The Bible says; “All Scripture is…profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” (2 Tim. 3:16 ESV) The Bible, or The Scriptures, have been particularly useful through the years of developing my personal moral philosophy. The moral philosophy I live by is a Biblical Moral philosophy that takes elements from three common ethical philosophies, examines the weaknesses of the philosophy itself, and provides a strong model for personal military leadership.
My moral philosophy is developed from a Christian view that the Bible is inspired by God and, therefore, completely error free. (Baptist Faith and Message, 2000) Taken from the belief that the Bible is inerrant, my moral philosophy rests on that scripture as an infallible source of discovering moral truth. From that foundation, my philosophy is described by beginning with the understanding that we all unrighteous and deserve death because of our own sin nature and sinful choices. This unrighteousness or sin separates us from God and there is nothing humanly possible to be done to mend this separation. However, God’s desire to mend this separation was so great that he sent his son, Jesus, to die on a cross to pay that penalty in our place. Through the acceptance of this payment by faith, the result is a surrendering of the personal will to the will of Jesus. This surrender is demonstrated through living by the principles outlined in scripture. The philosophy is significant to me because it offers me assurance that I am covered eternally for any sin that I commit in my lifetime.
My moral philosophy relates to the three moral philosophies of virtue, deontological, and consequential. Primarily, the philosophy is most similar to the virtue ethic. The virtue ethic is a philosophy centered around building habits of right living through the development of personal values. (Bell, 2015, E103RC) As a virtue ethic, a Christian builds a habit of living a moral life by following the teachings and values of Jesus. A secondary ethic that affects my personal philosophy is the deontological ethic, which is a rules based philosophy. A strict following of this philosophy teaches that one should follow the rules regardless of the outcome. (Bell, 2015, E104RA) There is an element of deontological ethics applied in my moral philosophy because there are clear commands in scripture to be followed simply because the Bible says to follow them. In many cases, religious people follow this type of ethic as the primary ethical model. The difference in Christianity is that we are not trying to follow a law to achieve a certain end, because the death of Jesus has already paid the price for our sin. We are to follow the rules out of the motivation to submit to the will of Jesus. As a Christian, it is a matter of duty to obey out of devotion rather than an obligation in fear of a certain celestial being. The third ethic represented in my moral philosophy is the consequential ethic. The consequential ethic is based in the idea that the consequences are the most important outcomes from living a moral life. (Bell, 2015, E104RA) In my moral philosophy, the aspect of consequential ethics is somewhat determined only by cause and effect. Again, there is not a punishment for sin after acceptance by faith in Jesus because he paid that punishment himself. Therefore, there are no consequences. However, there are natural consequences of sin that deteriorate one’s body, mind, and relationships. These are the consequences that will be avoided by following the commands of Jesus. The elements of the moral philosophies of virtue, deontological, and consequential can be seen throughout the examination of my moral philosophy.
While I hold to this moral philosophy, there are weaknesses to take into consideration. One weakness is that the entire philosophy hinges on the fact that the follower of the ethic has a sincere faith. While this is true with all ethics, faith is particularly necessary with this moral philosophy. One must have faith that the Bible is true and that Jesus provided the payment for our sin, otherwise the philosophy is worthless and all of its moral arguments fall flat. Another weakness is the possible extreme abuse of the liberty that this philosophy brings. The Apostle Paul made a point to ask; “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1 ESV) The answer, of course, is no, we should not sin more because we have been freed from the death. Actually, the reverse is true, we should be so grateful for the grace that we follow more deliberately. A third weakness follows an opposite logic that says we should follow all of the laws because of our duty to obey. This legalism in its extreme form presents a problem that leads to a false belief that we can lose our salvation through bad behavior. The Apostle Paul addresses this weakness by stating that “by grace you have been saved through faith…not a result of works.” (Eph. 2:8-9 ESV) The weaknesses of faith, extreme liberty, and legalism are problems that must be addressed to have a complete understanding of the moral philosophy and how it relates to everyday life.
As a strong model for the professional military leadership, my moral philosophy provides the moral backing where grace and mercy are primary, lethal options are not discounted, and by offering redemption to those with moral injury. The primary tone of this ethic is one of grace and mercy. Beginning with the understanding that all are sinners and begin at the same place, this understanding supports equality between members of the unit and places the leader in a position where he or she approaches the Soldiers with grace. The philosophy is also applied toward the enemy as there is the opportunity to provide compassion and mercy even in battle. With this said, however, the ethic does not discount lethal force. There are those times when force must be applied to achieve the greater good of peace and freedom for all. The killing of the enemy is a sad reality of the struggle between what is evil and what is good. This killing may sometimes bring about moral injury. My ethic deals with moral injury by allowing the person to find redemption through forgiveness and hope through faith. The model of philosophy that I have chosen enables the military to hold true to his or her morality even in the midst of the ugly face of battle.
My moral philosophy holds closely to the Bible as its foundation. It is accepted by faith and is not without weakness. The philosophy, I believe, embodies the three primary ethical models and provides a strong model for the modern military leader. It is a moral philosophy that has held true throughout my life and it continues to grow and develop through asking hard questions and providing solid answers.
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This Moral Philosophy was written as an assignment while I was a student at the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. October 2015.
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