The Razor's Edge Bible Study
Read the following passages and
answer the questions below.
Leviticus 4:27-29, 31d – "If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does
what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is guilty. 28
When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering
for the sin he committed a female goat without defect.
29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and
slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering…In this way the priest will
make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven."
1) When is a person guilty?
____________________________________________________________________________________
2) When is the guilty person
commanded to bring their sacrifice?
____________________________________________________________________________________
John 19:10-11 – "'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said.
'Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?'
11Jesus answered, 'You
would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore
the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'"
3) Is Pilate committing a sin
in this passage?
____________________________________________________________________________________
4) Is Pilate's guilt as great
as it could be? How do you know?
____________________________________________________________________________________
Luke 12:47-48 – "That servant who knows his Master's will and does not get
ready or does not do what his Master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving
punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much,
much more will be asked."
5) What is the basis for the
severity of the servants' punishment?
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Razor's Edge Bible Study
Read the following passages and
answer the questions below.
Leviticus 4:27-29, 31d – "If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does
what is forbidden in any of the LORD's commands, he is guilty. 28
When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering
for the sin he committed a female goat without defect.
29 He is to lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and
slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering…In this way the priest will
make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven."
1) When is a person guilty?
When they do what is forbidden in any of the LORD's
commands.
2) When is the guilty person
commanded to bring their sacrifice?
When they are made aware of their sin.
John 19:10-11 – "'Do you refuse to speak to me?' Pilate said.
'Don't you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?'
11Jesus answered, 'You
would have no power over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore
the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.'"
3) Is Pilate committing a sin
in this passage?
Yes.
4) Is Pilate's guilt as great
as it could be? How do you know?
The Pharisees and chief priests are guilty of
a greater sin.
Luke 12:47-48 – "That servant who knows his Master's will and does not get
ready or does not do what his Master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48But the one who does not know and does things deserving
punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much,
much more will be asked."
5) What is the basis for the
severity of the servants' punishment?
Whether or not they knew what their master
wanted them to do.
The Razor's Edge Lecture Notes
The Problem:
Christian ethical theory – the Church's moral
theology – has been developed over thousands of years by the work of the greatest
minds in the Church.
But the advent of modern technology raises new
questions for us (the morality of life- support,
euthanasia, etc).
Deciding between right and wrong
in a situation is complicated because it usually depends not simply on the application of one
principal, but many.
This leads to "Gray
areas", those situations where the difference between right and wrong are not quite as clear to us as the
difference between black and white.
Example of the Problem:
Scenario 1) A married couple is
imprisoned in a World War 2 concentration camp.
They are
separated into male and females sides of the camp.
One of the
guards threatens the wife that he will have her husband executed if she does not have sex with him.
In order to
save her husband's life, she agrees to have sex with the guard.
After the camp
is liberated, the wife tells her husband what she had had to do to save his life.
The husband
filed for divorce on account of his wife's adultery.
Question: Did the man
have Biblical grounds for divorce?
Scenario 2) What if the guard
held the woman at gunpoint? Would that be adultery?
Scenario 3) What if the woman,
not being able to have sex with her husband because they are separated in the camp, seduces the guard
to satisfy her sexual needs? Would that be adultery?
The third scenario is obviously adultery. The
second scenario is not adultery, but rape.
The first scenario is also not
adultery, but rape.
But does the woman have an
obligation to resis in both the first and second scenarios, even if it means death for either her or her
husband? Is it ever morally acceptable for
the woman to give in?
The Point of the Example:
When you have extremes, it is
easy to see right and wrong.
But some situations are more complicated than we might
like to think. This is the "gray area".
Dealing with the Problem:
The problem is that moral
relativism puts everything in the gray area.
There are no gray areas in God's
mind. Everything that we do is either righteous
according to God, or unrighteous
according to God.
There are no gray areas in God's
mind because He is omniscient (all-knowing). He knows perfectly, what is right and what is wrong.
We have "gray areas"
because of our lack of knowledge, or lack of insight, to discern right and wrong in complex situations.
When making decisions, we should
get help from others.
Expand your
knowledge by listening to others (pastors for instance).
Expand your
knowledge by studying the Scriptures.
What if we do make the wrong decision?
The Scriptures show that sin is
committed in degrees.
A sin committed in genuine
ignorance and good intentions is less serious of a sin than doing something that you know is wrong.
Discussion Questions:
1) What are your thoughts on R C's example concerning the
"adultery" of the imprisoned woman? What are the woman's moral
obligations?
2) If God takes our ignorance into account, when weighing
sin, what does this say about Christians who differ us in interpreting the
Scriptures? If someone truly believes that Scripture supports the acceptance of
homosexuality, or abortion, or "mercy-killing", what does that mean
as regards their relationship to God?
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