Christianity: deontological or teleological??

Question

By this I mean is something right or wrong in Christianity depending on the consequences, or should Christians just follow rules (as in the O.T.)? Some people say it is a combination, but how could this work? Please share your ideas...

Answer 1

It would seem to be a little of both. There are some bright-line rules in that there are certain things that you can never do under any circumstances, and there are certain things that one must do.

Many commands, however, are just general principles or vague ideas ("love thy neighbor as thyself"), and there are passages that imply that one's motive is just as important as one's actions. Doing a good thing with a bad motive makes it a sin (Romans 14), and sometimes doing a bad thing with a good motive allows one to be forgiven (Such as in the OT when Rahab lied to protect the Israeli spies (Joshua 2)).

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Having said that, usually a Christian goes through a four step process to determine if an action is moral:

1) Is it expressly forbidden, or expressly permitted, by Biblical scripture? If so, then the answer is clear. No one can argue with God. If God thinks that what you are doing is right, then who am I to judge God?

2) Is it in accordance with, or conversely does it violate, some general Biblical principle? (Like, playing loud music at 2 AM might violate the command to "love thy neighbor"). I am not allowed to do anything that might harm another person's faith, unnecessarily hurt their feelings or their body, or unduly inconvenience anyone if I can help it. On the other hand, I also have a standing obligation to help anyone in need if I can.

3) Will it bring about the greater good? Sometimes there is no good choice, so I have to choose the lesser of two evils.

4) Am I unsure if what I am about to do is moral or not? I cannot be cavalier about this. If I am unsure, then I cannot do anything until I am reasonably sure. God cares about my motives as much as he does my actions.

Answer 2

Its really a combo.

Here is the deal. Christianity is the furfillment of the O.T.

in basic terms, the O.T is the prequill to the N.T..because throughout the O.T it explains 3 different ideas.
1. God is good
2. We are not
3. We need a Savior
The N.T has one basic idea.
1. Here is the Savior.

in the O.T the law was given, but it was impossible to follow the laws given by God. Thus we have sacerfices in the O.T well, then God gave us Jesus as our savior, so we can go to Him, rather than taking sacerfices. So, we should follow the laws the best we can, because Christ did not come to condem the laws, but help us follow the laws, by granting us forgivness..
why? because in The O.T and why there are still Jewish people out there, is because the O.T prophieced a messiah, so that we can be saved, through grace rather than the laws, when Jesus came, a lot Jewish people rejected Jesus as the messiah, however, the ones that did accept Jesus as the messiah, became Christians, because it is the same faith, but Jesus being God. Rather than Jesus being a "good prophet" The Jewish people still are waiting for their messiah.

God makes the promise more than once in the O.T, not to mention the several prophecies about the messiah in the O.T some 2000 years before Jesus, and Jesus filled everyone on of those prophecies...

Answer 3

I would say in theory, Christianity is deontological (ten commandments), but that in practice many Christians consider the consequences of their actions when making an ethical decision. For example, 'turning the other cheek' is a deontological principle espoused by the bible, but if a Christian's life is threatened or that of his or her family (or if he or she is in the military), then they don't turn the other cheek.
Personally, I think most people employ situational ethics, i.e. Most people would agree that telling the truth is a good thing, but if some psycho burst into the door and asked if Amy was in the room so they could kill her, telling the truth is probably not the best idea.

Answer 4

I'm trying to understand why so many people are getting caught up in following "rules". As a Christian, I can follow all the "rules" that I want and that alone still wont get me into heaven. It's about faith, not about works. If you have the love of God in you, you're going to do what's right and you wont desire to do wrong. Some people never curse, smoke, do drugs, never kill, never to a lot of things, but will that get them into heaven? Does this mean they're Christian? no it doesn't, not if they haven't accepted Jesus as their personal savior, according to the Bible. If I commit and act of sin, there may be consequences for that act. It could be something everyone knows about or not. Everything that happens to us is not a result of a sinful act. Some things are just going to happen.

Answer 5

God's rules are the better way. God laid out rules for us as guidelines to a better life, a life that is close to Him. Before the fall, we lived in harmony with God, and everything was perfect. Sin ruined that. Because humans can be rather stupid at times, God laid out specific rules. Imagine if God just said "be good."

Sin has consequences, both in the flesh and spirit. For example, pre-marital sex frequently causes great pain when the relationship fails. But there is also a spiritual effect, separation from God. Because we ignore God at times, we lose the sense of His presence, and this is certainly a loss.

In summary, I think we should follow the rules, since God knows what is best for us. I do not think it is merely blind obedience, but on the other hand, we do not always know what the consequences may be, so in those cases, we should just trust God and obey.

Answer 6

I've seen both types of Christians here. The deontological ones tend to be more open-minded, the teleological ones are basically fundamentalists.