I had a moment of conscience today. I said to myself, "I should get a post up for the biblical morality class." What do you suppose drove that thought? Guilt? A sense of commitment to my class? Is it a love for the work? Jiminy Cricket plays Pinocchio's conscience in the beloved Disney classic film. Was it my inner cricket speaking? Where does that voice come from?
Speaking of Jiminy Cricket, did you know the name is a substitute for Jesus Christ. To say "Jiminy Christmas" or "Jiminy Crickets" is to avoid taking Jesus' name in vain. Apparently the expression was used in the 1930-'s and 40's. Is it moral to use a substitute curse word? Remember Robin Williams in the television show Mork and Mindy? He used to say "Shazbot" as his alien curse word. When I was a teenager we used to call each other all kinds of names out of fun. We changed words to something less offensive because we didn't want to draw the attentions of adults. Is this moral? How is is appropriate to call anyone a derogatory name even in fun?
What I am getting at is that there are always various ways to think about moral decisions. To call one another names would seem inappropriate excpet to the boys who revel in the friendship behind the brutish fun. A substitute curse word would seem good to one who doesn't wish to take the Lord's name in vain, but to another any exclamation that doesn't edify is a waste of breath and sinful. It requires us to reason out in our minds how we will behave based on our weighing of the evidence.
The fourth side to a foundational understanding of morality is "reason." We use scripture as our authority for moral direction. We read it within a tradition that equips us for understanding the scriptures. For our United Methodist tradition we read the bible as a means to a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We use experience, both our own and those outside the church, discerning how scripture confirms or challenges what the human community experiences. And we use the gift of reason, our knowledge, to arrive at an understanding of God's will. See http://www.philosophy-religion.org/beliefs/authority.htm for a brief article on the origins of this thinking. Richard Hooker, an Anglican theologian, identified scripture, tradition and reason as sources for discerning what is right for Christian life. He understood reason to be in the classical sense as Plato and Aristotle used it. Reason is participatory knowledge or practical wisdom. It is to operate from a lived knowing.
Too often voices in faith call us to turn off our minds to what we know from living in this life here and now. Some would have us accept that we do not know anything unless we believe what the bible says. We should remind ourselves that the revealed knowledge in scripture shines a light on our lived knowledge. The truths within scripture helps us to make sense of the lives we live in every generation, every era of history. Reasoning Christians learn to reflect on their experience and their knowledge of their lived lives in light of scripture within a tradition of interpretation and try to live lives pleasing to God.
The United Methodist Church publishes quadrennially the Book of Resolutions. In this publication you will find the church working through the church's faithful response to a variety of social challenges. In every case the resolutions are trying to reflect how the church is called by the gospel to be a witness to Christ and a servant to God and His creation. Scripture, tradition, experience and reason are called upon to make the case. While not every resolution is exemplar of the use of the quadrilateral, many are a thorough exhibition of our theological task.
See http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.2310045/ for more on the quadrilateral. For a look at what the UMC means by "reason" see http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?mid=1670
I should wrap up this post. Not because I have a moral obligation to do so, but because I am tired. My lived life gets the upper hand.
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