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As a Christian How Do You Make A Decision? [Part 1]

• Should I take that job or should I not?

• Should I relocate my family, or should we stay?
• Should I go to that event, or should I refrain?
• Can I divulge that piece of information, or should I withhold?
• Should I wear a mask, should I not?

The list can go on. Decisions. We all make them. Life is a constant experience of decision
making. Decisions have all kinds of consequences or implications including moral ones. How
does a believer decide what to do in those instances? This process is what we call moral
reasoning - thinking through how one should behave.

This is a blog post, not an exhaustive treatment on the topic. There are several resources one can
consult for more extensive discussions including Bumper Sticker Ethics by Steve Wilkens, The
Pastor as Moral Theologian by Sondra Wheeler, Walking Between The Times by J. Paul
Sampley, Ethics for Christian Ministry by Trull and Scott, After You Believe by NT Wright, and
more.

What system do you use?

Consciously or unconsciously, everyone has a system for decision making. In his book Bumper
Sticker Ethics, Steve Wilkens describes some of the systems we use. I have simplified it here,
refer to the book for a more detailed discussion.

1. Cultural Relativism - What is everyone else doing? Let me do that as well.

2. Ethical Egoism - What is the best thing for me and my family? Got to look out for
myself.
3. Behaviorism - What is my reflex? What do I feel in my instincts? That's what I’ll go
with.
4. Utilitarianism - What will make everyone happy? Let's go with that.
5. Kantianism - What is my duty in this circumstance? Never depart from principle!
6. Virtuism - What is in alignment or will grow my character? Let's do that.
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7. Narrative Ethics - What choice is in line with my story? My story will guide me.
8. Situation ethics - What is the most loving thing to do in this situation? I’m flexible.
9. Natural Law ethics - What comes naturally to me? I should always do that!
10. Divine Command Ethics - What is God telling me to do? I have to figure out his will!


Interesting right? What system do you use? I realized that even though I call myself a follower of
Jesus I use a wide variety of these systems at different times and in different contexts. Sometimes
I conflate some models together unconsciously. For example, I may say “What is God telling me
to do?” But then, I’ll say “Well, what God is telling me to do is what is best for me.” Therefore, I
incorporate ethical egoism. Or I may say “let me do the most loving thing in this situation” -
that's situation ethics, but I’ll do it because “it feels the most natural to me” - natural law ethics.
Therefore, if it didn’t feel natural to me, I may not have done the most loving thing.

How do we make sense of all of this?

This is how complicated our decision making can be sometimes. Each system has its own
positives and negatives. Therefore, is one better than the other? How do we make sense of all of
it? Well, at the risk of oversimplifying, I think some biblical counsel can guide us here. At the
bottom of it all, when it comes to decision making, scripture calls on believers to discern the will
of God - that is what God desires for them to do. Here are a few verses:

Romans 12:2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

That word, “discernment” is easy to say and difficult to execute. It means to approve something
by testing it. Therefore, discerning God’s will implies a process of questioning, testing, refining,
exploring, reaching out, and using available resources to figure out what Spirit-approved
decision is. Wouldn’t it be much easier for God to speak just write in pink in the sky? Definitely!
But as one of my professors said to me “the discipline of discernment allows us to grow in ways
that a quick answer would not.” This begs the ultimate question; how does one determine what
God’s will is at every circumstance? See PART 2.