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F.H. Bradley interpreted Hegel's philosophical method as ‘dialectical', and that as the method of Bradley's Ethical Studies, defined the human individual as essentially a social being. [1] The relevance of this statement has implications regarding the individual as fulfilling his highest goal for himself and society by being self-realized. Can it be that in fulfilling individual desires that an individual finds coherence and identity? Let us investigate this idea more closely.
In a way, Hegelian ethics supports the biblical notion that people are created for a purpose. Look at the worldwide interest in Rick Warren’s A Purpose-Driven Life to find agreement. Where Darwinism and Nihilism have defined people as a cosmic accident, things that offer purpose and order trigger a positive response.
Where Hegelian ethics misses the mark is the indiscriminate agreement that all individual desires are positive to the individual and to society. This leans toward the absurd in that we would have to give credence to every mass-murdering tyrant whose only sin was that he was expressing himself. Ridiculous!
The 60s and 70s in America was a period of social tension because you had a relatively large number of Baby Boomers rejecting their parent’s norms, and tossing out the baby with the bathwater, as it were, looking to reinvent society. Their desire was to change society by “finding themselves” and practicing “free love” through sexual promiscuity. Was the result the fulfillment that Hegel predicted? No. The result was that a lot of people became lost instead of “finding themselves.”
In the area of homosexuality, the same appears to be true. They have found methods to redefine words, like their use of the highjacked term “Gay,” to make themselves look like they have a positive societal role. In finding ways to politically protect what was, until very recently, considered deviant behavior that was physical and mental health threats to society, the homosexual community has created another large cross-section of lost people.
John Davis claims:
There was a prominent news story about a "pregnant man." This was designed to redefine and reorient, but all it does is deceive. This is not a pregnant man, this is a woman who decided to be surgically altered to look like a man, who was artificially inseminated, while she lived with her lesbian lover. Let us call things as they are.
If we are indeed people of God, we are people who love; but in our love we must not cast aside the truth. God’s word is truth and what it says about homosexuality stands no matter what judge or government lobby says. Make no mistake, the Lord himself will have the final word on this matter.
AL
1 Richard Norman. The Moral Philosophers; An Introduction to Ethics. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 112.
2 John J. Davis. Evangelical Ethics; Issues Facing the Church Today, 3rd ed. (New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2004), 121.
In a way, Hegelian ethics supports the biblical notion that people are created for a purpose. Look at the worldwide interest in Rick Warren’s A Purpose-Driven Life to find agreement. Where Darwinism and Nihilism have defined people as a cosmic accident, things that offer purpose and order trigger a positive response.
Where Hegelian ethics misses the mark is the indiscriminate agreement that all individual desires are positive to the individual and to society. This leans toward the absurd in that we would have to give credence to every mass-murdering tyrant whose only sin was that he was expressing himself. Ridiculous!
The 60s and 70s in America was a period of social tension because you had a relatively large number of Baby Boomers rejecting their parent’s norms, and tossing out the baby with the bathwater, as it were, looking to reinvent society. Their desire was to change society by “finding themselves” and practicing “free love” through sexual promiscuity. Was the result the fulfillment that Hegel predicted? No. The result was that a lot of people became lost instead of “finding themselves.”
In the area of homosexuality, the same appears to be true. They have found methods to redefine words, like their use of the highjacked term “Gay,” to make themselves look like they have a positive societal role. In finding ways to politically protect what was, until very recently, considered deviant behavior that was physical and mental health threats to society, the homosexual community has created another large cross-section of lost people.
John Davis claims:
Foundational for any Christian understanding of human sexuality is the creation account in Genesis 1-2. God's original creative intent is manifested in the creation of male and female in his own image and likeness (Gen. 1:27). Human sexuality is reflected in the differentiation of two, not three or four, sexual genders, or some androgynous combination of the two. [2]What, then, should Christians do? We must be discerning. We must not be taken in by rhetorical gibberish and redefinitions of terms that are meant to spawn an emotional reaction rather than a response based on the foundation of love and logic. In other words, we must distinguish between apples and oranges. I have heard that they are not really the same thing.
There was a prominent news story about a "pregnant man." This was designed to redefine and reorient, but all it does is deceive. This is not a pregnant man, this is a woman who decided to be surgically altered to look like a man, who was artificially inseminated, while she lived with her lesbian lover. Let us call things as they are.
If we are indeed people of God, we are people who love; but in our love we must not cast aside the truth. God’s word is truth and what it says about homosexuality stands no matter what judge or government lobby says. Make no mistake, the Lord himself will have the final word on this matter.
AL
1 Richard Norman. The Moral Philosophers; An Introduction to Ethics. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 112.
2 John J. Davis. Evangelical Ethics; Issues Facing the Church Today, 3rd ed. (New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2004), 121.
