Posted on by Abe Austin

Faulty Overcorrection

I believe that societies generally strive to align with truth and reality, but being mortal, we inevitably get some of it wrong. It takes time, but eventually we do catch on to these errors, but unfortunately it is then our tendency to overcorrect in the other direction, and another generation goes by before we realize it. Letting go of the last generation’s mistakes is so pleasant, that we do not recognize the new harm we’re causing until we’ve already passed it on to the next generation.

I see this very keenly with my own millennial generation, which recognized the folly of mandatory morality, but which overcorrected into licentiousness. Mandatory morality can also be described as “perfectionism.” It was the pattern that many millennials were raised with, where we were given this notion that we had to do all of the good things. We had to go to church. We had to get married and have children. We had to grow up and act responsible. And yes, all of these are objectively good things, the very things that every society should have as its top priorities. The problem, though, was that “had” that came with them.

Millennials hated that had. We balked at the notion that our agency was being stripped from us, and we were hellbent on proving that we didn’t have to do anything that we didn’t want to. And prove it we did, by abandoning all the best things of society. We became atheists, we deconstructed the nuclear family, we refused to leave our adolescence. All to prove a point to the prior generation, we ruined our own sense of purpose and happiness, and demanded that the next generation should also be raised with no duties or obligations.

It would have been a great sign of wisdom and nuance, if we could have instead corrected the error while still preserving everything else that was good. I do wish that millennials had said, “you’re wrong, we don’t have to do the good things, but we do choose to.”

Of course, it’s not as if my generation’s story is over. Perhaps we went astray, but we may still have time to get wiser and set things right.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Choose Your Conviction

People, as a general rule, don’t choose their beliefs
They give their core conviction to a single, ultimate Being
Or Philosophy
Or Cause
And then their beliefs are given to them by that source
So, choose your core conviction wisely

Posted on by Abe Austin

False Moral Dilemmas- Conclusion

Summary)

In this series I explored the world’s strange fascination with moral dilemmas, noted how many of them are unbelievable and contrived, and how even the ones with a historical precedent always had a moral option, even if you have to look outside the box to find it. Another key point that I mentioned was the importance of recognizing disengagement as an option. If you are presented options A and B, and both would compromise your conscience, you could always just do nothing at all.

I also pointed out how both outside-the-box thinking and moral inaction are demonstrated in the life of Jesus. It is from him that we see that the perfect path, with no moral compromise, is actually possible.

At least, it is possible in theory. I also acknowledged that each of us will, of course, compromise ourselves at some point, but that we need to accept and confess that failure, not try to sweep it under the rug by saying we had no choice but to do wrong. We can both have grace for our poor choices while admitting that they were, indeed, poor choices.

The Uncomfortable Truth)

Accepting these truths can be uncomfortable as they leave us no way to hide from the reality of difficult moral choices. Believing that there is no good choice is the easier option, as it justifies us in shrinking from painful consequences. Once we accept that there is always a good path, then we can no longer betray God in ignorance. Then, any time that we do something to get what we want or to avoid pain, we do it with eyes wide open, and we know that we will have to account for it someday.

It is, therefore, both a blessing and a burden to know that choosing good is always an option. That knowledge might condemn us to dissatisfaction or pain in the short term, but it is also the path to ultimate redemption.

Posted on by Abe Austin

False Moral Dilemmas- The Third Choice

The Need for Miracles)

In the last post we discussed so-called moral dilemmas present us with only bad choices, each a compromise of conscience, but if we are willing and creative enough to find it, there is typically another option that sidesteps the dilemma and allows us to keep on the straight and narrow. First, we have to move outside of the manufactured box that our tester has put us in, then see the full range of possible choices, and finally be willing to accept the consequences for sticking to what is right.

Indeed, a common theme all throughout the Bible is people who are faced with exactly these sorts of situations, who then have to step outside the bounds of their initial perception and rely on a miracle to accomplish good and retain their souls. Think of Lot, who saw his only choices as letting the wicked men of the city either rape his guests or his daughters, but who was then saved by angels. Think of Joseph who could either put Mary away in secret or have her stoned for adultery, but who then received a heavenly message to show him that she truly bore the son of God. Think of Solomon who had two women claiming to be the mother of the same child, with nothing in their testimony to show him whom to believe, but who was blessed with wisdom to find out the truth.

Moral dilemmas, and their outside-the-box solutions, are a key theme in the scriptures. When the righteous are faced with no-win scenarios, that’s when the hand of God becomes manifest to show them another way. Indeed, the entire point of the gospel is that it provides a surprise solution to a damned situation. Many of us will sin and earn the suffering of hell, while those that die in their innocence are still swallowed in the grave. No matter which path we take through this life, we’re damned, at least we were until a Savior presented us a miraculous alternative.

