Page 10 - Biblical Ethics Course

Study Section 2: Ethical Systems

2.1 Connect

Not everyone agrees about what is wrong and right. Some people believe that what is wrong for
you might be right for them and visa versa. Others believe that if most people believe something is
wrong, then it is. The majority decides everyone’s values. One day most people may think some
behavior or action is wrong; later they may change their minds and now think the same behavior or
action is basically OK. So right and wrong are fluent and change. Other more narrow-minded
people believe that God created man after His image as a moral creature and God established what is right and
wrong. With these folks, moral values never change because God does not change. Mankind has been arguing
these views for thousands of years. So, who is right? Let’s find out…

2.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to explain into what ethical systems can be broken down.

2. The student should be able to explain how ethical systems proceed from philosophical systems.

3. The student should be able to describe six philosophical system that exist in the world that are not in
agreement with the Bible.

4. The student should be able to describe the various classes of ethical positions.

2.3 Ethical Systems

As we have seen, ethical systems can be broken down into two categories: non-
absolutism (those systems who deny absolute truth) and absolutism (those systems
that hold to absolute truth- regardless of the source).

To establish an ethical system, certain questions must be answered:

1. Do standards of behavior (ethics) really exist?

2. If ethics do exist, how do we determine what is ethical or the right or wrong thing to do? Some people say it
is through intuition. Others, through careful consideration of the human condition. Still others insist we learn
morality through divine revelation.

3. Who is it that determines what is moral? “Mind dependence” teaches that ethics is created by thought –
whether of man or of God. Realists say that all ethical acts can be reduced to a physical truth about the
universe, independent of man or God.

4. If morality gets its authority from a person or a group of people (majority rules), isn’t ethics purely
subjective? If so, ethics can change for the situation or individual. What is wrong for one person could be
perfectly right for another – it all depends! If, however, morality gets its authority from the natural world or a
supernatural force, then all of mankind is subject to the same law, and ethics becomes universal.

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