Now some people find this concept hard to accept because from the time we are brought into this world we have certain ideals drilled into our heads. We are conditioned to think as things being right or wrong. We are told "no no little Jimmy you can't do that because its bad" and "If you do this little Sally the Devil will get you." The conditioning is reinforced as we get older by parents and granparents, the various religions we practice, even by the schools we attend. So it is not hard to understand peoples confusion when I say I believe in circumstances.
Let me make one thing quite clear, I do not believe in absolute right or wrong. Given a certain set of circumstances, what is generally accepted as wrong and unacceptable can be accepted as the right thing to do. If you want to hear my explantion continue on, if you think I am totally full of shit then close the window and don't think about it anymore. It's your choice.
Most people in the western world follow Christianity in one form or another so lets start there. We all know the Ten Commandments, maybe not word for word but I am fairly certain that we can fumble our way through almost all of them from memory. According to Christianity these are the basis of right and wrong. But even in the Bible itself it shows us that even some of these laws can be broken and it still be the right thing to do. I'll get to the "BIG" one later but for now I will start with one or two of the "little" ones of the 10.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy."(Exodus 20.8 Harper Study Bible. RSV) Most people say this means we must go to church every sunday (or saturday for some religions). For one thing there weren't any churches at the time that was written. Back then it meant that you stayed home and prayed. You didn't do any type of travelling not even to the neighbours, and you didn't do any kind of work not even tending the sheep. According to the Bible (Luke 14.1-6 Harper Study Bible. RSV) Jesus was asked about this and to paraphrase his response was that if you have a mule and the mule was in danger save the mule, EVEN on the Sabbath. This means if someone needs help on the day you are supposed to be going to church get off your ass and help them even if you miss church. There is no difference if they need help because their house is burning down or if they need to go to the store to get milk for their baby and have no vehicle to get to the store. They need help. To me this is a truer way of keeping the Sabbath holy than simply going to church.
"You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them..."(Exodus 20.4-5 Harper Study Bible. RSV) Tell me, what do you see in any church you go into? At the very least you see a depiction of some sort of Jesus hanging on the cross; more often you see angels in stained glass, statues of Jesus and Mary. If you go into a Catholic church I guarantee you that you will find at least one person praying to the Virgin Mary (or one of the plethora of saints) for guidance or forgiveness. Modern Christianity has become full of statues and images that could be construed as idols, but because it all involves Jesus and the Saints these idols have become accepted as right.
"You shall not kill" (Exodus 20.13 Harper Study Bible. RSV) This is the big one. It is in every lawbook in every country on the face of the planet. Killing another human being is wrong. Every one knows this right? I am not going to turn to the Bible for an arguement against this, rather I am going to use my own personal belief. If anyone ever is a threat to my loved ones physical well being I will do anything within my power to stop them. If I must break an arm to prevent someone from beating my wife or kids then call the ER and have a cast ready. If I have to kill some one who is threatening to murder my family... then call the morgue. I wouldn't think twice until it was over. The laws of every country I can think of calls this justifiable homicide, "self defence and the defence of others." If killing someone to stop them from killing someone I love is wrong then I freely condemn myself to hell.
These are only some of the circumstances that can make what we as a society believe to be wrong become the right thing to do. Circumstances affect every aspect of our lives. They shape who we are. Although we tend to see right and wrong as black and white issues we forget that in the spectrum between black and white is a myriad of shades of grey.