The Ethics of Lesser Evils and Greater Goods

As an ethics teacher and pastor I have noticed that many people reflexively think most choices are a stark contrast between “good versus evil”. In reality, very few choices are that clear cut.

The Rise of Homo Consumerensis

I’ve been pondering a feeling I have but cannot quite put into precise words. But it seems like our culture has less capacity, and desire, to think about and discuss ideas. Everything has turned into a politics of the putdown, and diatribes of denigration. In the late 90's to early 00's, I remember having lively discussions online and in real life about theological and philosophical topics with regular folks: From predestination, to the nature of God, to acceptance of LGBT persons, to capital punishment, to what goes on in the Sacrament.

On subtle whoring and Kierkegaard

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were listening to an 80's station, when they played an awful song from the 80's that I had never heard before. Except, it was not "turn-the-station" awful, but rather "a-trainwreck-you-can't-not-look-at" awful. That song is the immortal "I've never been to me" by the singer Charlene.

Living in Romans 7 | Longing for Romans 8

I was a jerk the other day. I sinned against God and my neighbor. And I am under a lot of stress with ministry, seminary, family, lack of sleep, and a half dozen other things. So, when I was talking to a friend today, he said it sounded like I was not taking responsibility for what I did. Instead, I was blaming what I did on the stuff going on around me. And he was right. I was focusing way too much on what was going on around me, and not what was going on in me.

We all do stupid things when we get stressed to medicate ourselves so we don't have to think about the things that worry us. The Bible calls these stupid things sin. Recovery groups call it addiction. Family therapists call it dysfunction. And the doctor calls it sickness. I am not sure that any of these terms fully capture the reality of what is wrong with us, deep down inside, that causes us to make dumb decisions that hurt others and ourselves and our God.

Revolt!

Time to come clean. I am obsessed with consumerism, because I think that consumerism will be the spiritual force to recon with in this century (maybe longer). I believe it will be the "delivery vehicle" through which the enemy will try to accomplish what CS Lewis calls "the abolition of man". The enemy used nationalism, fascism, and communism as his primary delivery vehicles in the 19th and 20th centuries. But, now consumerism is trying to consume all human society and make humans into the perfect renewable resource. It has a vested interest in destroying families, churches, and every other "support structure" in our lives so that we have to rely on purchasing products to be "whole" people (wholly addicted, that is). I really think that consumerism is one of the powers that makes Christianity so powerless in our society.