WWJD

What Would Jesus Do?
This became a catchphrase not all that long ago even though the book by the same name is quite a bit older.
Any way I was thinking about this in amongst all my recent contemplations and whilst I had a rather longer post idea in mind I think I want to start here.
My thoughts have come to the conclusion that it is possible we who call ourselves christians can do with a slight paradigm shift, we have fallen into a safety zone with this question. It puts us on some moral high ground and we judge our choices from a superior perspective, not that we have justification to do so.
I think perhaps we would be well served taking from an old oath - First Do No Harm.
Sure this is just my thoughts but I feel this is a pretty valid starting point. We see things from a judgmental point of view, even though we may not see it that way (just ask a non christian what they think of christians). The stereotype is sad but equally sad is the fact stereotypes don't come from nowhere. If we take the judgement out of the equation, take the moral high ground out of the equation we are left with a better foundation on which to build our lives.
First do no harm.
Now I am not claiming to ever have lived by this, let alone well, but it is a new thought in my mind and one I want to adjust to and see where it leads me.
First Do No Harm.

Ethical Living

I found myself watching compass the last two Sunday nights when Geraldine had round the table dinner discussions with people from various walks of life around the concept of ‘what should you do?’ How do we live ethically and morally? My only problem was I wanted to see what was edited out, the discussions just didn’t last long enough for me. They dealt with topics such as fair trade coffee, carbon footprints, ethical investing, money from dodgy sources and cheating in relationships.

There is so much that they touched on ever so lightly that deserves thought, but I figure I may as well throw my two cents out there for the moment. I haven’t tried fair trade coffee but like one of the panellists it’s flavour for me with coffee so if it tastes bad I won’t buy it. As for plane travel versus a driving holiday, well the plane would be flying anyway (I can’t afford a private jet yet) so I figure pay the carbon tariff and fly.

If I had money to invest I’d do some research and get one of those ethical investment funds. There was a Buddhist nun who had great business sense and they asked how it was possible to have her faith and a portfolio. I say why shouldn’t she. Her use of the money is bound to be more ethical than many others, and if good people didn’t have access to money then many necessary things would not get done.

Taking money from things like drug sources, gambling of other seedy roots, well it’s not the money that’s evil, money just is. The power in money is in what you do with it. So yes I’d take the money because then maybe I can see to it that someone can eat this Christmas or pay their rent.

As for cheating in a relationship, what a mine filled topic. I was used as a cover by someone once and hated it, but it was made worse when her husband then hit on me. Like I said a minefield. Some people are of the opinion don’t get involved, other’s that the partner has an absolute right to know (even if the first thing they do is kill the messenger). Me I vote for honesty in a relationship. Sometimes it hurts like hell but it’s the only way to ensure the foundation stays strong. It also keeps others from having to make nasty decisions. And let’s face it finding out that other people know you are being cheated on is embarrassing – or maybe that’s just me. Ethically would I get involved? Well I guess that depends on the people.

One of the guests said he was fortunate to be in a position that he could ride an hour to a co-op market to buy food because he didn’t have children and other things that limited his choices or gave him certain time restrictions. It’s about doing what you can and understanding other people may have different limitations and certainly different priorities.

Wouldn’t it be nice if answers were more black and white than so many shades of grey? But then maybe life wouldn’t be so interesting.

What am I going to watch tonight now the discussions are over?