What core values ground your faith?
June 3rd, 2008 | by Scott |Last night I participated in an online dialogue in anticipation of the upcoming Envision conference beginning on Sunday.
The first question was one of identifying the core values that undergird my faith system. We were encouraged to just focus on keywords or phrases for that leg. After each of us in the dialogue contributed our ideas we spent time selecting the best offerings and editing them into a purpose statement.
The core values I listed were these:
Love of God
Love of People
Compassion
Justice
Reconciliation
Hope
What would be yours?
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18 Responses to “What core values ground your faith?”
By jeff_r on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
honesty
humility
respect
relationship
compassion
community
tolerance
integrity
faith
By Jeff Slater on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Love for God
Love for people
By len on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
serving others
By Terri on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
The little sign on my office wall reads… “Love God and love people”. I wish I did a better job at both.
By Dan on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Here’s a question: what makes them your core values? Why do you hold THESE values above any other? For what reason do they have significance to you?
Only something to think about; not trying to hijack the thread.
By Scott on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Dan, great question. For me, it boils down to the two at the top of my list.
Of course, the argument can be made that loving God has often been perverted into great atrocities but I see the two as interconnected and inseparable. The only way to love God is by loving people and seeking a world of justice, compassion and reconciliation. That is the way to a world that blesses rather than destroys.
It’s not core values because I think it’s what I need to go to go to heaven when I die but because I believe that is what is necessary to redeem earth.
By Jonathan on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
like len, I was thinking there should be some emphasis on service
By Scott on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Jonathan, I agree. In my mind all of the ones that I mention encompass service.
By len on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
A quick, off the cuff answer to Dan’s question: I embrace loving God and loving others because of my desire to follow Jesus, and He said these were the greatest of all commandments. I would add service to this list because of the example of the life of Jesus as seen in the gospels.
Dan, as a non-theist, what are your core values and why?
By jeff_r on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Dan -
Why are the items above my core values?
I suppose we first have to define core values. I think of them as the characteristics to which I aspire and upon which I build my world view and my behavioral, ethical and moral framework.
I would say my list are “core” because they cannot be further simplified. For this reason, I did not include things such as “loving God” or “serving others” since, to my way of thinking, these are derivative values based on presuppositions (probably presuppositions about the value of other human life, the transcendence of truth, etc.).
Thus, these are, to me, normative in that they direct my derivative values. Thus, as an example, I believe in God because I value first of all “truth” (or “honesty”). I don’t believe in God because I want to, I believe in God because I believe I should seek the truth and it seems to me that God is true, therefore, I should believe (sorry, fans of Tertullian’s credo quia absurdum).
Again, I serve others not as a core value, but as a derivative value of the higher values of respect, humility, and community (among others, perhaps).
So why that particular list? First, I should say it wasn’t a list developed with great reflection, so I reserve the right to edit - but I think it’s pretty close. I chose the ones above because first, as I said, they seem to me be “fundamental“. And, second, I value/aspire to these attributes because they have immediate intrinsic and tacit appeal and meaning to me - and I cannot define them or substantiate them further than that intuitive knowledge.
(By the way, when I talk about a value being fundamental, it should be distinct from the idea of “justifying” the value itself. For example, “honesty” is about “truth”, but “truth” is a term loaded with presuppositions required to make it meaningful. For example, to believe in “truth”, I have to believe that accurate, real knowing can occur at all. I have to further believe in the reliability of my senses, my rationality and the proper noetic function of my mind to “handle” information in such a way as to arrive at “truth”. But none of these are “values” - they are justifications that support belief in “truth” as an attainable, real attribute. In this sense, “knowability” may initially seem like a core value (i.e., “more fundamental than truth”) but in actuality, it is an ipso facto assumption required by value of “truth” itself.)
By Jonathan on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Scott,
Agreed, and I meant to allude to the fact in my comment and also that folks like me can tend to focus on the theoretical aspects of certain values without enough attention to putting them into practice.
By jeff_r on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
I agree that our values have to trace to behaviors, but I also think you can jump in “at the end of the line” too quickly - adopting “derivative” values as “core” without understanding what these values must be built upon to be, ultimately, meaningful, sound and healthy.
I also think it is sometimes this lack of ability to understand what is truly “core” to our way of thinking of the world that leads to so much narrow-mindedness, legalism, intolerance and misunderstanding.
By Scott on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Jeff, I like your thoughts and the more reductionistic approach.
I approached my answers based upon the conference and the Christian presuppositions that went along with that.
By Scott on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
Working in largely blue collar churches I have often had dealings with those who view theory and theology with disinterest at best and contempt at worst.
Often these are those who take a “that’s what the Bible says” and never really delve any deeper in their understanding. And that causes a whole lot of problems.
But, I digress.
By Dan on Jun 3, 2008 | Reply
As a non-theist, I can’t speak to the topic of the thread (hence my disclaimer); however there is a certain faith in humanity that I possess, and the values that underlie that faith are not dissimilar to the reasoning/emotions behind the aforementioned ones relating to “loving others.” Indeed, I share several already listed: compassion, tolerance, justice, hope - but I have others that are important to me, and I think to the continuing development of the human as a species: curiosity, simplicity. Whereas I think of these as somewhat normative, they can be reduced further in some instances - curiosity and tolerance, for example, can both be seen as change catalysts within the human psyche, and thus “growth” could be seen as a value, but that approaches being an “end,” and I kind of see values as that which facilitate the “end” (telos) one has in mind. Perhaps the ends are the real values, in some cases.
I shouldn’t open worm-cans while I’m still at work, though. “Common sense,” though a potentially good value, has never been a strong point of mine. There will be more on this topic forthcoming, though, for my part.
By scott on Jun 4, 2008 | Reply
Dan, I’m interested in further discussion on the intersection of our core values. Your perspective here is an important one.
I’m also interested in how curiosity and simplicity, as core, could find themselves at odds with one another.
By Krister on Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
hospitality.
By scott on Jun 5, 2008 | Reply
Hospitality! Yes, an essential one that I left off my list. Then again, it is not always one of my strong suits.