Truth as a consistent ethic

Posted on November 9, 2008
Filed Under ideals |

I’ve been away from this blog for too long. It’s Facebook’s fault, at least that’s what I like to say. And it’s true, Facebook is a lot of fun because you get to interact with people, looking into a little window to see the part of their life they choose to share with you. Still, I have been lax in taking time to write down my thoughts over the last eight months or so as I have pondered things going on in my country and my world.

As I have deeply considered the positions of political candidates and tried to inspect those in the light of what this country was originally intended to be, as Darin and I have had hours and hours of discussion about our ideals, I have come to understand that I want to live my life with an ethic of consistency.

I remember a few years back I heard singer and songwriter Derek Webb utter the phrase “a consistent ethic of life,” and I realized that was a pretty good descriptor of the position I had already taken on the importance of human life: this idea that if life is to be valued at all, it must be valued from conception on. Let me make it clear that I do not agree with every position of the “consistent ethic of life” folks, and on some of their positions I haven’t come to a conclusion yet.

I’ve always been disturbed by the inconsistency of the liberal position of being for abortion but against the death penalty. Equally dissonant is the traditional evangelical Christian idea that it’s wrong to kill babies but ok to support a death penalty which has surely taken innocents along with the guilty. The only uncertainty is how many of those whose lives we have taken in the name of justice, were truly guilty. That alone is reason enough to severely curtail the use of the death penalty as a punishment for crime. But also worth consideration is the quesion: is intentionally taking human life ever the right thing to do? The truth is that human life is to be protected and respected, and the giving and taking away of life is an act that should be reserved for God only. Only in protecting another human from immediate threat of death am I justified in taking another life, and then only if that is the only way to protect. The truth about the death penalty is that I do not have to take the life of a criminal in order to protect the lives of others. I simply have to lock the person up.

This idea of a consistency of ethics is something of a banner that I’ve taken up to try and cement my positions on issues in every part of my life. This desire for consistency comes from the idea that truth is truth. Truth never changes, it simply is, always has been, and always will be. That’s why it is a perfect touchstone upon which to build my life purpose and my worldview. I can always count on the truth to guide me to itself with regard to spiritual, moral, political, and interpersonal decisions and positions. It is consistent. It is also very rich, which is why I’ve decided to turn my writings in this direction for the time being. There’s a lot to write about, a lot to think about, and a lot to talk about.

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