1

INTRODUCTION

The courses offered by the “Facultad Adventista”1 of Sagunto

don´t contain subjects that teach situational ethics. My research

focuses on a real case. I will use an example related to

ethics and life, specifically related to abortion. We will

consider the principles of conciousness and freedom, as it

also described by Fletcher Joseph2 in his famous book

“Ethicals principles”.3I intend to elevate the importance of

sensitive and situational ethics in human behavior. My main

objective seeks to accept that no law can determine if one

action is good or bad without first understanding the

situation personal.

At the beginning, we will describe the case, then

analyze the situation, the relevant data and the different

problems that relate to it. Next, we´ll focus our study on

how to consider the possible answers for understanding

decisions from the higest level of faith. We´ll summarize

some of the writings of Robinson A.T4, pioneer in a new1 http://facultadadventista.es/estudios/grado-en-teologia/plan-de-estudios/(consulted) on (september 24, 2014)2 Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey –October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an Americanprofessor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s,and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. SHOOK John R. Dictionary OfModern American Philosophers, Vol. 1, Continuum International Publishing Group,2005, p. 8033 FLETCHER Joseph. Situation ethics. A new morality. Miami. ARIEL, 1970. Sincehis work, (1966), almost every publication on contemporary ethics hasreferred to the model presented in Fletcher's writings. 4 John Arthur Thomas Robinson (16 May 1919 – 5 December 1983) was anEnglish New Testament scholar, author and the Anglican Bishop ofWoolwich. He was a lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge, and laterDean of Trinity College until his death in 1983 from cancer.Robinsonwas considered a major force in shaping liberal Christian theology.Along with Harvard theologian Harvey Cox, he spearheaded the field of

2

theology from 1970 called “Ethics situation as the new morality”.

It is my hope that the reader considers the difficulties

that arise when deciding too early or easily on questions

of morality without first considering all points of view.

The subject is important because whenever

psychologists, neuroscientists, or philosophers draw

conclusions about moral judgments in general from a small

selected sample, they assume that moral judgments are

unified by some common and peculiar feature that enables

generalizations and makes morality worthy of study as a

unified field. We assess this assumption by considering the

six main candidates for a unifying feature: content,

phenomenology, force, form, function, and brain mechanisms.

We conclude that moral judgment is not unified on any of

these levels and that moral science should adopt a more

fine-grained taxonomic approach that studies carefully

defined groups of moral judgments. Also we want to consider

that the response from Andrews university through Miroslav

Kis5 isn´t enough:

The theological systems , in which the highest good is pleasure(hedonism) , self-interest (egoism), the best social interest

secular theology and, like William Barclay, he was a believer inuniversal salvation. His book Honest to God caused controversy, as itcalled on Christians to view God as the "Ground of Being" rather thanas a supernatural being "out there." In his later books, he championedearly dates and apostolic authorship for the gospels, largely withoutsuccess. Official Appointments and Notices, New Bishop Suffragan of Woolwich,THE NEW YORK TIMES (London, ENG, UK) 3 June 19595MIROSLAV M. Kis. Chair, Department of Theology and ChristianPhilosophyProfessor of Ethics in Andrews University.

3

(utilitarianism) , or a subjective sense of love (Ethics of thesituation) has no roots in the word of God ... Only whenChristians , armed with devotion, prayer and value make themface the dilemmas of life can avoid follow their own inclinationto sin.6

DEVELOPMENT

1.- Example of morality in a real case.

