Morality

Omar Bradley is quoted as saying, “Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.” How sadly true! This excellent study on ethics for contemporary living is yet another volume in Dick Tripp’s growing series of booklets on the Christian faith. In this worthy companion to What is Truth and Does it Matter? the author rightly argues that Truth and Morality are inseparable. The moral crisis of our age is the result of wrong choices rather than of environmental or psychological factors. This is a message that our secular media need to hear! Our escalating rates of crime and human suffering call for a “conversion of the wrong-doer to a more responsible lifestyle”. Here is an outline of how this change can be accomplished, for the “Good Life” of Greek and modern philosophy is failing to stop the downward spiral of human suffering.

 

The only satisfying foundation for a stable personal and social morality is found in the biblical understanding of God as just and as love. Any idea of morality that does not take this God into account is doomed to failure. It is only by the undeserved grace of God that the seeker after God can be transformed in his or her inner life and motivation and enter into a covenant relationship with God himself. The author argues this case with clarity and illustrates his points with copious examples and quotations. The comprehensive list of New Testament references on Christian moral responsibility will be very useful to every preacher and study group leader. Our greatest gift to the next generation is the way we live now. This booklet offers a sure foundation for facing the new millennium with confidence.

 

Bruce Nicholls

Rev. Dr Bruce J Nicholls was a career missionary in India working in theological education and in pastoral ministry with the Church of North India. He was also Editor of the Evangelical Review of Theology for 18 years and is now Editor of the Asia Bible Commentary series.