I suppose the moment comes to us all when we are faced with a
major ethical decision that could be our making or our undoing. Years ago my
spiritual companion had such a moment. Working for a major corporation in
public relations, an assignment came to her desk. The government had approached
the company with a request to manufacture a compound to be used in chemical
warfare. Her job would be to manage the public face of the venture. She was
newly promoted, an early female to rise. She sat with it a few days knowing she
had strong moral issues with war and this form of war. Did she become a
participant by managing this task? Would this make her complicit in an action
that her ethics told her was humanly flawed? Would she be fired for declining
to manage this? Young, single, rising...what becomes of you and your future?
This is worthy of the NY Times: the Ethicist."
Finally she took the assignment back to her boss and expressed
well worded concern. She reminded him of the PR nightmare another major company
suffered after manufacturing Agent Orange extensively used in Vietnam.
She expressed her personal moral quandary. Then she waited to see what would happen and what would become of her. The end of the story comes several
days later when she was told the 'higher ups' had canned the project. What role
had she played? She will never know.
"Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, 'O
Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If
our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and
out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O
king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue
that you have set up.'" Daniel 3: 16-18
Daniel is what we might call an historical fable. In the story
of well place Jews who are ordered to worship a golden idol created by the King. The
story comes as a reflection on the Babylonian captivity. It is a reminder that
there is a cost and reward to faith. The cost is the requirement that we
learn the moral principles of our faith as we are to understand them in relationship
to God. Then we are to act on them. The reward is a deep conversation with
self, others and God. A clear conscience is a potential reward, a troubled
conscience is a close second. At least we can grow.
I must admit, I wondered as a read Daniel if others might have
bowed the head and not the heart, would that be acceptable to God? Yet it
would have missed the moment of public witness? I weigh it out in my own head.
Daniel does survive the furnace
as the cost/reward of his convictions and God's loyalty.
On the other hand, John the Baptist who speaks truth to power
fairs less well. His usefulness to God is cut short. Herod arrests and beheads
him. Yet we remember his witness and story where others are forgotten. Here is
a different risk/reward.
I find this worthy. "In the real world, our ethical
standards have to accommodate some degree of ambivalence: you believe in a cause
but you volunteer only a few hours of your time; you volunteer a lot of your
time but you don't also donate all your money; you donate all your money but
occasionally wish the cause would just shut up and bother someone else for a
change. If they didn't allow for such hesitation, no one would ever meet ethical
standards, nor even have much incentive to try." NY
Times, The Ethicist, by Ariel Kaminer, October 28, 2011
Hesitation is however a step to clearer values. Our
hesitations are often best informed by others' clear actions. These actions
allow us some boldness in how we choose to act. Our progression is what is at
stake. Will we grow in the compilation of better, clearer choices? Will we
compromise where we should not?
When I read First John 3:9-10, I want to say, "Not so true."
The author allows us no ambiguity, no progression to perfection.
Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's
seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God. The
children of God and the children of the devil are revealed in this way: all who
do not do what is right are not from God, nor are those who do not love their
brothers and sisters.
The help here is the clarity that we are to seek what is right
and do it. That involves loving and actively caring for one another close up
and further out. Sometimes we are crystal clear what this entails. Sometimes we
have to sort out what the truly loving thing is. There is a risk we will act
wrongly. The risk is that moral decisions cost, but then so does the lack of such
decisions. The reward is character, movement toward wisdom, a deeper
relationship with life and God. Thankfully it is the nature of God to forgive
and increase wisdom in those who will act for what they perceive to be right.
The reward/risk for those who neither reflect nor act is best known by God.
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