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In this episode of The Bible for Normal People Podcast, Jared responds to Skillet lead singer, John Copper, and his public statement, “What in God’s Name is Happening in Christianity?” Jared unpacks Christian ethics and the origins of our collective concept of right and wrong and he explores the following questions:

  • Where does our sense of morality come from and how does the Bible fit into that?
  • Is the Bible a good place to go for our ethical foundation?
  • Is it possible that we’ve been raised with some generational baggage around this topic that may be coloring our view of Biblical morality?
  • Is it the Bible or the Holy Spirit that guides us into all truth?
  • If we don’t have the Bible to form our ethics, will we go on a moral rampage?
  • Where do we get our sense of right and wrong from?
  • Is the character of God found in the Bible?
  • What is the Problem of Evil?
  • Do the rules and laws from the Bible apply to the 21st century?
  • Christian ethics is heavily dependent on…what?
  • What element can we use from the Bible as our ethical rubric?
  • What do ethics, love, and culture have to do with one another?
  • Do our ethics shape the way we read the Bible or does reading the Bible shape our ethics?
  • Is the Bible an ethical rulebook?
  • What is our image-bearing responsibility regarding Christian ethics?

Tweetables

Pithy, shareable, less-than-280-character statements you can share.

  • “How do we make moral decisions based on something that’s unclear and ambiguous?” @jbyas
  • “Christian ethics [is] heavily dependent on the Spirit of God… to guide us as a community of faith.” @jbyas
  • “ We have to take our ethics and our experiences to the Bible and make decisions from there.” @jbyas
  • “Wisdom is necessary to figure out what is loving.” @jbyas
  • “Our experiences shape how we read the Bible and our Bible is part of that experience that shapes our ethics.” @jbyas
  • “It is dangerous to think that the Bible alone gives us an ethic.” @jbyas
  • “Each generation has to take what’s been passed down to us and we have to struggle with it.” @jbyas

Mentioned in this episode:

Pete Enns, Ph.D.

Peter Enns (Ph.D., Harvard University) is Abram S. Clemens professor of biblical studies at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He has written numerous books, including The Bible Tells Me So, The Sin of Certainty, and How the Bible Actually Works. Tweets at @peteenns.