Treating Others Well

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Treating Others Well

According to an Internet search for a definition of ethics, it a word to capture a set of good, right conducts. Also included in the several definitions were words like principle and morals.

Ethics is also known as principles, morals, and beliefs. Morals, principles, and beliefs are important to have. When one is conducting himself or herself well, in public or private, he or she is displaying some sort of principles. In the absence of morals, principles, ethics or beliefs then we see wrong thinking and further wrong conduct. I disagree with Protagoras in his view of ethics in The Consequences of Ideas, by R.C. Sproul; he says they are “a matter of preference”¹. Protagoras does not end with that note, but he continues to say that morals are a mere expression of customs or conventions, which he believes are not really right or wrong.

In addition, morals help us stay in line with good and correct thinking, but it is God who establishes those basic morals of loving our mother and father, not stealing, and so on through the Ten Commandments. God works in ways to guide us to do the right or moral thing. Morals, in today’s society, have lost its place. It is difficult to see that in secular settings, students are not blatantly taught what morals are and are not, because then the foundations of truth would come out and there may be a leak—bring up separation of church and state. God would be in the discussions and public school teachers cannot impose their thoughts.

Finally, to answer the question of how I should treat others, it has some to do with ethics. I am a follower of Christ; as a Christian, I firmly believe in loving God and loving my neighbors as I am commanded to do. It is a principle in my life to treat others with love. Love does amazing things in the best interest of others that is why God says when we love one another our joy may be full. As in Matthew 22:36-38, it is the greatest law. We aren’t just called to love the Lord, but beyond that to love him with all our heart, soul, and mind. We are to include every part of our being. The quote that I grew up hearing was “treat others how you want to be treated.” I know that not all my actions reflect a very refined or perfect set of principles nor does it always reflect God’s image, but I believe that daily, God is teaching me to grow that I may learn from past mistakes and do things differently. If something should go wrong today in my reaction to someone and it is not how God would react, I can seek repentance and forgiveness from God and that person. In taking that action, I think my ethics are being sharpened. My principle is to treat others as a reflection of God. The answer is treating others how God treats me: with love.
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1 ¹R.C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2000), 30.[i]