“There is a way that seems right to a man...” So Solomon observed (Prov. 14:12). The problem is with that seems. Is any way that “seems” right as good as any other way? Are all ethical systems equally valid? If so, that only means they’re all equally invalid. Not everyone can be right, and not everything that might seem right will end up in our doing the right thing.

Our nation is adrift ethically. The voices of pragmatism – “whatever works” – and relativism – “whatever feels right” – have sold a bill of goods to the nation, and even members of the Christian community have bought into the lies of these destructive ethical systems.

But if pragmatism and relativism can’t lead us to do the right thing, then where can we turn? The Law of God, written on the hearts of all people, would seem a logical place to begin.

Christians these days have a strange relationship with God’s Law. On the one hand, they’re outraged that the Law of God is not posted in courts and schools all over the land. On the other hand, our churches devote very little time to teaching the Law of God – and many Christians devote even less to living it!

But since the Law is “holy and righteous and good” (Rom. 7:12), we would be well-advised, if we want to do the right thing, to look within our hearts, and to look in the commandments of God, and see what we can discover there to help us in learning how to love God and our neighbors and to create a just and loving society.

Here are some resources and activities to help you in this effort:

Resources for this topic

Uses of the Law in the Church by T. M. Moore

Whose Law Is It Anyway? by Charles Colson

Law and Gospel by T. M. Moore

King’s Dream: The Good Society and the Moral Law by Charles Colson

Martin Luther King and Natural Law by Chuck Edwards

Can We  Be Good Without God? by J. Budziszewski

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Written on the Heart, by J. Budziszewski from our online store. Be sure to order your copy of our new DVD series, Doing the Right Thing. Here’s a great resource for investigating the power of natural law for ethical behavior.

Activities

1. Talk with some non-Christian friends about your perception of the problem of ethics in our society. Ask them what they believe about ethics and values? How do they try to do the right thing? See what you can find out about the ethical beliefs of your friends and colleagues. Then consult some of the resources above to prepare an approach to keeping the conversation going.
2. Get with a friend or two and watch this week’s Two-minute Warning. Do they agree that there is a crisis of ethics in America at this time? What should the Church be doing to address this problem? Can Christians make a difference in the morality of a nation? If so, what must each of us do? Explore these questions together, then come to some agreement about how you will encourage one another in doing the right thing.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter
You need to get some conversations going on the topic of ethics. Here’s a conversation starter you might use: “Man, every time you turn around, someone is being undone by having done the wrong thing. Is it just me, or does there seem to be a lot of confusion in the air about ethics? How about you? How do you know to do the right thing in any situation?”

We often wonder why there is so much evil in the world. But is that really the right question? Why, in a world where secular humanism, postmodernism, and false religions of various stripes are promoting rebellion against the God Who made all things and sustains them by His Word of power – why, in a world which appears, in many ways, to be at war with the Christian worldview, why is there yet so much that is good?

We don’t have to look very far to see the evidence that even unbelieving people can do good things, even that they want to do good things. But since, as we have recently seen, sin is such a powerful and corrupting force for evil, why do so many good things and acts continue to flourish?

There are two answers to this. The first is that God is good and sovereign, and He works in and through all His creatures – which are all His servants (Ps. 119:89-91) – to bring good to human beings and to His creation.

But, second, part of the way He does this is by having written the works of His Law on the consciences of every human being (Rom. 2:14, 15). Every human being has at least an idea of good, and a desire to do what is right and good. Clashes and disagreements – even violence – come into human relationships when our idea of what is good degenerates to merely what is good for me, rather than what is truly good.

But because of the Law of God written on our hearts, we’re bound to bring forth things that not only agree with our sense of what is good, but which also reflect the good and perfect will of God and, thus, bring good to others as well. These good works won’t save anybody, but they’re certainly worth noting.

Here are some resources and activities to help you help other reflect on this idea:

Resources for this topic

Freedom, Metaphysics, and Natural Law by Lawrence S. Stepelevich

Protestants and Natural Law by J. Daryl Charles

Natural Law and the Law: An Exchange by Hadley Arkes, Russell Hittinger, et al

The Beginning of Freedom by Russell Hittinger

Martin Luther King and Natural Law by Chuck Edwards

Natural Law and Modern Economics by Jennifer Roback Morse

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Written on the Heart, by J. Budziszewski from our online store. Be sure to order your copy of our new DVD series, Doing the Right Thing. Here’s a great resource for investigating the power of natural law for ethical behavior.

Activities

1. Spend a day paying careful attention to all the evidences of good that you see around you. Later, at dinner with your family or friends, share your observations, and invite them to join you in prayers of thanksgiving for this evidence of the goodness of God.
2. Get with a friend or two and watch this week’s Two-minute Warning. Then talk about ways you see the tao – natural law – at work in people around you. Discuss opportunities for pointing out to others the workings of the Law of God on the hearts of people, and how doing so could lead to witnessing situations. Commit to initiating one such conversation in the week to come.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

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How do others account for all the good they see in the world? You might try asking them. Then you can say, “You know, the Bible says that God created us to do good, and that He even strives to bend us toward goodness by writing the works of His Law on our hearts. Do you ever feel a strong inclination to do something very, very good? How do you account for that?”

