Introduction to Christian Ethics
Instructors: Mike DeJong, James Karras
The country of Canada, and Western Civilization as a whole, having embraced a secular and anti-God worldview, has found itself in a state of moral chaos and societal decay. At such a time as this the Church of Jesus Christ is called to be "salt and light" (Matt. 5:13-14) and to be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15).
In order for the Church to fulfill this calling we must have a clear understanding of Christian ethics. Wayne Grudem describes ethics in his essay entitled, Biblical Ethics an Overview,
"From the beginning of the Bible to the end, God gives people specific instructions about how he wants them to conduct their lives. The study of these instructions and their wise application to life is known as the discipline of biblical ethics. These instructions from God about ethical living involve many commands, laws, moral standards, ideals, prohibitions, and principles of wisdom relating to moral judgment. They also concern matters of moral accountability, including rewards and punishments that provide incentives for pleasing God and avoiding what he abhors. From start to finish, ethical understanding in the Bible is about applying the holiness of God to human life on earth (Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Pet. 1:14-16)." Wayne Grudem p. 1
This nine-week introduction to Biblical Ethics will use the Ten Commandments as the framework and outline of the course. We will seek to understand how these commandments are intended, by God, to be applied to many of the pressing questions of our day, in the spheres of the individual, family, culture, and government.
