Natives in Africa, Southeast Asia and all Polynesians have their own cultural eccentricities.
Then, each family develops patterns of conduct that family members abide by. Just take the practice of Christmas. Most families have their own habits and customs.
There is a yard stick or measuring rod that is prevalent today. Those who practice its tenets subscribe to “Situation Ethics.” There are others who believe in it but do not use its name. They practice its basics.
A Britisher by the name of Joseph Fletcher is ostensibly the “father” of Situation Ethics. In his book, written in 1966, he was in opposition to the concepts of Thomas Aquinas. He (Aquinas) advocated the view that there were basic moral principles that were God-given and should be adhered to..
A basic tenet of his (Fletcher’s) way of thinking is rather simplistic. The rightness or wrongness of an event depends on the situation. Two classic examples are used to clarify this position.
Just suppose a friend of yours is being chased with the objective being murder. He comes to your house and begs for asylum. You hide him.
Subsequently the pursuers stop and ask if you have seen your friend. You lie. You say, “No;” or “He went that way.” Truth and honesty are absolutes. Most creeds and cultures disallow lying. Yet, you have lied. Situation Ethics says your lying was the right and moral thing to do.
Here is one of Fletcher’s classic illustrations. Following World War II a German housewife is taken prisoner by the Russians. Her husband finds out and seeks her freedom. The Russians state that she can only go free if she is pregnant.
She consents to adultery in order to become pregnant by a Russian. After verification she is released. She and her husband return to the German town where she is ostracized and condemned by the church and neighbors for committing adultery. .
Here is the rub. She violated the 7th Commandment. She has an illegitimate child. Did she do wrong or did the situation absolve her of sinning? Fletcher says she was motivated by the only law necessary. That is love, for her husband and other children.
To him there is only one absolute. That is love. It alone establishes the rightness or wrongness of an event.
The purists and the legalists cannot accept his views. Ponder it if you will.
One of the most powerful films on the market today is, “Beautiful Mind,” starring Russell Crowe. In representing John Nash, the Nobel Prize winner in Mathematics, Crowe gives a powerful speech. He clarifies the impulse of love, the power of love, and the bonds of love. The movie, whether absolutely true or not, elevates Fletcher’s concept of situational love to the highest level.
Jesus endorsed the primacy of love when He said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Amen. Selah. So be it.
The Power of Love
I’ve always been fascinated by the standards or rules by which people govern and live their lives.
As in the Golden Rule-Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or the standard of the Ten Commandments. Over a billion Muslims follow the dictates of the Koran.
There are those who make the Constitution the guide to their behavior. And of course, the Christian community follows the words of Jesus and the New Testament.
There are ethnic by-laws. The customs and practices that are uniquely Greek, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, German and at least 180 other nationalities.
WORDS TO THINK ABOUT
G. W. Abersold Ph.D