Let´s start where we can find different moral

dilemmas. The case is described as follows and feel free to

analyze this situation especially after you understand

every point of view:

In 1962 , a sick patient in a state psychiatric hospital, wasviolated , the patient had a young maiden afflicted deepschizophrenic psychosis .By knowing what happened , the victim'sfather complained to the hospital by culpable negligence andrequested to end unwanted pregnancy , an abortion immediatelyprovoked his daughter when he was still in the early stage ofgestation. The management and hospital administrators did notagree to such a lawsuit alleging that the criminal code prohibitsany kind of abortions except in the cases "therapeutic " that is,

6 KIS Miroslav. Theology. Vol VII. Bogotá: APIA, 2008, p. 164

4

those that practice is in danger when the life of the mother ,because assumes that the moral law makes a crime if there is aninterference in the development of an embryo after fertilization ofthe egg , and that means taking the life of an innocent humanbeing7

We have to considerer, at least in the beginning, the

following aspects:

a) Is the patient´s sickness important to you and why?

b)How would you feel if you were the patient´s father?

c) How do you define the hospital internal law´s?

d)Who is innocent or guilty, if there are?8

This paper will follow the definition of morality as

it appers in the Random dictionary.9 Morality (from the Latin

moralitas "manner, character, proper behavior") is the

differentiation of intentions, decisions, and actions

between those that are "good" (or right) and those that are

"bad" (or wrong). Ethics is a term that comes from the

Greek word ἠθικός (ethikos) from ἦθος (ethos), which means

"custom or habit". The superfield within philosophy known

as axiology includes both ethics and aesthetics and is

unified by each sub-branch's concern with value.

7 FLETCHER J, Op.Cit pp 268 These are some of moral questions but could be much more. Theimportant focus is the reflexion of differents behaviors. 9 Vide: Random House Unabridged Dictionary: Entry on Axiology.p.245

5

Philosophers and moral psychologists have long been

interested in articulating a “descriptive definition of morality”. A

descriptive definition of morality would supply an answer

to the question, “What is morality?” But in this question, the

term “morality” is to be understood strictly in a descriptive

sense, “Morality” in the descriptive sense refers to a code

of conduct actually endorsed by an individual or group.10

We will find a conflict for example between the principles

of "freedom of conscience and freedom of election" in a pregnancy

woman by rape and the beginning of preserve divine life.

Also we will find conflict with the father and the hospital

and we must to considerer, at the same time, the

sensibility of the issue for our evaluation. What is that?

Just we are looking for a morality into a situational

ethics. We want to discover the relation between morality

and ethics in this case.

We need to understand firstly, the personal,

collective and social situation. This is important because

it gives us an environment and a context for understanding

the case. As a general rule, we can´t judge in the first

step of our refletion. We need to find answers, at best,

for considering that it is possible to find an ethical

theology, I mean, a traditional way of solution but it is

not supposes that we have founded with a right moral answer

justified. Many of our behaviors are determined by

traditional actions. We couldn´t define behaivors, sotely

by traditional or religious determinations before the case10 LUCO A. The Definition of Morality: Threading the Needle. Social Theory & Practice. July2014, pp 361-387. Available from: Religion and Philosophy Collection.

6

appears in one´s life. We will investigate what is called

the “Eptica theology”11. My intention at this point is to

redefine the meaning of “morality”.

As we have seen, acts against others take place in the

context of backwardness. I believe that most people who act

in oppressive ways, consciously or unconsciously,

attempting to control others, are trying to meet a

particular need that overrides their good intentions.

Misdirected, they have sought to meet this need in

extraordinarily destructive ways, even while unaware of the need

itself. Ultimately, destructive behaviors never succeed in

fulfilling the need. As a result, we are witness to cycles

of destruction.

Since most people intend to “do right by others” and

want to be treated the same way, why, in certain cases, do

their good intentions and all their efforts to realize

them, come to naught?12

2. Examples of morality in the Bible.11This concept is a method in applied ethics and jurisprudence, oftencharacterised as a critique of principle- or rule-based reasoning.Theword "casuistry" is derived from the Latin casus (meaning "case").Casuistry is reasoning used to resolve moral problems by extracting orextending theoretical rules from particular instances and applyingthese rules to new instances. The term is also commonly used as apejorative to criticize the use of clever but unsound reasoning(alleging implicitly the inconsistent—or outright specious—misapplication of rule to instance), especially in relation to moralquestions. Dictionary of the History of Ideas. University of Virginia Library.12 controlling people How to Recognize, Understand, and Deal withPeople Who Try to Contol You PATRICIA EVANS Author of The Verbally AbusiveRelationship Adams Media Avon, Massachusetts

