With reference to other aspects of human experience, comment on the claim that relativism in ethics poses serious problems for Christians. Justify your answer.
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erinruth99gmailcom (student)
With reference to other aspects of human experience, comment on the claim that relativism in ethics poses serious problems for Christians. Justify your answer. [15]
Ethical relativism is the theory that states morality is relative to culture and circumstance, meaning the same action may be morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another. For example, most societies believe the act of sacrificing either people or animals is wrong, but there are tribal cultures that perceive it as part of normal life. If one takes this approach there are no such things as moral absolutes, and this can pose problems for Christians.
For most Christians ethics are dependent on rules recorded in the Bible. Paul instructs, “Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.” In the Old Testament especially there are many empathic statements such as, “Do not kill,” which do not leave much room for ethical relativism. They reject the idea that the ends could justify the means, because sin is sin no matter what the intentions behind it were. Slick wrote on this topic, “I consider moral absolutes to be real because they come from God and not because they are determined by the whims of mankind.”
