Christian moral action Flashcards
Intro
Bonehoffer’s teachings are still relevant today in teaching Christians how to have a meaningful relationship with God and when to practise civil disobedience against totalitarian powers, Whilst has a point could be pacifist and still be disobedient as violence goes against Gods eternal law
Discipleship
following the life and example of Jesus
Solidarity
An altruistic commitment to stand alongside and be with those less fortunate and oppressed, those who suffer
Discipleship - point one
Still relevant today as it enables us to worship God in a meaningful way
Discipleship: Involves exclusive obedience towards God – Christ presented the model of the cost of discipleship by following the will of his father and sacrificing himself on the cross
Costly/cheap grace
Cheap grace: ‘Cheap Grace is the deadly enemy of our Church’
Grace which is ‘easy’ to obtain, believing grace is freely given and won in advance, because of Jesus’ sacrifice and can be ‘bought’ from Christian ritauls
Costly grace: ‘It is costly because it costs man his life’.
Grace obtained by engaging with the suffering of Jesus. Christians should follow Jesus’ teaching and leadership, actively working to achieve the Kingdom of God, which is how an individual becomes a true disciple of God.
Costly/cheap grace disadvantages
Overemphasises suffering reflection of his time as lived when extreme ideologies (communism and fascism) and great suffering (Great Depression)
Costly/cheap grace advantages
Bonhoeffer would say we need to pass through our own cross if we are to follow Christ. Felt he had to live through the experience of suffering that his people were enduring
- Christ is a man for others: he lived for others therefore we should do the same
Message about solidarity not suffering - Bonhoeffer stood in solidarity with people oppressed by the Nazis and many people are marginalised and suffer injustice today, and we can learn from Bonhoeffer’s teaching on discipleship.
Costly cheap grace counter
Ephesians 2 God’s grace being given freely
Why Gods grace should not be freely given (conclusion to point one)
Bonhoeffer’s challenge to abandon comfortable Christianity gives people prospect of meaningful life. In western societies there is an obsession with material benefits and self-interest which only leads to unhappiness.
Bonhoeffer Solidarity
‘I must live through this difficult period of our national history with the Christian people of Germany’ – Solidarity
Civil disobedience
Bonhoeffer taught that the New Testament teaches that Christians have a duty to obey the authorities or political leaders in most cases. When a leader or the authorities are considered to be working against the interests of the state then civil disobedience may be justified and although not morally good is done out of faith, hope and love (similar in some respects to Fletcher’s SE)
- Bonhoeffer practised Civil disobedience himself in his plot to kill Hitler even though it would destabilise the country claimed that it was Gods will he should do so
“every moment and every situation challenges us to action and obedience.”
Civil disobedience advantages
Puts Jesus first and God at the heart of the decision
Civil disobedience disadvantages
Goes against Pacifism ‘thou shalt not kill’ and clearly a violation of the bible which instead upholds the rule of law.
Romans 3:31: “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”
Civil disobedience counter to disadvantages
Luke 9:57-62 – a man says he has to first bury his father (legal responsibility) but Jesus says ‘let the dead bury the dead’.
Perhaps there could have been another way with Hitler rather than death i.e., MLK but doing nothing in the face of evil is as bad as doing evil: Rachels Acts and Omissions (the omission of just passively watching is as bad as the act)
Bonhoeffer “silence in the face of evil is still evil”
Importance of law
Mill distinguished the importance of the law and rules as its absolute enables clear guidelines and principles that prevents a society from becoming potentially anarchic and people from breaking the law when they wished
St Paul: we are subject to the authorities; they are from God (Romans 13:1-7): “whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted”
When law should be disregarded
Acts 5:29: “Peter and the Apostles answered: ‘we must obey God rather than men.”
- Should use our god-given reason to distinguish between right and wrong to discern when the law may be allowed to be broken
Church as Community
Bonhoeffer said that the Church must act as a source of morality and hope for all as human law is fallible and governments can become corrupted by thinking that they are justice itself
The focus must be God’s will; however, this needs to encompass everyone even if they are not Christian. The church should be a visible community - a sign of hope for others. Cf. Matthew 5:13-16: salt and light; just as salt adds flavour to food, Christians must be light and act as moral people
Church as Community advantages
In a world that is potentially still maligned with evil today allows a moral standard and something that can include even the atheist
Church as Community disadvantages
Throughout history the Church has often been corrupt and used for immoral means Nazis soldiers had the slogan ‘God on our side’ on their belt buckles’
-over reliance on the Church as source of morality could instead act as a clear violation of Gods law
‘the long peace’ – significant level of peace after the second world war to the present day. Secularists argue due to the rise of secular liberal democracy and further demonstrates how unnecessary religion is for maintaining social order. This suggests Bonhoeffer’s view that the Church should act as a check on state power is unnecessary today and thus no longer relevant.
Church as Community disadvantages counter
Stanley Hauerwas without God we lack meaning, purpose and moral guidance The loss of God results in a void of purpose which can be exploited by authoritarians to gain power by tempting people with grand visions of utopia. In their purpose-starved state, people will be more gullible and less likely to notice their freedoms being taken away, until it is too late. Arguably Bonhoeffer has a point that the Church can act as a useful moral compass for society to protect against this possibility.