7

Ethics is distinguished as a field of study within the

realm of organised knowledge which interprets moral

experience. Christian ethics assumes this interpretation

into the hermeneutic framework of Christian theology in

relation to a hope for the renewal and recovery of human

agency. Its theme is moral thinking in general, which it

understands within the framework of faith. It is dependent

on philosophical ethics, but presumes and aims at more. The

concepts handled by theological ethics include analytic

categories coined to describe the operations of moral

thought itself, concepts that name qualities and

performances of universal importance, and concepts

belonging both to dogmatics and ethics, Ej: ‘sin’.

It is concerned to describe the architecture of life in

the Spirit: World, the framework of meaning, Self, the

agent, Time, the immediate future open to action. All is

associated to the Bible and from the human thought it

resists pressure for theoretical arising. Its task include

critical engagement with issues of policy or practice in

wider discussion, engagement with particular moral

dilemmas; “the exploration of special fields, such as bioethics, marriage,

economics, critical conceptual interaction with philosophy, interaction with

biblical exegesis, exposition of texts from the tradition of theological ethics, and

comparative intertraditional enquiry.”13

13 O’DONOVAN, O. (2012). The Future of Theological Ethics. Studies InChristian Ethics, 25(2), 186-198.p.85

8

The Bible contains many examples14 about ethical

situations. Abraham used a surrogate woman in a moral

situation accepted in the social ethics. This is the case

with the slave Hagar. Also, the Bible describes, how

Abraham is lies to save the life of Sarah. He Tried to

sacrifice his own son by command from God. Korah's rebellion

ends with a hole in the ground. Nadab and Habiú, Aaron's

sons are killed by fire. Acaz tried to touch the ark for

keeping it steady was immediately annihilated. Samson seems

to accept a collective suicide. Hosea lived a love affair

amid a determined adultery by command of God. Rahab, the

prostitute, lied to hide the spies sent by Joshua near

Jericho. There are also many examples in the New Testament

where Jesus doesn´t condemn a woman who is found in the act

of adultery. Paul tells us, in his epistols, about the pure

and impure ailments and how he himself was acused of

(liberal man in order to law). We also find in our

denominational history surprising facts from the ethical

point of view. The book (Rev. 10) read as a great

14 There are many Bible verses that relate conduct and facts violent.For Examples: Forms of killing : Stoning,Slaughter ( people), Move toKnife / stabbing,Kill the sword. War Stories :War / Battle / Attack /battle / siege, Military / Soldiers,Give God an army or people totheir enemies. mass extermination : Anathema / slaughter/extermination / no leave survivors, Wipeout, Raze / destroy (land and/ or lives) Weapon of War: Weapons / arrows / swords / Knife / spears.Expolio of property of others : Looting / loot / seize land andproperty of the peoples defeated after a battle. It should beimpossible to note every case. We just remember some of them. .AQUINAS J. The Appeal to ‘Delayed violence in Contemporary Christian Ethical Debates.Available from: Religion and Philosophy Collection, Ipswich, MA.