The Master of Third Options)

It comes as no surprise that Jesus, himself, was a master of resolving seeming no-win, moral dilemmas. I think more than any other figure in the Bible he was put to the test with contrived situations that tried to get him to compromise himself one way or another.

Think of when the Pharisees brought him the woman taken in adultery, and asked if he would uphold Moses’s law, which required the stoning of the woman. Would he deny the law? That would be heretical. Would he condemn her to death? That would go against his mission to forgive and to save. Jesus stepped outside of their trap, though, and said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” In so doing, he touched their guilt and got them to slink away in shame.

But it’s not as though he was denying the justice of the law. Jesus was still worthy to stone her, but also, he was able to forgive her because he would take her stoning upon himself when he laid his life down as a ransom for the world. Thus, Jesus did not transgress justice, nor embrace condemnation. He found a third way to satisfy justice and make space for mercy.

Think also of when he was asked whether the people should pay taxes to their oppressor Caesar. On the one hand, he could say that yes, they were required to pay their taxes, which would offend the people. Or he could say no, that they should defy Caesar, which would make him an enemy of the state. Jesus, however, chose a third option. He showed the people that their entire framing was wrong. They were putting too much value in worldly currency, thinking that it amounted to anything of moral weight in the eyes of the Lord. He reminded them that worldly treasure and spiritual sacrifice were two separate things, one properly pertaining to the world and one to God. By helping to disentangle the two, and setting the spiritual as superior to the temporal, Jesus found a third path that both approved the paying of taxes while also diminishing its importance in the broader scheme of things.

The stories of Jesus and others in the Bible shows us that we may be given traps where it appears that there are no good solutions, but that if we have some ingenuity, or even some divine intervention, the moral way is still there for us. As Paul told the Corinthians, “With the temptation,” God will “also make a way to escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Posted on by Abe Austin

False Moral Dilemmas- Nazis at the Door

A Real-Life Example)

Yesterday I made the assertion that most moral dilemmas are manufactured. By far, the correct moral option is apparent in our day-to-day choices, and that thought experiments like the trolley problem tie themselves in unrealistic knots to try and force a situation where every action seems to be morally compromised.

But are there any other thought experiments that are based on historical fact? Situations that people really faced where every action was wrong?

Well, another common thought experiment that seems at first glance to fit the bill is that of the Nazis at the door. This one is at least based on an actual historical occurrence. During World War Two, there were people that would hide Jews, and Nazi soldiers would be sent from door-to-door, investigating whether anyone in the community knew where the Jews were. So, the thought experiment is simply to put yourself in the place of someone who knows where the Jews are hiding, with a Nazi officer having just asked you to reveal them.

The question is, would you lie and say that you don’t know where they are? Or, because lying is wrong, would you tell them the truth, resulting in their likely death? This is presented as an example of a time where obviously the “correct” choice is to lie. The example is given to convince us that sometimes we must do wrong to prevent a greater wrong from occurring.

The Third Choice)

But the whole thought experiment is flawed. As with the trolley problem, the situation is always presented with only two choices, implicitly discouraging any sort of moral creativity. But to suggest that lying or betraying the Jews are the only options is false.

How’s this for a third choice: refuse to engage with the Nazis by principle? Whether you know where Jews are hiding or not, you could always just refuse to say a word to them. Of course, that might have some very painful repercussions on you. You might be hurt, you might be killed, but there’s no denying that this way you didn’t do anything to compromise your conscience.

Perhaps we don’t feel that we have the moral fortitude to commit to such a course of action. Perhaps we would rather compromise our soul than suffer the consequences of silence. Fair enough, we’re all a work in progress, but let us admit that the error is in us, not in the logic of the universe. There is no paradox of having to do wrong to achieve right, our dilemma is that our fear has precluded the only good option, leaving only bad ones before us.

So, once again, we have a thought experiment designed to force us into compromising our morals, but once again it is contrived and forced. Purely moral behavior still remains an option.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Choice in the Time of Proving

Our lives are defined by a few pivotal choices, special moments where we are presented with what is easy on one side, and what is right on the other, and then we prove to ourselves and anyone observing whether or not we are a person of principle, someone who will stick to conscience no matter what.

