MORAL QUESTIONS
Parking
You have driven to your destination and selected your parking
space. Since you have plenty of time now, but you will be hurried when
you leave, you decide to reverse into the parking space. At the time,
you don't realize that the space between the two adjacent parked cars
is rather narrow, and you will be going uphill. However, as you know
that you are particularly unskilled at parking, you take your time.
Unsurprisingly, your first attempt is unsuccessful, so you go forward
and backward to correct your angle. This time, you think you can make
it, but because you're very close to one of the adjacent cars, you
decide to play it safe and correct again. Now you notice that there
were two cars that have been forced to wait for you, because you were
blocking their path. As you're backing into the parking space for the
third time, one of those drivers honks the horn. You accelerate just a
bit more, and you hit the car parked beside you.
Is
this behavior sinful? Probably not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Maybe
not.
Commentary:
I think your heart was in the right place. You were trying to
serve the
other two drivers. And although you did harm to the adjacent car, it
was an unintended accident. It can be argued that your
original decision to park in reverse only served yourself, although you
didn't realize that it would cause harm to others as you didn't see the
other two drivers at the time.
A
Dollar
You are next in a checkout line at a store. The person currently being
served is a boy about eight or nine years old. He is buying a package
of diapers. You see he is being charged $10.82, but he only has ten
dollars. You immediately give the boy a dollar from your wallet.
Is
this behavior sinful? Definitely not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Definitely.
Commentary:
This one is very obvious. The only possible argument is that
your
behavior might have been a little bit self-serving, since you are now
likely to get out of the store more quickly than if you had waited and
let the boy suffer for a while until he finally left (or the cashier
decided to pay the difference for him).
Left
Turn
You are approaching an intersection with a traffic light, and you
intend to make a left turn. You see that the turn signal has just
changed to green, and you know that this is a fast light. There are two
left turn lanes. The lane you are in has three cars, and the other lane
has two cars. There is nobody behind you or beside you, so you decide
to switch to the other lane.
Is
this behavior sinful? Definitely not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Surely
not.
Commentary:
Although your behavior is entirely self-serving, it doesn't
cause any
harm to anyone. However, the only reason that it might glorify God is
that he may appreciate that the resource (the space for another car to
get through the light) did not go to waste.
Pedestrian
As you are driving, you see that there is a
pedestrian up ahead who clearly intends to cross the road. There is no
crosswalk, so he is waiting patiently at the side of the street. Since
you have plenty of time to stop safely, and there are no cars behind
you, you decide to come to a
complete stop in order to enable the pedestrian to cross the street in
front of you.
Is
this behavior sinful? Probably not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Definitely.
Commentary: Certainly
you have made a sacrifice. The only reason for doubt is that your
decision
required the pedestrian to wait longer than if you had followed the
laws (you did have the right of way) and maintained speed.
Gladiators, Part 1
In the time of the Roman Empire, two gladiators are thrown into the
Colloseum. They are supposed to fight to the death for the
entertainment of many people, including the Emperor. They know that if
neither dies within a certain amount of time, lions will be released,
and they will both surely die. They quickly learn that both of them are
religious people who try to be righteous, so they talk to each other to
try to determine what they should do. One says to the other, "I will do
whatever you tell me to do. I will even drive my sword into my own
heart if that is what you tell me to do."
Is this behavior sinful? It
depends.
Does this behavior glorify God? It
depends.
Commentary: It depends on the
gladiator's motive. At first glance, it seems like extremely
selfless behavior. However, it could be considered cowardly to force
the other gladiator to make this very difficult decision. There is also
the possibility that he expects the other gladiator to make the same
gesture, and he will use that opportunity to save himself, believing
that it is not a sinful decision in that situation.
Gladiators, Part 2
The
second gladiator thinks for a bit. He finally says, "I know that murder
is sinful, so I won't kill you. It would be equally wrong for me to
command you to murder me or yourself. So, I have decided
we will not fight. We will put our trust in God and hope that the lions
choose not to eat us as in the book of Daniel. And then we must also
hope that the Emperor will be impressed with the power of our God so
that he doesn't order his soldiers to kill us."
Is this behavior sinful? Surely
not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Probably.
Commentary: This parallels a story
in the
Talmud, where two people are stranded on a boat, with enough water for
only one person to survive for only one week. They know
that they will be saved in a week, so at least one of them must die.
The Talmud concludes that they should share the water and hope
for the best. Despite
the Talmud's opinion, if God considers this decision to be utter
stupidity, it would not bring Him glory.
Speeding
A resident of
Washington, D.C. is driving on Route 495. The posted speed limit is
55mph, however he is driving at a speed of 64mph. He knows that, in
this society, speeding is normal, and everybody does it. The
authorities also know this, so they set the speed limit 10mph lower
than they actually consider to be safe, and the police are ordered not
to ticket people as long as they stay within 10mph of the posted speed
limit. In addition, if a driver were to go under 55mph, he would need
to stay in the rightmost lane, and he should probably turn on his
flashers, because he would be a hazard on the road.
Is this behavior sinful? Perhaps
not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Perhaps.
Commentary: One should follow the intent of the law, rather than the letter of the law. This better
serves the other drivers on the road, and it is God's will that we
should serve other people. However, if this driver's motivation is to
get to his destination more quickly, rather than to help the other
drivers, his decision might not be so good.