9

disappointment in that group, who God is allowing. The

birth of the Adventist movement.15

We can observe from these examples and many others the

dificulty for understanding the diference in human

behavior.16 One can read the bible and make it say what one

wants it to say, or one can attempt to understand what the

text is trying to say. These days, deconstructive reading

tells us that no one will ever have the definitive

interpretation of a passage, but we can still try to learn

what the text meant in the context of its times. Almost all

religious readers of the Bible read themselves into the

text, although most of them do not realize that they are

doing so. They assume that these sacred texts, the

foundation of the readers' faiths, are peaks of morality

and spirituality. These readers are thus shocked if the God

of the Bible does not act in accordance with their own

sense of what God should do, and are embarrassed if the

Biblical heroes do not act in ways that they would consider

to be those of righteousness and truth. They stammer and

15 This case is also situational becouse is a growing moviment from themistake ordered by God16Moral judgments function as commitment strategies that rely on adeflection of attention from our motivations and values. Revealing thehidden workings of these strategies allows me to illustrate andexplain some of the widely unrecognized practical downsides of moraldiscourse. I recommend a departure from moral discourse in favor ofpaying more and better attention to our actual concerns. Importantstrengths of my approach over contemporary forms of moral abolitionismlie in my ability to sidestep moral error theories, my acknowledgmentof the significant value of moral discourse, and thus the restrictedtarget of my recommendation. Vide CAMPBELL E. Ethics. Apr2014, Vol. 124Issue 3, p447-480.

10

make alibis for their heroes and try to make the problems

disappear through clever interpretation.17

The utilization of biblical norms in Christian ethics

and the criteries are necesary for finding out

transcultural norms in the bible. I assume that is

important that the criteria of reflexion is recommend in

providing consistency in their use of norms. I pointed out

that they enable biblical diversity and the variety of

contexts without resolving that such admissions demand

doing ethics without norms. I think that it appears to me

that through an exercise of using norm in the Christian

community it will enable them to assert biblical authority

while taking into account for its nature as a context.18

3. Examples of morality in the secular history.

The subject of values has become a hot topic for

politicians. One party points to the other and finds a lack

of values in one sphere or another of life with particular

emphasis on family values. Divorce, infidelity, and child

support vie with debates over legislation deemed immoral by

a particular group, such as legalizing same-sex marriage.

Occasionally, the ridiculous surfaces in news reports, as

when a six-year-old boy was accused of "sexual harassment"

for kissing a female playmate on the cheek (after, so he

17 David's final testament: Morality or expediency? By: SCOLNIC, BENJAMIN E.Vol. 43.P.5418 GRAMS, R. G. (2003). The Use of Biblical Norms in ChristianEthics. Journal Of European Baptist Studies, 4(1), 4-19.

11

claims, she asked him to!). Obviously, the meaning of the

word values tends to become confused in the milieu of

conflicting interests and disparate points of view.

The term values points to what we value, to what we

consider to be of worth or merit. When related to morals or

ethics, the term becomes moral values or ethical values or

human values or family values. And what we value can

undergo change. For example, just over one hundred years

ago, the violation of Native American rights was considered

acceptable by some, and tribes were decimated because men

and women from Europe valued Native Americans as something

less than human. Not so long ago, enslavement of African Americans was

accepted as legitimate by some because African Americans were considered to

have less worth than men and women of European stock. In both cases--

Native American genocide and African American enslavement--

the twisted values judgments involved were given a moral

basis through interpretations of the Scriptures and

religious dogmas of European religious groups. It was only

when reason and humanistic values surfaced that efforts to

eliminate the maltreatments were initiated. We can find a

lot of examples.

Some believe that moral and ethical rules have been

divinely revealed, therefore all one needs to do to lead a

moral life is to adhere to the rule ethics. For others,

there can be no question that values develop out of group

life. In either case, at times family values will vary,

even among those who accept the same revealed ethical

source. Thus, my family values may coincide or differ from

12

yours depending on the life patterns we accept. However, my

values--or what is of worth to me--must not be permitted to

jeopardize what is of worth or value to you unless my

values or your values permit or endorse the mistreatment of

others.19

For example, my father believed, on the basis of

Scripture, that to spare the rod was to spoil the child

(Proverbs 10: 13, 13:24). He never hesitated to use

physical force to compel obedience. I disagree with this

notion. I would never slap, hit, or beat my sons, nor would

I ever subject them to demeaning or dehumanizing language

or treatment--and my sons have turned out to be splendid

young men. My family values differ from those of my father.

