to become determinative for Christian morality then any form of seemingly “natural” inclination will become acceptable and tolerated in the Body of Christ as it has in the Metropolitan Community Churches.

Spot on Rik. I’m doing a seminar with some sixth-formers in a week or so and we’ll be discussing whether Christians are fundamentalist, hypocritical bigots, or whether there is actually something to be said for revealed ethics.