{"id":4890,"date":"2009-05-08T12:52:44","date_gmt":"2009-05-08T12:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/friday-is-for-friends-matt-edw-1.html"},"modified":"2009-05-08T12:52:44","modified_gmt":"2009-05-08T12:52:44","slug":"friday-is-for-friends-matt-edw-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/friday-is-for-friends-matt-edw-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Friday is for Friends: Matt Edwards"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RobBell.jpg\"<\/span>On Fridays we often post material from our readers, and this is the last on my recent submissions. So, if you have something you think would fit on this blog, send it in … This one is from Matt Edwards.<\/i><\/p>\n

From Matt Edwards: <\/i>During his Sex God<\/i> tour, Rob Bell reportedly said that people
\nhave no moral authority to speak on the issue of homosexuality unless
\nthey have homosexual friends and understand their struggle.<\/p>\n

How significant is personal knowledge for making moral decisions?  Does Bell’s rule work for other ethical issues? <\/b><\/p>\n

Dietrich
\nBonhoeffer had similar ideas. He criticized people for being enslaved
\nto hypothetical ethical “duties,” while ignoring the real plights of
\ntheir real neighbors.<\/p>\n

In Ethics<\/i>, he wrote: <\/p>\n

[Christ] was not, like a philosopher,
\ninterested in the ‘universally valid,’ but rather in that which is of
\nhelp to the real and concrete human being. What worried Him was not,
\nlike Kant, whether ‘the maxim of an action can become a principle of
\ngeneral legislation,’ but whether my action is at this moment helping
\nmy neighbor to become a man before God.
\nHe continued:
\nWhat can and must be said is not what is good once for all, but the way
\nin which Christ takes form among us here and now. The attempt to define
\nthat which is good once for all has, in the nature of the case, always
\nended up in failure.
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nBoth Bell and Bonhoeffer note the significance of real<\/i> implications for real<\/i> people in ethical dialogue. <\/p>\n

You could argue that Christ showed the same concern. He healed people on the Sabbath, showing disregard for ethical norms in favor of helping his neighbor. He violated the purity in laws in eating with tax collectors and “sinners.” Even the parable of the Good Samaritan could be interpreted as advocating Bonhoeffer’s ethic. While the lawyer asked a question about hypothetical duties, Christ responded with a story involving real people with real needs.<\/p>\n

We can’t forget that ethical discussions always involve real<\/i> people. There is no such thing as a hypothetical discussion. Often, when we speak in the hypothetical, we do more harm than good.
\nOn the other hand, if we limit ourselves to ethical discussions stemming directly out of our own experience, we muzzle ourselves in public ethical dialogue. <\/p>\n

Can we say, “No one has the moral authority to speak against human trafficking unless they have a friend whose livelihood depends upon the industry”? What about, “No one has the right to condemn usury unless they know a loan shark”?
\nThere seems to be some truth to the warnings of Rob Bell and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. We need to be careful about hypothetical ethical pronouncements. And yet, the alternative to making such pronouncements doesn’t seem workable either. What do we do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Fridays we often post material from our readers, and this is the last on my recent submissions. So, if you have something you think would fit on this blog, send it in … This one is from Matt Edwards. From Matt Edwards: During his Sex God tour, Rob Bell reportedly said that people have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nFriday is for Friends: Matt Edwards - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/05\/friday-is-for-friends-matt-edw-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friday is for Friends: Matt Edwards - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Fridays we often post material from our readers, and this is the last on my recent submissions. 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