I do not accept any justification for physical punishment

or mental maltreatment of children, whether based in

Scripture or on other arguments. Supportive love and the

use of reason, openness to hearing other persons' points of

view, understanding of other persons' problems, willingness

to compromise and to look at the total situation rather

than impose rules (whether or not divinely sanctioned)

appear to me to provide a better way of raising children

than playing the role of an authoritative, noncompromising,

bully parent.

In my study of religions and cultures, I have noted

that the deities that subject their own divine children to

horrendous suffering for one reason or another tend to

19 This is one of the point of our Research. The ethicals Situation in the life.

13

endorse values among believers that favor harsh treatment

of children. The gods and goddesses which demand from their

followers sacrifices (either human or other animal) as part

of the worship due to them have adherents who find

salvation in the magic of spilled blood and burnt flesh. In

other words, divinely ordained violence appears to sanction

violence among humans. A Christian god that produces a son

destined by divine fate to suffer and be killed for the

redemption of the world can scarcely be expected to produce

followers who oppose violence and suffering and death as

corrective measures for misbehavior.

Obviously, there will be those who will reject what I

have written and will ask on what do I base a value system.

I have many resources but perhaps three will suffice as

illustrations.20

First, I turn to a tale about a Hasidic rabbi named

Moshe Lieb of Sasov. the rabbi said:

There is no quality and there is no power of man thatwas created to no purpose. But to what end can the denial ofGod have been created? This too can be uplifted through deedsof charity. For if someone comes to you and asks your help, youshall not turn him away with pious words, saying: "Have faithand take your troubles to God!" You shall act as if there was noGod, and as if there were only one person in the world whocould help this man--only yourself.

20 Hasidism began in the eighteenth century as a popular mysticalmovement among the Jews of Poland and spread throughout Europe duringthe nineteenth century. The label Hasid was derived from the Hebrewword hesed, which has the basic meaning of "loyalty" or perhaps"pious." The Hasidim were the "pious ones." According to the story,Rabbi Moshe Lieb had stated that God had made everything for apurpose. In response to an inquiry as to why God would have createdatheists.

14

In other words, what the rabbi was saying was that, in

this particular situation, one should base human value

systems on an atheistic position and respond to human need

and human pain as one human being reaching out to another.

One does not respond to those in need because some

scripture says you must or because one will get rewards or

earn points for the afterlife; one reacts out of the

wellsprings of human compassion and because the one in need

is a member of the human family.

A second ethical guideline, developed by Joseph

Fletcher, an Episcopal theologian who became a humanist, is

known as situation ethics. Fletcher rejected rule ethics as

too inflexible and argued that, in a given situation, all

the facts involved should be considered and the response

should be governed by Christian love (agape) or, for the

non-Christian, by the greatest good (summum bonum).

Response to human cries for help comes from the heart,

involves evaluation of the situation, and seeks to provide

the greatest good for all concerned.

Should Fletcher's ethic involve too much analysis for

a situation demanding a quick response, I find a third

value source in the Ethical Culture Movement. Founded in

1876 by Rabbi Felix Adler, Ethical Culture focuses on

ethics, not theology, and includes both deists and

freethinkers. The emphasis is on "deeds, not creeds" and

the challenge is to live so as to evoke ,the highest moral

and ethical values in others and in one's self, to seek

15

that which is best for others and for one's self, and to

commit one's life to living according to the highest

principles known to humans. I find solid guidance both in

the teachings of Adler and in the writings of those who

have extended his thinking.

