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Friday, July 24, 2020

Caught Between Right and/or Expedient


In reading Ellis Peters last Brother Cadfael, I came across an ethics question.  Does the end justify the means?  Of course not.  But...

It's not that simple. 

In various degrees, we are all sinners.  To acknowledge and accept that load is good.  Perhaps even to acknowledge and accept that load is good.  Perhaps even to acknowledge and accept it and not entertain either shame or regret may also be required of us.  If we find we must still say: Yes, I would do the same again, we are making a judgement others may condemn.  But how do we know that God will condemn it? His judgements are inscrutable... If the sin is one which, with all our will to do right, we cannot regret, can it truly be a sin? ...In the end, there is nothing to be done but to state clearly what has been done, without shame or regret, and say: Here I am, and this is what I am.  Now deal with me as you see fit....You do what you must do and pay for it.  So, in the end, all things are simple.  Brother Cadfael's Penance chapter 16.

Brother Cadfael says it is that simple.

Now, Brother Cadfael obeys the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law in every mystery.  So it's OK for him to devise nefarious means to justify a good end, or does it?  Should it?  Why can't everyone?

Let God judge.


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