I suspect that for most Christians, “hate” is a four-letter word. Christians don’t “hate.” Christians love. Hate is bad. Love is good. We don’t want to teach our children to hate.

And that’s why Christians today have such a difficult time resisting temptation and repenting from sin. We don’t hate sin, even though the Bible commands those who love the Lord to do so (Ps. 97:10). We don’t hate sin, we just sort of put up with it. And the sin we put up with because we don’t hate it becomes the sin that affects and ruins everything we touch, all our relationships, roles, and responsibilities.

We need to recover the doctrine of sin in the American Church today, because the sin we refuse to hate is undermining the faith we profess and the nation we love. It’s time to get honest and get serious about sin. If we don’t the corrosive power and cancerous effects of sin will continue to destroy everything we hold dear.

So here’s a little summer reading as heavy as the humidity and heat which have draped the land these past several weeks. Read carefully and with a view to understanding sin and its effects. If you really come to understand sin, then, believe, you’ll begin to hate it.

Resources for this topic

A God-centered Understanding of Sin by Stephen Witmer

Hating Sin by T. M. Moore

Sin Happens by Matt Jenson

Satan’s Designs: The Corrosive Power of Sin by T. M. Moore

Whatever Happened to Sin? by Gary D. Robinson

The Utopian Impulse by Charles Colson

So Much Evil by T.M. Moore

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be, by Cornelius Ppantinga, from our online store.

Activities

1. Over the next few days, talk with some of your Christian friends about sin.  How do they understand sin? Does sin bother them? Can they say that they “hate” sin? What do your conversations suggest about the state of sin in your own church?
2. Look for some places in our society where it seems evident that sin is having a powerful effect. Pray about these areas, asking the Lord to use His people to bring renewing grace and truth in each of them. Consider one way that you might make an impact for grace and truth on just one of these areas. Take that step. Then do it again in another area next week.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities..

A conversation starter

Paul wrote about those who, wholly engulfed in the lie of unbelief, teach lies from “seared” consciences. They encouraged people to believe lies, and they felt no shame in doing so.

Shame, guilt, regret -- these are affections often associated with the conscience. But when the conscience has strayed so far from God’s design, these affections cannot play their proper role in people’s lives.

What is the state of the conscience in America today? Are more and more people becoming seared in their consciences, so that the feel no shame or guilt for anything? Can anything be done to renew the conscience in those who have believed the lie?

Conscience is a powerful component of the soul, and it is important that we as Christians understand it, nurture it, and guard it carefully. But we must also try to reach the consciences of the people around us with the straightforward truth of God. For only the truth of God can put a straying or seared conscience back on to a proper course.

Here are some resources and activities to help you learn more about the conscience and why it matters so much.

Resources for this topic

Mind, Heart, and Conscience by T. M. Moore

The Argument from Conscience by Peter Kreeft

When Conscience is Thwarted by Charles Colson

Government vs. Conscience by Charles Colson

The Furies of Conscience by J. Budziszewski

The Objections of Conscience by Patrick Henry Reardon

For more insight to this topic, get the book, Honesty, Morality & Conscience, by Jerry White, from our online store.

Activities

1. Show this week’s Two-Minute Warning to several of your friends. Talk about the problem of conscience. How does it affect you? How can you help one another to have a good conscience?
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2. What does your church teach about the role of conscience in the life of faith? Read some of the resources listed above. Choose one or two and make copies for some of your church leaders. Then talk with them about ways the church can strengthen the consciences of its members, and be sureto offer your help.
3. Email today’s Talking Points column to several Christian friends. Challenge them to read some of the resources, watch the Two-Minute Warning, and take on one of the activities.

A conversation starter

Dissatisfaction with government is running high these days, and not just in Egypt, Syria, and Greece. We feel the unrest here in our own country. Have governments lost their ability to govern?

Or are they extended way beyond what’s reasonable to expect of civil governments? If that’s the case, it won’t be easy getting the toothpaste back into the tube. Big governments only very reluctantly do anything other than get bigger.

Ah, summer! Long days. Warm nights. Games, sports, frolics aplenty, picnics in the park, wading in the water, lolling in the hammock, reading some great books...

Hold on there: Reading some great books? How’d that get in there? It’s like Grumpy enlisting in Robin Hood’s Merry Men, isn’t it?

Perhaps. But we’re going to urge it on you anyway. The wisdom of the ages, reflections on our present situation, stories to delight, poems to create that “ah hah!” moment, biographies to inspire, works of nonfiction to inform and guide – it’s all out there, waiting for you to set up a schedule and get going.