Let´s considerer an examples.21 The Lutheran Christian

Dietrich Bonhoeffer22 planning a plot to end the life of

Hittler. Trumman and the atomic bomb, and the beginning of

the nuclear age. Israel and their quest to get uranium from

the Colombian city of Medellin in the 90s with the cruelest

of all history narcos, Pablo Escobar23, adored by many because

it helped the poor and performed social work, in spite of

millions of murders with a lot of innocent people suffering

his politics. Fletcher's situation ethics, provide basic

satisfactory moral and ethical guides for human

behavior.24But it isn´t enough.25

21 In anexes we explain more the information22 Dietrich Bonhoeffer  (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a GermanLutheran pastor, theologian and activive member of German resistancemovement against Nazism.  He was also a founding member of theConfessing Church (a Christian resistance movement in Nazi Germany).Bonhoeffer was born in Breslau, Silesia into a middle to upper-classprofessional family. He and his twin sister Sabine were sixth andseventh of eight children. His parents supported his decision tobecome a minister.  He received his doctorate in theology from theUniversity of Berlin, and then spent a post-graduate year abroadstudying at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. David Ford,The Modern Theologians, p4523 Pablo Escobar, born December 1, 1949, in Antioquia, Colombia,entered the cocaine trade in the early 1970s. He collaborated withother criminals to form the Medellin Cartel and eventually controlledover 80% of the cocaine shipped to the U.S. He earned popularity bysponsoring charity projects and soccer clubs, but later terrorcampaigns turned public opinion against him. He was killed in 1993.http://www.biography.com (on line: 26/11/2014)24 LARUE, G. A. (1998). On Developing Human Values.Humanist, 58(6), 38-3925 FLETCHER, Joseph. Humanist. Sep/Oct86, Vol. 46 Issue 5, p4-4. 1/4p

16

CONCLUSIONS

In our brief work, we have raised the issue of ethical

dilemma and we have found that reject the situational

ethics is to eliminate a basic system thinking. Moreover,

17

our response is a situational ethics based on the example

of Jesus and how he lived that way. We have seen one real

case, Bible cases and stories that shows that we need to

answer from Jesus´s life. One situational ethical from his

example. It is no enough just a moral situational based in

relativism or legalism, these aren´t secures. We need to

look a new morality and to accept the individual situation

with heist love possible and to study all possibilities for

making the best decision possible. We have looked for

resolves moral problems of judgment or conduct arising in

specific situations because:

a)There are moral conflicts

b) What are the traditional solutions

c) What is my point of view

Christian ethics is resituated as directed to the

question of how to live with God, a reflex of the

confession that God wants to live with humans. Within this

account, Scripture is understood in terms of the concept of

torah, the 'second creation' in which human beings are

called to live and breathe. Faith is also granted a central

role, defined as trust in God's Word and promise which must

therefore remain a verbum externum, an object of trust and

hope that can never be incorporated as a possession of the

believer. A concluding discussion emphasises that the

centrality of worship and doxology in Singing names a form

18

of human political coexistence and interaction initiated by

God's work. Because the theological location of prayer and

praise is before God with the community of prayer,

togetherness is created through a multifaceted practice

that can be described as the redemptive process, an

eschatologically open and thus dynamic state of walking

with God. An ethic of doxology is therefore both political

and dynamic from its inception. The step-off point for this

job is the problem of the ‘moral judgement–moral action gap’ as

found in contemporary literature of moral education and

moral development. The ontological gap between meaningful

moral events and the underlying natural structures or

mechanical processes presumed to produce them is an

evidence.26

My conclusion is a reformed rheology, ethical,

Christianity and secure in the Bible and in the example of

Jesu´s life. Not only in his moral education but in the way

of living. This is the Christian moral; it is the moral of

the message today, tomorrow and forever, that we must

accept the fact that this world is extremely materialistic

and not very spiritual.

26  WILLIAMS, Richard N.; Gantt, Edwin E. Journal of Moral Education. Dec2012,Vol. 41 Issue 4, p417-435. 19p. DOI: 10.1080/03057240.2012.665587.Subjects: DUTY; MORAL education; MORAL development; REASONING (Logic);LEVINAS, Emmanuel, 1906-1995; HUMAN behavior

19

ANEXES

A) COMPLOT AGAINST HITLER: ¿IS IT ETHICAL?

