An increasing number of Americans are traveling to China to receive transplanted kidneys, livers, corneas and other body parts from executed Chinese prisoners.
Can Christians, or any citizens with a respect for life, participate in good conscience in the supervised overproduction of human embryos that ultimately leads to such destruction?
As you well know, you and your fiance have a very difficult problem with challenging choices.
This letter was written in the Fall of 2004 regarding the upcoming November election.
THE POWER OF MY WORDS:
For bad:
The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. But no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3:6, 8).
With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor (Proverbs 11:9).
The words of a gossip are like choice morsels, they go down to a man's inmost parts (Proverbs 18:8).
For good ...
I'll define Capital Punishment as “that social institution whereby a government punishes a certain crime by putting the offender to death.” The assumed circumstances are that a crime really has been committed, a certain person is known to be guilty, and the verdict and execution is carried out fairly, by a recognized and responsible government.
The issue is not “Is capital punishment always right?” No one maintains that capital punishment is right for every crime, or when carried out by just anyone. When it is mistakenly carried out against the innocent it is horribly wrong. The real issue should ...
I first wrote on this subject years ago when evangelical Christians were getting heavily involved in conservative politics. It’s the same article, just with fewer comments about Rush Limbaugh and Jesse Jackson, or Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton. While it was controversial to some at the time, I think it’s as important now as it was then.
Conservatism is popular among American evangelicals. In the moral realm that encourages me. In the political realm, I have mixed feelings.
When it was unpopular, conservatism offered many necessary correctives to the liberal status quo. I’m not sure, though, how ...
The following are notes and overhead transparencies developed by Randy Alcorn and used in his Contemporary Social Ethics class:
Ethical Philosophies and Systems
“Right and Wrong are determined by . . .”
Nothing—there is no right and wrong.
Whatever is—if something is, if it becomes possible, it is right. (Descriptive Ethics rather than Prescriptive; Sociology equals morality.)
Power—might is right.
Majority—as beliefs of the majority change, right and wrong changes.
The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number—what most benefits the majority.
Current Community Mores—varies with place and time.
Beliefs and Preferences of the Individual—varies person to ...
This is the course syllabus for Contemporary Social Ethics. You can also access some of the instructor’s notes and overheads.
SOC 111: Contemporary Social Ethics
Fall 1996; Instructor: Randy Alcorn; Multnomah Bible College
Course Description:
An investigation of the biblical foundation for a system of ethics and its application to specific situations. Alternative ethical systems will be evaluated along with a number of contemporary social issues.
Course Objectives:
1. Overall objective: To help fulfill the school’s mission of producing biblically competent, culturally aware, maturing servants of Christ, whose Spirit-enabled love for God, his Word and people shapes their ...
Could you give me your theological understanding concerning vasectomies? We have 7 children. I realize that my body is not my own. I have been bought with a price. Therefore I want to do what Jesus wants me to do regarding this.
Let me first say, before I speculate, what I know for sure. As I’m sure you know, Scripture teaches that it is God that opens and closes the womb, and that children are a blessing of the Lord (Psalm 127). Reproductive fruitfulness is commanded and commended by God. Scripture knows nothing of the tragic bias often demonstrated ...
Romans 14 has a great deal to say about Christian liberty and responsibility.
I used this article in a course I taught at Multnomah Bible College—Soc 111, Contemporary Social Ethics.
I wrote a story several years ago and had passed it around to family and friends. As time has gone by I’ve now seen it in print and credited to another person. Every time I see this story, I feel cheated. How do I handle this injustice?
What strikes me is how counter-culture and counter-instinct the gospel really is. Paul says to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 6, to persuade them not to sue a brother or sister, “why not rather be wronged?” We tend to think there’s nothing worse than being wronged. God, on the other hand ...
Everyone deserves tube feeding and hydration. Right? Well, yes. Yet, like many seemingly simple questions, the answer may not be quite as simple when we consider individual cases.
Fame puts us in the power position, a position of influence where people will listen to us and follow us. But fame also sets us up for failure. God gives 3 specific warnings of what the King, the most famous and powerful person in the nation, should not do.
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