Ethics is a very important thing, without ethics civilizations would not last. Without having some sort of ethical standard as an individual human being life would be confusing, since you would not have a standard of life. Many religions have a set of ethics in which a person who follows that religion must follow; Christianity is a great example of this. But what is the view of the Biblical materials on the role of ethics in the development of history?
Throughout history people have been making choices; no matter if that person was not considered as well known or important as another. These choices that were made by people throughout history could either be negative or positive choices, which in turn brought forth an outcome. No matter how big those choices were there were still outcomes to them which influenced history. For example look at the story of Adam and Eve, and how their choice to go against God affected history; or how the choice of more modern politicians has affected the course of history. The majority of these choices that were made during history were based one way or another on ethics, and I mean not necessarily Christian ethics, but just ethics in general. The reason why I believe that most of these choices were based around certain ethics is because a lot of these choices either goes along with a certain ethical view or goes against an ethical view.
But how does all this relate to the question: what is the view of the biblical materials on the role of ethics in the development of history? Well first of all the Bible in many ways is a guide to life; it provides an ethical or moral standard to follow, along with the reasons why one must follow these standards, and what would occur if one does or not follow these standards. It shows many great examples on what happens when one chooses to go against the ethical standard and God. In general the Bible is a very important piece of literature that has guided and still guides many people today. Because the Bible is a guide to life and provides an ethical standard to follow, and many people followed the teachings of God which is contained in the Bible throughout history, choices were made throughout history that revolved around the ethical standards contained in the Bible, either in the form of following or disobeying those standards.
Because the course of history is connected to choices that people make, the view of the Biblical materials on the role of ethics in the development of history is that of guiding us humans into making the right choices, to follow God, and be on the right path. Our choices as individual human beings can actually affect the course of history no matter how small that choice may be.
To conclude, ethics are the base to most choices that are made by individuals; either that choice goes against an ethical principle or goes with that principle. Choices are an important part of the course of history, outcomes are based on choices. The Bible is a guide book to life, and contains an ethical standard, which can influence the choices one makes, which in turn influences the course of history. This in turn is the view of Biblical materials on the role of ethics in the development of history.
The Dreamer 