Transcendent, Personal, Powerful, and Good The Ten Commandants are the place to start if one is going to build

a Christian ethic. But we must be careful that we dont understand the commandments as only a list of dos and donts. Jesus clearly explains in the gospels that Gods commands are to be heartfelt and we are to have a nature of wanting to obey because it is the right thing to do. It is not enough to merely do the right thing, we have to be motivated by a cause; and that cause is our love of God and to bring Him glory. The first commandment outlines what our relationship to God should be. He states He is the only God and wont tolerant other gods. If we do have other gods, God considers this an in your face affront. In contrast a secularist would respond there is no value to be found in worshipping God in the external world. He might be kind and say, It is ok for you but is not relevant to what is happening in the real world. Each time we will be looking at a different commandment and other issues. Now lets briefly consider other religions in the world and how they stand in contrast to Christianity. They all develop their ethos from one principle; live life to minimize pain and to maximize pleasure. They may do this in diverse ways but the differences are subtle if they are studied at any depth. In the cartoon below we see Calvin exhibiting a hedonist worldview. He intends to maximize pleasure and get all he can out of life; it is the ethos of eat drink and be merry for tomorrow you may die. Notice the uncontrolled lust for pleasure in that Calvin does not fear the obvious impending crash of his wagon. He is determined to enjoy the ride disregarding the consequences. It is an enjoy life while you can ethos. Epicureanism is similar, only it says enjoy the ride but protect the consequences. The motto would be eat drink and be merry, but dont do anything to cause pain. It is an enjoy life but do it in moderation ethos.

Buddhism, Confucianism, Stoicism, Deism, and others all have the ethos of minimizing pain and maximizing pleasure. The pleasure aspect could be purely hedonistic or it might be striving to be a better person. But the bottom line is making one feel better about self.

The teleology of pagan religions and secular atheist is ultimately focused on self and the only purpose to life is to make your own life better in this world. In contrast Christianitys teleology is focused on God and the life He offers in the hereafter. The ultimate purpose is to love God and others as yourself. This purpose cannot be thought of as a to do list. Love is a heartfelt nature coming from the inner person. It must guide everything you think, say, or do. If you are unfortunate to believe self pleasure is your purpose then you have no purpose or pleasure. Your entire life will be structured around attempts to control personal circumstances. It is analogous to driving a race car on one of those South American cliff roads. Each corner is a crisis the driver is trying avoid, he lives with the fear if he drives fast enough and long enough the inevitable will happen; a crises that cant be afforded. Christianity differs in that it understands there is suffering as well as pleasure in life; but there is the over arching knowledge we are not alone and it is God who is in control and has given all believers a purpose which brings blessings to self and good works to the glory of God.

Knowledge, like air, is vital to life. Like air, no one should be denied it.
Gregg
I would like to thank Dr. Dan Doriani and Covenant Theological Seminary for making the course, Christian Ethics, freely available at: http://www.covenantseminary.edu/resources/courses/christian-ethics-doriani/