Bonhoeffer was condemned to death on 8 April 1945 by SSjudge Otto Thorbeck at a drumhead court-martial withoutwitnesses, records of proceedings or a defense

20

in Flossenbürg concentration camp. He was executed thereby hanging at dawn on 9 April 1945, just two weeks beforesoldiers from the United States 90th and 97th InfantryDivisions liberated the camp, three weeks before the Sovietcapture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation ofNazi Germany. Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothing andled naked into the execution yard, where he was hanged,along with fellow conspirators Admiral Wilhelm Canaris,Canaris's deputy General Hans Oster, military juristGeneral Karl Sack, General Friedrich vonRabenau, businessman Theodor Strünck, and German resistancefighter Ludwig Gehre. Bonhoeffer's brother, KlausBonhoeffer, and his brother-in-law Rüdiger Schleicher wereexecuted in Berlin the night of April 22–23 as Soviettroops already fought in the capital. His brother-in-lawHans von Dohnányi had been executed in Sachsenhausenconcentration camp on 8 or 9 April. Eberhard Bethge, astudent and friend of Bonhoeffer's, writes of a man who sawthe execution:

"I saw Pastor Bonhoeffer... kneeling on the floor prayingfervently to God. I was most deeply moved by the way thislovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heardhis prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a shortprayer and then climbed the few steps to the gallows, braveand composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In thealmost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly everseen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God."

Such is the traditional account of Bonhoeffer's death. Over

the decades it achieved almost the status of an epitaph;

for instance, Eric Metaxas's best-selling biography quotes

it without comment. But many recent biographers see

problems with the story, not due to Bethge but his source.

The purported witness was a doctor at Flossenbürg

concentration camp, Hermann Fischer-Hüllstrung, who may

21

have wished to minimize the suffering of the condemned men

to reduce his own culpability in their executions. J. L. F.

Mogensen, a former prisoner at Flossenbürg, cited the

length of time it took for the execution to be completed

(almost six hours), plus departures from ordinary camp

procedure that hardly would have been allowed the prisoners

so late in the war, as jarring inconsistencies. Considering

that the sentences had been confirmed at the highest levels

of Nazi government, by individuals with a pattern of

torturing prisoners who dared to challenge the regime, it

is more likely that "the physical details of Bonhoeffer's death may have

been much more difficult than we earlier had imagined." Other recent

critics of the traditional account are more caustic. One

terms the Fischer-Hüllstrung story as "unfortunately a

lie," citing additional factual inconsistencies (the doctor

described Bonhoeffer climbing the steps to the noose, but

at Flossenbürg the gallows had none), and observing that

"Fischer-Hüllstrung had the job of reviving political

prisoners after they had been hanged until they were almost

dead, in order to prolong the agony of their

dying." Another charges that Fischer-Hüllstrung's

"subsequent statement about Bonhoeffer as kneeling in wordy

prayer . . . belongs to the realm of legend."27

27  RASMUSSEN, Larry L. (2005). Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality And Resistance. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 130

22

B) WAS ESCOBAR A GOOD MAN?

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord

and leader of one of the most powerful criminal

organizations ever assembled. During the height of his

power in the 1980’s, he controlled a vast empire of drugs

and murder that covered the globe. He made billions of

dollars, ordered the murder of hundreds if not thousands of

people, and ruled over a personal empire of mansions,

airplanes, a private zoo and even his own army of soldiers

and hardened criminals. Born on December 1, 1949 into a

lower-middle class family, young Pablo grew up in the

Medellín suburb of Envigado. As a young man, he was driven

and ambitious, telling friends and family that he wanted to

be President of Colombia some day. He got his start as a

street criminal: according to legend, he would steal

tombstones, sandblast the names off of them, and resell

them to crooked Panamanians. Later, he moved up to stealing

cars. It was in the 1970’s that he found his path to wealth

and power: drugs. He would buy coca paste in Bolivia and

Peru, refine it, and transport it for sale in the US. In

1975, a local Medellín drug lord named Fabio Restrepo was

murdered, reportedly on the orders of Escobar himself.

