What do you think about this situation!?

Question

do you think its okay in any method to encourage someone to come to the lord? i have to write two pages on this help!i have to write a two page paper on this and i dont know where to start or what to say! will you help me please :) the question is "ethics and speech: do the ends justify the means in sharing your faith," which basically means as my teacher stated = can i use any mehti\od to encourage someone to come to the lord. THANKS

Answer 1

Do you think it is a good thing to encourage someone to come to the lord? I think come to the lord means to become a Christian? Lots of people think that is awful.

If the faith is not in itself compelling, tricks will not help.

Imagine the worst: is it okay to threaten to kill someone if he does not become a true christian?

Answer 2

No it is not.

To take an extreme example, which has unfortunately happened too many times in our history: is it OK to torture someone into making a confession of faith? I don't think so - and I hope you do not either.

When you are writing this paper, remember that anything that you say it is OK for you to do in sharing your faith must be something you would accept others of other faiths doing to you. That should limit it a bit.

Answer 3

Let's say the "end" in this case is eternal salvation. Then any "means justified" could be torture and murder (of the person you are going to send to "paradise" - note: this has been done repeatedly throughout history).  If someone says, "yes, but torture and murder are wrong", you could say but torture is only temporary and murder leads to heaven therefore "the end justifies the means."

This form of argument is called a "circular argument" definition: any discussion in which one argues the conclusion as a premise; i. e., the ends justifies the means - a discussion that makes a conclusion based on material that has already been assumed in the argument.

If you use this argument in your paper you have to not only define what a circular argument is but know what a premise is and understand how it is used. I am not sure what you know or what grade level you are at.

Let's say that you are in China and someone converts to Christianity because "you shared your faith." Then both you and the "convert" are persecuted for being Christians.  Was it God's will or yours? Do you really "know" God's will or just your own? A question of ethics is,  "Do you repent" (your faith) or "Should you have spread the faith or not?" You could say yes, it's not my fault we are being persecuted, it's the Communist, or God's will, or "the law of unintended consequence" (I didn't know this would happen). Also, our suffering is temporary our reward is great. Or you could say, no, "my mistake."

A political/ethical "ends justifies the means" argument today?  How about using Guantanamo Bay and the current debate going on in our country "torture one, save hundreds, right or wrong?

You are always presented with a variety of ethical dilemmas in life and whatever your particular belief system is, the answers are never easy. The movie "Sophie's Choice" presents such a dilemma.

Another caveat to remember that in the name of God, in the name of good, in the name of Country, in the name . . .(fill in the blank) are often "oaths" used by Christians, Muslims, Jews and Gentiles, alike. Any argument that postulates "the ends justifies the means" has to be suspect to say the very least.  Many terrorists are willing to die because they believe in their heart, mind, and soul that God will send them directly to "paradise" upon their death. Ethically, right or wrong?  

Good luck.

Answer 4

Of course not. Means must accurately reflect the desired end.

Means used to persuade must embody the character of the end to be attained.

Answer 5

As the title speaks: ethics and speech.

When we come to ethics, there are sets of hidden rules saying that we can do this and not that to show our respect as well as to make life easier for our community.  

When we want to share our faith, we have to do it in a faithful way.  As a result, we do things properly to show our faith.  For instance, we would not be caught in a theft and saying that this is good example to show not to steal.  Second, do not let other people get what they want just because you need to share your faith.   For example, will you marry a boy/girl to show your love from faith?  I bet you won't except you do love this boy/girl already not just because of your faith sharing.