📖 Maadili ya Kichungaji na ya Kikristo — Sehemu ya 1: Utangulizi wa Maadili ya Kikristo📖 Pastoral & Christian Ethics — Unit 1: Introduction to Christian Ethics

Kifungu 1.1 — Maadili ni Nini, Kwa Nini Yanahitajika, na Ni ya NiniSection 1.1 — What Ethics Is, Why It Is Necessary, and What It Is For

Kila mtu anayesimama kuhubiri tayari ni mwanamaadili, awe amewahi kulitumia neno hilo au la. Mara tu anapoliambia kusanyiko kile linalopaswa kufanya, ametoa dai kuhusu mema na mabaya, na nyuma ya dai hilo kuna mamlaka fulani. Swali pekee ni mamlaka gani. Kwa hiyo kabla hatujauliza kamwe ni jambo gani lililo sahihi kufanya, lazima tuulize swali la ndani zaidi: ni nani mwenye haki ya kuniambia jema ni nini? Swali hilo ndipo maadili ya Kikristo yanapoanzia, na ndipo yanapoachana na karibu kila kitu ambacho ulimwengu utakupa.Every man who stands to preach is already an ethicist, whether he has ever used the word or not. The moment he tells a congregation what they ought to do, he has made a claim about right and wrong, and behind that claim stands some authority. The only question is which one. So before we ever ask what is the right thing to do, we have to ask a deeper question: who has the right to tell me what right is? That question is where Christian ethics begins, and it is where it parts ways with almost everything the world will offer you.

Acha nikupe kwanza ufafanuzi ulio wazi, kisha niufafanue. Maadili ya Kikristo ni somo lenye nidhamu kuhusu jinsi watu wa Mungu wanavyopaswa kuishi, likipimwa kwa kipimo cha tabia ya Mungu Mwenyewe kama alivyoifunua katika Neno lake. Angalia ufafanuzi huo unavyofanya. Hauanzi na sisi. Hauanzi na kile kinachoonekana kuwa sawa kwa hisia, kile kinachofanya kazi, au kile ambacho wengi wameamua. Unaanza na Mungu — na jinsi alivyo — na unapima kila tendo kwa kumlinganisha Yeye. Kwa mwamini, maadili si kutafuta kipimo. Kipimo tayari kimetolewa. Maadili ni kazi ya uangalifu na ya maombi ya kujifunza kuishi ndani yake.Let me give you the plain definition first and then unfold it. Christian ethics is the disciplined study of how God's people are to live, judged by the standard of God's own character as He has revealed it in His Word. Notice what that definition does. It does not start with us. It does not start with what feels right, what works, or what the majority has decided. It starts with God — with who He is — and it measures every action against Him. Ethics, for the believer, is not the search for a standard. The standard has already been given. Ethics is the careful, prayerful work of learning to live inside it.

Kwa nini somo kama hili linahitajika? Unaweza kudhani kwamba mtu anayempenda Mungu na kusoma Biblia yake angejua tu jinsi ya kutenda, na kwa kiasi fulani hilo ni kweli. Lakini Maandiko yenyewe yanadhani vinginevyo. Paulo anaomba kwamba upendo wa Wafilipi "uzidi kuwa mwingi sana, katika hekima na ufahamu wote; mpate kuyakubali yaliyo bora" (Wafilipi 1:9–10). Kupambanua si jambo linalokuja lenyewe. Hufunzwa. Mwandishi wa Waebrania anawakemea waamini ambao walipaswa kuwa walimu lakini bado wanahitaji maziwa, kwa sababu "chakula kigumu ni cha watu wazima, ambao akili zao, kwa kutumiwa, zimezoezwa kupambanua mema na mabaya" (Waebrania 5:14). Sikia maneno hayo — kwa kutumiwa. Ukomavu wa kimaadili si zawadi inayodondoshwa juu ya mwongofu mpya. Ni tunda la mazoezi, la kufanya mara kwa mara, la akili iliyozoezwa tena na tena katika mambo ya Mungu hadi inaweza kutofautisha jema na baya kama sikio lililofunzwa linavyotofautisha sauti sahihi ya muziki na sauti iliyoshuka.Why is such a study necessary? You might think that a man who loves God and reads his Bible would simply know how to act, and to a degree that is true. But Scripture itself assumes otherwise. Paul prays that the Philippians' love would "abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent" (Philippians 1:9–10). Discernment is not automatic. It is trained. The writer of Hebrews rebukes believers who ought to be teachers but still need milk, because "solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14). Hear that phrase — by reason of use. Ethical maturity is not a gift dropped on the new convert. It is the fruit of exercise, of practice, of a mind drilled again and again in the things of God until it can tell good from evil the way a trained ear tells a true note from a flat one.

