Whether or not the ends justifies the means seemed to be a theme we kept returning to in an hour-long
outreach conversation between myself and Sam, a political science major, at my
local coffeeshop.
These are questions especially relevant for politics, where
our current political climate favors those who lie as a political strategy over
those who develop a reputation for honesty.
Its also a question relevant for religion, as the fear of
God declines and more people demand a reason for the various moral laws
presented in the Bible. “Because I told you” isn’t enough for many,
even if it is the God of the Universe speaking.
I believe it to be very significant that God’s explanation
to Adam as to why he should not eat of the fruit from the tree in the middle of
the garden was vague: “And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat
from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Adam would not yet understand the concept of “death”,
so this command depended more on God’s authority than on the weight of the warning
about death.
This command was given to Adam before Eve was brought into
the picture. Imagine Adam trying to
communicate such a concept to Eve. In
the end, he must have told her “Because God said so”. It was also part of Satan’s argument to Eve –
“Did God really say so”?
As Christians, I believe part of our message against sin
needs to also be “because God said so”.
We may know of some very good reasons for the various moral laws of the
Bible, but from the start, and certainly in the end, we need to also appeal to
God’s rightly deserved authority based on His position as our all-wise,
all-knowing Creator. Sometimes, maybe
more often that not, we need to be willing to obey God simply because God says
so.
This question of the ends justifying the means was also very
relevant for Sam, not only as a political-science major, not only as a former
Catholic, but also because he identifies himself as gay. It was this issue that caused him to distance
himself from the Catholic church beginning in his teens, and it is what he sees
as the major stumbling block to his faith today. I can see how one would begin to rationalize
that the end goal – one’s personal sense of happiness and self-fulfillment –
might lead them to try to justify the means – immoral sexual behavior – to get
there.
But the Bible doesn’t present our happiness as the goal of
our existence. Throughout the Bible, God’s
glory as Creator and sustainer of the universe is emphasized, and our fulfillment
comes from living out our lives as part of His created order. Man’s fall into sin has complicated that
order, often to the point where we no longer have clear choices between right
and wrong but feel we must often choose between the lesser of two evils. I’m so glad for God’s Word and Jesus’
promised counselor, the Holy Spirit, to help us navigate through uncharted and
unfamiliar waters.
I didn’t try to tell Sam there are easy answers for those
with same-sex attraction, but certainly it begins at the same place as everyone
else: with an acknowledgment of God’s authority simply because He is God, with repentance
of sin, and with faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
The problem with using the ends to justify the means comes
when we decide on the wrong end goal in the first place, or when we try to usurp
the place of God in His infinite wisdom by trying to determine for ourselves
which means are justifiable. The Bible gives
us both the correct ends and the means – to honor God because He is God, and to
obey His commands and repent when we haven’t no matter where our personal
desires might try to lead us.
Thanks, Sam, for allowing me to record our conversation! It can be seen at https://youtu.be/1o9cOQuGwzk on my YouTube channel.
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