- Micah steals a lot of silver from his mother (about 100 years wages).
- Micah gets worried about being cursed, and returns the silver.
- Micah's mother praises him and consecrates the silver to God.
- Micah's mother makes an idol of part of the silver and keeps the rest.
- Micah makes a shrine in the house and names his son as priest.
- An itinerant Levite wanders by and Micah hires him as priest.
- Micah decides God will now like him because he has his own priest.
Perhaps the question to answer here concerns what is right and wrong. Does the fact that there is some argument in this case mean that there's some doubt? Is there always a right thing to do?
I think so. There is a right and a wrong in every situation. No exceptions. If God is all-knowing, then he certainly knows about the details of every situation I face. He has a preference in every decision I make, and by definition, that preference is what we call "right."
That leaves us trying to decide what's right, but that's a topic for another post!
5 comments:
Rob, I think I agree with what you meant to say, but I take exception to what you actually said!
What do we mean when we talk about "right and wrong"? There are several ways we use those words.
First, we talk about "right and wrong" in a moral context. In this context, I agree, there is always a right and a wrong, although it might be difficult for us to discern. God has given us his moral laws and he is not neutral on moral issues.
Second, we talk about "right and wrong" in a factual context. In this context there is sometimes a clear right or wrong answer, and sometimes not. We can formulate partially correct statements or inexact statements. Such statements are neither 100% right nor 100% wrong.
There are, however, questions that are neither moral nor factual. How will we spend our free time this evening? You choose to play chess and I choose to read a book. (We are nerds, after all!) Such choices are neither right nor wrong.
Knowing you as I do, Rob, I'm sure you will try to split hairs on this last point and tell me that God, in his infinite knowledge and understanding, can see that some days it would be better if you read the book and I played chess. In the absence of any particular external circumstances that would prejudice the choice, however, I believe God is ok with either choice we make in some situations.
Bill, what use is a hair except to split (1 Tim 1:6 notwithstanding)? :-)
I had not thought about the various possible meanings of the words "right" and "wrong." I was not intending to include the notion of factually accurate, or logically consistent in my use of the word "right."
We can certainly construct statements that are partially accurate, mostly by leaving out facts that are useful for understanding the whole picture. For example, "The world is flat." is a partially correct statement in that it is accurate over a limited region. It is not globally accurate, but is locally accurate, even useful for building houses and hanging pictures.
My assertion is that in every decision we make there is a morally correct answer, or in other words that God always has a preferred alternative. We are free to choose what ever we want because we have been created with a free will. However, that does not mean that what ever we choose to do is fine with God.
The problem is that we can't see all the effects of the seemingly inconsequential choices we make, so we mistakenly conclude that God doesn't really care what we do in those decisions. This doesn't fit the picture of God that we get from the Bible. There we see a God who knows the number of hairs on our heads, who knows (and cares) when a small sparrow is killed, and who knows us intimately before we are even formed in the womb. To me, this doesn't sound like a God who overlooks anything, no matter how small it seems to us.
In another sense it is true that God is OK with whatever we choose. God loves us no matter what we do. All of our wrong choices (sins) have been paid for by Jesus and are thus without eternal effects. That does not mean that our choices were made morally right, only that the penalty has been paid. I think that's why Paul can say with certainty that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Only Jesus was in such close rapport with God (being God himself) that he was able to make the "God choice" every single time. We must never lose sight of the fact that every one of our decisions matters to God. He cares that much for us.
I have to agree with Bill on this one. That yes, there is a right and wrong in moral decisions (and those rights and wrongs can even be, dare I say, not always black and white?) And then some of course are.
But that I'd rather focus on a different aspect of right and wrong, and that is the last one Bill mentions. The decisions that exclude moral and factual context.
I do believe that God knows every hair on our head and cares about every decision we make. However, I'm not so sure he has a preference on certain ones. I think his preference lies more in how we carry out an action, in whatever path we choose to take. There will always be a right and wrong in that.
For example, a person must choose whether to take the job in Phoenix or Tulsa. Both are open. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. That person must use wisdom and reason and prayer and a spiritual mind to choose, but ultimately they will choose. And either way, God will work it out for the good. Because he promises He will do so. Perhaps God will sometimes show you a preference, but sometimes I don't think he does.
There are also multiple paths to a desired goal. A microcosmic example: In my case it was in my choir classroom. I needed to prepare my choir for the concert. I could plan each day a number of ways to ready my students. Using multiple strategies and methods. I chose what I thought best. But other ways would have worked for other teachers and students. Not really a right or wrong there. The right and wrong was found in how I treated my students along the way, and if I made their needs a priority. There's the morality.
Wow, long comment. Great topic here.
Great post, fancypants! I think where we differ with Rob is on his statement that "...in every decision we make there is a morally correct answer, or in other words that God always has a preferred alternative."
Rob, what I hear you saying is that there is always a "best" answer and that anything less than the "best" is an immoral choice. I actually disagree with both halves of that statement.
As far as there always being a best answer, it still seems to me that some choices boil down to mere preference. You can paint your room yellow or you can paint it blue. Please choose whichever you like. The Kingdom of God is not advanced by one choice over the other.
As far as whether not choosing the best is immoral, I would ask you exactly what you mean by immoral. What is sin? Isn't it rebellion against God and his commandments? I think you confuse our turpitude with our finitude. If in my limited and imperfect knowledge and understanding I discover a less optimal solution to a problem than God in his omniscience and perfection, am I rebelling against God? I don't think so.
I've spent a considerable amount of time over the last few days thinking about the nature of right and wrong, and what the Bible actually says about this question. That's a good thing, and I'm thankful for the prodding!
I wonder about the relationship between "right & wrong" and "sin." As I intended to use the words, sin is either doing wrong, or not doing right. Getting clear on a definition for sin might help to decide whether there are morally neutral decisions. Are there actions we take that are neither "sin" nor "not sin"?
Digging a bit in the Bible (and elsewhere) yielded a couple of definitions for sin. In 1 John 3:4 it says, "...sin is lawlessness." It's a picture of sin as that which is contrary to God's law. In Romans 14 there is a lengthy discourse on not passing judgment on the sin of another that concludes with the words, "...everything that does not come from faith is sin." This is a definition that comes at sin from the "everything except ..." direction. In a sense it says that some actions are sin for one person but not for another because if you think you're breaking God's law then that's enough to make what ever you did a sin. If you think it's wrong then it is ... but of course the opposite is not true. Just because I think something is right doesn't make it right!
How does this help in deciding whether to paint Bill's room yellow or blue? Well, if I am convinced that God wants it to be yellow, then painting it blue is a sin (rebellion, turpitude). That's pretty clear. What if I don't know of a preference on God's part (finitude)? Does that mean I can choose which ever color I want? I think it depends on my attitude in deciding. If I choose without knowing or caring whether God has a preference, then I think Romans 14:23 says I have sinned. My choice is selfish and does not come from faith. If I decide that God can't possibly care about this, I think I sin as well because of my pride in my ability to know the mind of God. The only way to avoid sin is to be aware that God may have a preference in this seemingly inconsequential decision, and to try to figure out what it might be. If I am unable to discern God's will clearly, then I decide as best I can based on what I know of his character (i.e., I guess) hoping I do what he wants.
FP, I think you make a good point in saying that what ever I decide, God will continue to love me, he will forgive me if I have chosen wrongly, and he will use what ever I have done for good. Even if what I did was wrong. All of these things are clear from the Bible. However, none of them imply that what I did was actually right, only that God forgives me.
Looking back on this post, I am struck by how much of what "I think" is there and how little of what "God says." I am still in need of much work!
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