It is important that we don’t see these moments as predetermined by who we already are, though. It is not as if our quality of character is already locked in, and we simply behave according to our predetermined nature. No, these are moments of active free will. Suppose we have a moment where the right thing is to divulge a difficult truth. We can say to ourselves, “I’ve always struggled with honesty, but I wish I were the sort of person who told the truth, no matter what, and here in this moment I can behave as if I were.” Then, we can make the choice to be that person of honesty just in that moment, and that decision transforms us into really being that way.

Do not worry whether you will have the necessary qualities when the time comes, simply resolve to make the choice that is right, whether you think you’re ready for it or not. No matter the hesitation and doubt, you can choose to be the person that you always wanted to be.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Exodus 32:9-10

9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

These are some interesting verses, showing God with a singular intent, and in the next verses we will hear how Moses dissuaded Him from it. Does this mean that God’s plans were not set in stone? How does this sort of behavior stack up to the Christian teaching that God is always right and can always be trusted? How can He be all-merciful if Moses is showing a greater degree of mercy than He is?

We’ll examine several aspects of these questions over the next couple days as we consider each batch of verses. For today I will address two of these issues, starting with the question of whether or not God’s plans are set in stone. How could His plans and promises be fulfilled if He destroyed the people He had intended to save?

An explanation for this is that there can be multiple acceptable paths by which the Lord is able to accomplish His purposes and promises. Either He could continue to strive with the children of Jacob, or He could cut them off and raise the children of Moses to receive the Promised Land instead. Obviously, either path would fulfill His promises to Abraham and the Israelite people as a whole.

As for the matter of whether God was all-merciful or not, I would say that this story illustrates that God is all-good. Justice is good. Mercy is good. God is able to execute perfect justice, and He is also capable of showing perfect mercy. Many of us are not so versatile. We are either very good at showing mercy, but weak at standing up for justice, or else we are good at maintaining justice, but struggle to show mercy. In the course of these verses, we see God’s openness to both, which is a testament to His full breadth of goodness.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Shackles We Choose

Something I have been noticing while doing my study of Exodus is that Israel hated their enslavement in Egypt…but they also preferred it to being free. Though initially euphoric when God destroyed their enemies in the Red Sea, they repeatedly afterwards claimed that things were better for them when they were in captivity than free in the wilderness.

It seemed a strange behavior, until I examined my own life and realized that the same is true for me. As much as I may not like feeling subject to my boss, I cannot fathom living without the security he provides me. I think of all the projects I wish devoted my spare time to, but I’m afraid to cut out the movies and video games that receive most of my spare hours instead. I see my cluttered house and want to set it in order, but focus instead on the mess of emails I’m subscribed to. I say that I’m ready to live a self-controlled and honorable life, then I obey the will of my temptations instead.

From my birth I was blessed with great opportunity and freedom, given to me by the goodness of God and the sacrifices of my ancestors. But I have taken that freedom and given it right back to other masters. There is no locked gate keeping me captive, most of the prisons I have checked myself into I could leave any time that I wanted, but I choose to bind myself to these places of my own volition. I remain a prisoner because I am not ready to be truly free.

My conscience urges me to forge out into the wild. My Savior freed my soul two millennia ago. My ancestors provided the security to let my ambitions soar. I pray I find the courage to live as free as I could, to have no Master but my God, the one who calls me into deeper waters.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Thought for the Day: Inevitable Disappointment

An argument that is made for giving in to our hedonistic desires is that it is cruel to perpetually deny and disappoint ourselves. But really, disappointment is a given. For on the one hand we want one thing, but on the other hand we want its opposite.

We want to get away with telling lies, but we also want to be understood as we truly are. We want to lust, but we also want to have mastery over self. We want to treat ourselves as the center of the universe, but we also want to be part of something that bigger than ourselves. We want to be lazy, but we also want to be there when others need us.

Disappointment, frustration, self-denial…one way or another all of these are inevitable. And so long as one side of us has to be disappointed, why not make it be the carnal, selfish, and dishonest side?

Posted on by Abe Austin

Thought for the Day- Choosing to Surrender Choice

Overcoming our bad habits often requires removing the element of choice. We make a commitment to not do the bad habit anymore, and thus the choice is already made and doesn’t have to be made again.

But then, a little later, we make an exception and indulge in the habit. Or perhaps we decide that we will engage in the behavior to some degree, if not all the way. At this point we have created the option to do the behavior to some extent if the conditions are right. So now it becomes a matter of judgment again. The borders have been blurred, and from that point on, we must debate whether each successive situation warrants getting to indulge in the bad habit again or not. Thus, our bad habit has once again become a matter of choice. And this is why we give up on our commitments shortly after making them.

We should set our commitments, refuse to make exceptions, and remove the element of choice.