Culture, Ethics, and The Law

            

There are three main structures that govern behavior in any collectivity or "society" (e.g., family, organization, team, gathering, or government entity). First, there are laws or other encoded rules and policies. These are formally devised and stated restrictions on behavior that when violated, leads to punishment of the individual by agents of the collectivity. Then there are uncodified or informal controls on behavior that occur at two levels, ethics and culture.

Ethical duties refer to the obligations owed by members of a "society" to other members of that "society". Ethical duties get down to the absolute essence of what is right, just, and fair for everyone.While these judgments may include what is legal, ethical (or moral) behavior goes beyond just staying legal. There are six universal rules or conditions with historical sequence that have been developed to guide ethical decisions based on what is fair, just, and right for everyone.

1. Personal virtue (Aristotle) – “never take any action which is not honest, open, and truthful, and which you would not be proud to see reported widely in newspapers or on television.”

2. Religious injunctions (St. Augustine) – “never take any action that is not kind, and that does not build a sense of community, a sense of all of us working together for a commonly acceptable goal.”

3. Utilitarian benefits (Betham and Mill) – “never take any action that does not result in greater good than harm for society.”

4. Universal rules (Kant) – “never take any action that you would not be willing to see others take in a similar situation.”

5. Distributive justice (Rawls) – “never any action that harms the powerless.”

6. Contributive theory (Nozick) – “never take any action that would interfere with the rights of others for self development and self-improvement.”

For an action to have ethical considerations, the individual must be acting rightly when he/she would benefit from acting "wrongly". If its in one's self interest to act rightly, its an "economic" decision, not an ethical one.

Ethical dilemma exists when an action is supported by one of these principles but violates one of the other principles.

Culture consists of the values and norms of the "society". While unspoken, they are powerful influences on behavior. However, norms and values are preferences and have no moral basis. They simply have developed over time to reflect what the "society" deems important and expected. Cultures affect how formal communications may be or how people dress. Culture affects how 'society" views time, age, women, power, the individual, etc.

In the world's system (the Bible calls the flesh or carnal mindedness) culture, ethics and laws provide a hierarchical basis by which members of the "society" exchange behavior for favor. As stated in earlier posts, these governance structures present obligations determining who and what is good and right and form control systems that engender the legalistic dimension of Social Exchange.

Contrast this with the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 5 - 7). Here we find that yes, laws exist, but for a different purpose. God's Law does not obligate us to Him and is NOT a mechanism by which we gain His favor. Remember, our behavior is sourced in Thanksgiving, not duty. 

He established His laws for two primary purposes. One, God's Law spells out how things work best. There are physical laws that determine how the Universe works and how our bodies work. We can depend on them and act accordingly. Other laws reflect how relationships work best and what we can depend on when we give agape love from the love we have received from God. As with ethical dilemma, God's laws can seem confusing. "Thou shalt not kill." What do we do when our family is threatened by a violent intruder? How do we explain war? Often loving someone can result in "hurting" someone else.

The second purpose of the law as outlined by Paul in Romans is that God's law shows us our sin and thus our need for a Savior. That is, God shows us in His laws that His standard is impossible for us to attain on our own. The more we see our sin relative to God's standard, the more we praise Him for His redemptive love. In this case "being good" is not a result of what we do, but who we are!!!
While culture, ethics and laws are necessary for civil order, they are not necessary for gaining favor, unless the only favor that matters to you is from your fellow man!!

Something to ponder ......