Dr Paul Allen

Nearly every week, I hear from pastors, ministry leaders, or parents about the ethical challenges they face as they encourage those under their care to love God and love their neighbour (Matt. 22:37–39). Many of these questions centre on the digital advances of our day—especially social media. As we enter another year, here are three truths to equip yourself and your people to wisely follow Jesus in a digital age. 1. The Christian ethic is more than sufficient for our day. We tend to believe we’re facing novel issues the writers of the Bible didn’t foresee and couldn’t address. While it’s true these writers never talked about social media, algorithms, or ChatGPT, the assumption that the Bible is insufficient for the challenges of our day is misplaced. It’s driven by thinking of the Christian ethic as a set of rules rather than as a rich framework for pursuing wisdom no matter what comes our way. Many, if not all, of our current ethical issues, are rooted in deeper questions of what it ...

CAN I LOVE WHAT JESUS DOESN'T LOVE? According to a new Gallup survey, more people consider behaviors “morally acceptable” that the Bible condemns. The Background: Beginning in the early 2000s, Gallup started tracking the views of people on the moral acceptability of various issues and behaviors. The overall trend clearly points toward a higher acceptance of behaviors that the Bible clearly condemns. In fact, as Gallup notes, the moral acceptability ratings on abortion, sex between unmarried men and women, having a baby outside of marriage, and gay/lesbian relations are at record highs. The first number in each category lists the percentage of people who consider the behavior “morally acceptable,” while the second number is the percentage that considers it “morally wrong.” An asterisk indicates an issue at a record high level of acceptance since Gallup began surveying the issue. Sex between an unmarried man and woman*—73 percent/26 percent Gay or lesbian relations*—69 percent/30 per...

Civil government is a means ordained by God for ruling and maintaining order in communities. It is one of a number of such means, including ministers in the church and parents in the home. Each such means has its own sphere of authority under Christ , who now rules and sustains creation, and the limits of each sphere are set by reference to the others. In our fallen world these authorities are institutions of God's " common grace " (kindly providence), standing as a bulwark against anarchy and the dissolution of ordered society. With reference to Rom. 13:1-7 and 1 Pet. 2:13-17, the Westminster Confession explains the sphere of civil government as follows: God, the supreme Lord and King of all the world, hath ordained civil magistrates, to be, under Him, over the people, for His own glory, and the public good, and, to this end, hath armed them with the power of the sword, for the defence and encouragement of them that are good, and for the punishment of evil doers ...

Postmodernism has raped and pillaged our nation’s sense of right and wrong , and we’ve become too intelligent, self-absorbed and complacent to acknowledge its path of destruction. The smart, the rich, the powerful tell us what our beliefs are, that there is no one truth, force-feeding us their self-destructive blueprint of morality that says anything goes ... and everyone’s been eating it up and asking for seconds. From the vantage point of primitive religion to the stuffy Oxford scholar, most everyone agrees morals were initially established to further the existence of humankind, the survival of the group. The Bible and Torah have maintained the Ten Commandments as a pretty good starting point. Hindus have sought to deny themselves as a measure of self-discipline while Buddhists have the Five Precepts , prohibiting killing, stealing, illicit sexual relations, wrong speech and drugs or alcohol. Friedrich Nietzsche did his share of tearing the issue apart in The Genealogy of Morals ,...

Wikipedia ) “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments” ( Matthew 19:17 ). The rich young ruler called Jesus “good.” Jesus replied that there is only One who is absolutely “good.” Jesus’ challenge to the ruler to abandon the world and follow Him provides an opportunity to break from our studies in Luke and consider what it means to be good. The prevailing pluralism of our day demands that we understand how to build a Christian conscience. There are two fundamental problems for the Christian as he or she struggles with ethical principles. The first problem is to know what good is, to understand what it is that God requires and also what pleases Him. The second problem is how to have the courage to do what we know is right. We will focus primarily on the first problem. Some of the most frustrating people we encounter are those for whom everything is either white or black, who have a sim...

Cover via Amazon We seldom challenge another’s basis for saying something is “right” or “wrong”. How many times, in conversation, do we hear someone say, “that’s right” or “that’s not right”. But, we never ask, “how do you know that is right or not right?” There are several things that people base their ethical beliefs upon. Here are a few of them: 1. The law. Not too many years ago, a physician was working in a Chinese hospital when she was called in to handle a botched abortion. She was in charge that night and couldn’t find the clinician who would have normally handled these kinds of difficult circumstances. Due to China’s one child policy , the abortion had been ordered and so giving the child to the parents wasn’t an option; neither was keeping it alive. She wrestled with what to do as she looked down into the face of this little baby, who was healthy and brimming with life. After searching again for a staff member to do this for her, she struggled internally with her own consci...

Image via Wikipedia THE social and economic disintegration we are experiencing has a common core. The rioting in the UK ; the corrupt financial system; politicians who lie about going to war, rort the system, pursue power in a media sideshow; a toxic news-gathering culture where police, detectives, journalists and their  bosses collude - all are connected. Harvard University's professor of cognition and education, Howard Gardner , in his latest book  Truth, Beauty and Goodness Reframed , argues these cornerstones of society are under threat and must be reclaimed for us to survive.  Gardner's critique of IQ tests led to an understanding that every child develops multiple intelligences, not simply verbal and mathematical skills. In particular, they must develop ''emotional intelligence'', a combination of insight/self-control and empathy. What the world needs now is more emotional intelligence and an ethical base for intelligent behaviour . Gardner describe...

Image via Wikipedia This is essentially asking if there is a transcendent ethical standard that exists beyond the individual and if so, can we all know it. Our culture is deeply divided over such a question, though we never really ask it out loud, for to do so would expose our deep relativism and the folly of such thinking. Relativism supposes that there is no such thing as absolute truth and therefore no such thing as an absolute moral code .  Theoretically, every individual’s ethical standards are valid and unassailable as long as they remain personal. From the outside, we view each other’s moral standards as “ preferences ” for they do not apply beyond the self, nor can they. Now to the astute, the above description is immediately recognized as logically false for it expresses within itself an absolute ethical code . That is, it declares that it is “absolutely wrong” for you to impose your ethical standard on anyone outside of your own preferential boundar...