Flaunt It
Laura isn't that
bright. Although she tried her best, she failed to graduate from High
School. She just didn't have what it takes. And she has no real skills,
per se, and of course, going to school to learn a skill is out of the
question. Really, her only realistic hope is to find a husband who can
support her. In the meantime, she must find some job that doesn't
require any real skill but still pays enough to balance the budget.
Now, she's not too much to look at. She's not what you would
call "ugly," but nobody would consider her to be attractive. And her
personality leaves a lot to be desired. She's prone to lose her temper,
and she can be extremely cruel to whoever happens to be within striking
distance. She lacks a sense of humor, her voice is abrasive, and she is
constantly crying, "I don't understand." Really, the only thing she has
going for her is that she has the most amazingly fantastic knockout
breasts. So, in order to make the best use of her assets, she decides
to get herself a high-paying job at Hooters, and she dresses
provocatively whenever she's around single men.
Is this behavior sinful? I don't
think so.
Does this behavior glorify God? Perhaps.
Commentary: This is a tough one. One can argue
that men ought to stay away from Hooters and avert their eyes from
provocatively-dressed women, so Laura's behavior should be ineffective.
However, the morality of men's behavior is another question entirely.
The fact remains that Hooters makes a fine profit, and provocatively
dressed women do attract men. And, although Laura's behavior might
encourage men to sin, it's not clear that Laura's behavior is sinful in
and of itself. As for glorifying God, well it was God who gave her this
one and only gift, so it could be argued that she is following God's
will. But I realize that it isn't hard to argue the other side. So,
again, this is a tough one.
Thou Shalt
Not Steal, Part 1
Fred is walking down
the street, and he finds a wallet lying on the ground. He opens it up
to discover that it has two dollars along with an identification card
and contact
information. He spends the money on candy and returns the wallet.
Is this behavior sinful? Yes.
Does this behavior glorify God? No.
Commentary: Even though the amount of money is very small, and the owner probably won't even miss it, this is a clear case of stealing, which violates the eighth commandment.
Thou Shalt Not Steal, Part 2
Fred is walking down
the street, and he finds a one hundred dollar bill lying on the ground.
He spends the money on groceries.
Is this behavior sinful? Probably
not.
Does this behavior glorify God? No.
Commentary: Unlike the last
question, this is a significant amount of money, but this time,
there is no easy way to return it to its owner. When somebody loses a
$100 bill, you could argue that he/she ceases to be the owner of that
money. But perhaps Fred ought to try return it before spending it. Here
are some creative ideas. 1) He could post a classified ad stating
that whoever can tell him what the serial number is can have the money.
2) He could put the money
back where he found it in the hope that the owner will come back
looking for it. 3) He could release it on a windy day so that God can
return it to the proper person.
Thou Shalt
Not Steal, Part 3
Fred is sitting in the
upper deck at a major league baseball game. After the fourth inning, he
moves down to an empty seat right behind home plate. He does know that
all of the seats in this section belong to season ticket holders, but
it's unlikely that the seat's proper owner will show up this late in
the game. And if the owner does come, he will get up and take a
different seat. So he sits down and enjoys the great view for the rest
of the game.
Is this behavior sinful? Maybe not.
Does this behavior glorify God? Surely
not.
Commentary: Technically, this is stealing. Somebody paid a lot of money for that seat, so it rightfully belongs to him/her. Since that person never explicitly gave Fred the seat, by taking it, he is stealing, violating the eighth commandment. However, the seat's owner didn't come to the game, so surely he/she wouldn't care if Fred sat in it. After all, he's not going to do it any damage, so nobody will be hurt by his decision. And if he doesn't take the seat, it would simple go to waste, so the argument in Left Turn might even apply.
Thou Shalt
Not Steal, Part 4
Fred's company has
given him a computer with a huge hard drive. All of his work-related
files don't even fill 25% of this disk space. So, despite the fact that
his company has a written policy forbidding the use of company
resources for personal use, he fills another 25% of the disk with
personal files after making sure that there are no viruses in those
files. And if, in the future, he should need more space for
work-related files, he is fully prepared to remove his personal files.
Is this behavior sinful? Maybe.
Does this behavior glorify God? Surely
not.
Commentary: This is very similar to the last question. The primary difference is the
company policy. In this case, if Fred is caught, there will probably be
unpleasant consequences. But, even if he doesn't get caught, it is
technically stealing, because the hard drive belongs to his company.
However, the same counterargument from Left
Turn applies here as well: That disk
space will simply go to waste if Fred doesn't use it.
Thou Shalt Not Steal, Part 5
Fred's company has
given him a computer with a huge hard drive. All of his work-related
files
don't even fill 25% of this disk space. So, despite the fact that his
company has a written policy forbidding the use of company resources
for personal use, he copies child pornography from his home computer to
his work computer. (As in the previous question,
there are no viruses, and he will remove his personal files if the disk
space is needed for work-related files.)
Is this behavior sinful? Almost
certainly.
Does this behavior glorify God? No.
Commentary: It certainly is sinful and illegal
to possess child pornography. But that's not the question here, since
Fred already possesses the files on his home computer. But does it make
matters worse if he copies it to his work computer? I'd say yes,
because that computer represents his company. So if the police should
discover the illegal files on his work computer, there would probably
be unpleasant repercussions for his company.