"Ethical" a Book Review and Giveaway

 

We are faced with situations all the time where we need to make the decision whether we are going to be ethical or not. Being ethical is not just something we should think about when running a big business and deal with others. Stay-at-home moms, teens working at McDonalds, a retired person volunteering, those in full-time ministry -whoever you are - we face situations that involve ethics.

  I admit when I requested the book "Ethical" by Dr. Daniel Morris, I wanted to read it because I own a small business and I just thought it would be a good thing to think more about. But as I was reading through it I was reminded that ethics does not just have to do with business dealings but rather it is something that affects our whole life. In the book Dr. Morris defines ethics as: "The principles and regulations based on divine laws related to the practices, manners, and conduct of mankind in their relationships with each other, with reference to what is good and bad, and what affects the rights and well-being of others." 

 The book "Ethical" is very easy to read, only 75 pages long and has a lot of things to think about in it. He talks about the four fundamental principles of ethics: Humility, Responsibility, Respect and Protecting what is Important to God. He also uses many everyday examples to help us think about what the ethical response would have been. He also uses many scriptures to explain why he believes something is ethical or not. He shares some really good thoughts on how we treat things that we don't own, dealing with other Christians, finances, hospitality and proper behavior between people of the opposite sex. I think nearly everyone would find this book helpful in one way or another.

   I know some of the things I became convicted on were making sure that I make it to appointments on time (when we went to the dentist last week we were around 4 minutes late and they were waiting on us- that wasn't right for me to say yes to a 8 am time slot and then not be there on time), to make sure that we are super careful whenever we use something that belongs to somebody else and to make sure we leave any public places (such as a park or a church building) as good or better than we found them.

  I was convicted that I need to teach these things to my children more carefully as well. People are observing our actions each and every day and as an ambassador of Jesus Christ we need to live in a way that is ethical even it the very little things.

   There was only one little thing which I noticed to disagree with a bit and that was the elevation that he seemed to give to Pastors (and his use of the word pastor would be one that I would question as well as he seemed to be speaking of their being one pastor per church when the Bible gives us the example of having pastors/elders in plural) a little more authority than I think maybe the Bible does. I am referring to the time when Dr. Morris suggests that a Pastor would ask permission from the local pastor before visiting people in the congregation. I do agree with his thoughts that out of town people should be careful to encourage the congregation in submitting to their leaders (unless they are truly straying from the truth) rather than listening to and sympathizing with their complaints about a new pastor. But I think asking permission to visit is going a little far - just my thoughts.

  Beyond that one issue - and it is a very small one - I highly recommend this book. I think this subject is one that so many of us could do well to pay attention to. If you would like to buy a copy of this book it is available on Amazon.

 I am excited to be able to offer a giveaway of this book. They sent me a second copy of the book in order for me to give it away to one of you. As I said before this book is short and pretty easy to read and I think you will find it encouraging in your christian walk.

If you would like to try to win.....

• Leave a comment below.
• Be sure to leave an e-mail address so that I can contact you should you be the winner.
• I would love to hear in your comment about your thoughts on ethics. Have you faced any ethical situations lately? Have you considered teaching your children about ethics? Did you ever consider that leaving a mess in a church building bathroom to be an ethical situation before?

This giveaway will end on May 21st at 10:00 pm. At that point a winner will be chosen randomly and notified so that I can get their mailing information to mail them the book.