As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“The Greek word for conscience appears in the New Testament thirty-one times, and it seems to have a two-fold dimension, as the medieval scholars argued. It involves the idea of accusing as well as the idea of excusing.” - R.C. Sproul
“Trueman is correct that moral sensibilities have profoundly shifted both within the church and without in recent decades. The church is generally ill-equipped even to begin formulating rationale to address the complex ethical questions it is confronted with.” - Mere Orthodoxy
“Profiting from the weakness and misfortune of others is no way to treat a neighbor.” - World
The term ἀδιάφορα (adiaphora), literally, matters that are to be viewed with indifference or that make no difference, does not appear in the Christian Scriptures and does not feature significantly in Christian Theology until the Reformation era. The term does, however, predate the Christian period by several centuries, being well-established in Greek philosophy/ethics. For instance,
“It may be that a given action—a particular search and destroy mission—is low on the necessity spectrum. On such occasions, if other values—such as force protection or noncombatant immunity, are sufficiently at risk then prudence might dictate standing down.” - Providence
“What both these views have in common is their agreement with the idea that vengeance belongs to the Lord….We should never act out of rage or for revenge. God requires justice but he tempers retribution with mercy.” - Premier Christianity
“the ‘consequentialist’ or ‘utilitarian’ approach (e.g. of Jeremy Bentham or John Stuart Mill), views the morality of a decision or action, based upon the anticipated result of that decision or action. It seeks to quantify the ‘highest good, for the greatest number,’ thereby reducing all ethical considerations to a ‘pleasure/pain’ calculus.” - Common Good
“Steven D. Smith’s The Disintegrating Conscience and the Decline of Modernity traces the successive transformations of how we understand conscience by highlighting three key figures in its redefinition in the Anglo-American world: Thomas More, James Madison, and William Brennan.” - Religion & Liberty
“Was she right to lie? What does that say to us about our own relationship with truth? Can we ever tell a similar lie? There are other instances in the Bible where similar lies are told.” - Don Johnson
“Americans’ ratings of nearly all 23 professions measured in Gallup’s 2023 Honesty and Ethics poll are lower than they have been in recent years… Nurses remain the most trusted profession, with 78% of U.S. adults currently believing nurses have high honesty and ethical standards.” - Gallup
Discussion