Stepping into the power vacuum, Escobar took over

Restrepo’s organization and expanded his operations. Before

long, he controlled all crime in Medellín and was

responsible for as much as 80% of the cocaine transported

into the United States. In 1982, he was elected to

23

Colombia’s Congress. With economic, criminal and political

power, Escobar’s rise was complete. Escobar’s ruthlessness

was legendary. His rise was opposed by many honest

politicians, judges and policemen, who did not like the

growing influence of this street thug. Escobar had a way of

dealing with his enemies: he called it “plata o plomo,”

literally, silver or lead. Usually, if a politician, judge

or policeman got in his way, he would first attempt to

bribe them, and if that didn’t work, he would order them

killed, occasionally including their family in the hit. The

exact number of honest men and women killed by Escobar is

unknown, but it definitely goes well into the hundreds and

perhaps into the thousands. Even being important or high-

profile did not protect you from Escobar if he wanted you

out of the way. He ordered the assassination of

presidential candidates and was even rumored to be behind

the 1985 attack on the Supreme Court, carried out by the

19th of April insurrectionist movement in which several

Supreme Court Justices were killed. On November 27, 1989,

Escobar’s Medellín cartel planted a bomb on Avianca flight

203, killing 110 people. The target, a presidential

candidate, was not actually on board. In addition to these

high-profile assassinations, Escobar and his organization

were responsible for the deaths of countless magistrates,

journalists, policemen and even criminals inside his own

organization. By the mid- 1980’s, Pablo Escobar was one of

the most powerful men in the world. Forbes magazine listed

him as the seventh-richest man in the world. His empire

24

included an army of soldiers and criminals, a private zoo,

mansions and apartments all over Colombia, private

airstrips and planes for drug transport and personal wealth

reported to be in the neighborhood of $24 billion. He could

order the murder of anyone, anywhere, any time.28In spite

of this, actually, he is acla maid like an heroe in some

parts of Colombia.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AQUINAS J. The Appeal to ‘Delayed violence in Contemporary Christian

Ethical Debates. Available from: Religion and Philosophy

Collection.

28 MISTER C. Latin American History: Discovery and Conquest (1492-1572)

25

CAMPBELL E. Ethics. Apr2014, Vol. 124 Issue 3, p447-480.

FLETCHER, Joseph. Humanist. Sep/Oct86, Vol. 46 Issue 5, p4-

4. 1/4p

FLETCHER, Joseph. Ethicals Principles. APIA. Miami. 1970

GRAMS, R. G. (2003). The Use of Biblical Norms in Christian

Ethics. Journal Of European Baptist Studies

JOHN ARTHUR THOMAS ROBINSON. Honest to God. 1970

KIS Miroslav. Theology. Vol VII. Bogotá: APIA, 2008, p. 164

LARUE, G. A. (1998). On Developing Human Values.Humanist, 58(6),

38-39

LEVINAS, Emmanue lMORAL education. 1985

26

LUCO A. The Definition of Morality: Threading the Needle. Social

Theory & Practice. July 2014, pp 361-387.

MISTER C. Latin American History: Discovery and Conquest,2004

O’DONOVAN, O. (2012). The Future of Theological Ethics. Studies In

Christian Ethics, 25(2), 186-198.

PATRICIA EVANS The Verbally Abusive Relationship Adams Media Avon,

Massachusetts.2006

RANDOM HOUSE UNABRIDGED DICTIONARY: Entry on Axiology.p.245

RASMUSSEN, Larry L. (2005). Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Reality And

Resistance. Westminster John Knox Press. p. 130

SCOLNIC, BENJAMIN E.Vol. 43. P.54 David's final testament:

Morality or expediency.1994

WILLIAMS, Richard N.; Gantt, Edwin E. Journal

of Moral Education. Dec2012, Vol. 41 Issue 4, p417-435. 19p.