Na hayo yote ni kwa ajili ya nini? Hapa ulimwengu na kanisa vinaachana kabisa. Ulimwengu hujifunza maadili ili jamii ifanye kazi, ili kuwazuia watu wasiangamizane, ili kuwa na furaha. Hakuna kati ya hayo lililo baya. Lakini hayo si lengo. Lengo la maadili ya Kikristo ni utukufu wa Mungu. "Basi, mlapo, au mnywapo, au mfanyapo jambo lo lote, fanyeni yote kwa utukufu wa Mungu" (1 Wakorintho 10:31). Mstari huo mmoja unapanga upya kazi yote. Hatufuati utakatifu ili tujione vizuri, wala hata hasa ili tuwasaidie wengine, ingawa utafanya yote mawili. Tunaufuata kwa sababu Mungu mtakatifu anastahili watu watakatifu, na kwa sababu kila jambo jema tunalofanya linaonyesha tabia yake mbele ya ulimwengu unaotutazama. Maadili ni ibada kwa mikono na miguu yetu.And what is it all for? Here the world and the church diverge completely. The world studies ethics to make society function, to keep people from destroying one another, to be happy. None of those are bad things. But they are not the goal. The goal of Christian ethics is the glory of God. "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). That single verse reorders the entire enterprise. We do not pursue holiness to feel good about ourselves, or even mainly to help others, though it will do both. We pursue it because a holy God is worthy of a holy people, and because every right thing we do puts His character on display before a watching world. Ethics is worship with our hands and feet.

Kifungu 1.2 — Mamlaka Kamili ya MaandikoSection 1.2 — The Absolute Authority of Scripture

Kila kitu nilichosema hivi punde kinategemea imani moja thabiti, na imani hiyo ikiondoka, jengo lote linaanguka. Imani hiyo ni hii: kwamba Maandiko ni Neno la Mungu lenyewe, na kwa hiyo yana mamlaka ya Mungu Mwenyewe juu ya jinsi tunavyoishi.Everything I have just said hangs on one conviction, and if that conviction goes, the whole structure comes down. The conviction is this: that Scripture is the very Word of God, and therefore carries God's own authority over how we live.

"Kila andiko lenye pumzi ya Mungu lafaa kwa mafundisho, na kwa kuwaonya watu makosa yao, na kwa kuwaongoza, na kwa kuwaadibu katika haki; ili mtu wa Mungu awe kamili, amekamilishwa apate kutenda kila tendo jema."2 Timotheo 3:16–17 (SUV)"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."2 Timothy 3:16–17 (NKJV)

Soma kifungu hicho polepole, kwa sababu Paulo anaweka fundisho zima la maadili katika mistari miwili. Maandiko yana pumzi ya Mungu — yanatoka kinywani mwa Mungu kwa uhakika kama pumzi inavyotoka kinywani mwako. Hayo ndiyo mamlaka yake. Kisha angalia matumizi manne ambayo Paulo anayataja: mafundisho hutufundisha yaliyo kweli, kuonya hutuonyesha tulipokosea, kuongoza hutuweka tena njiani, na kuadibu katika haki hutufunza kuitembea njia hiyo kuendelea mbele. Kufundisha, kukemea, kusahihisha, kufunza — huo ndio mwendo kamili wa maisha yanayoumbwa na Neno. Na tazama matokeo ambayo Paulo anayalenga: kwamba mtu wa Mungu awe kamili, amekamilishwa apate kutenda kila tendo jema. Neno halitoshi tu kutuokoa. Linatosha kutuunda. Hakuna tendo jema ambalo Maandiko yanamwacha mtu wa Mungu bila maandalizi kwalo.Read that passage slowly, because Paul packs an entire doctrine of ethics into two verses. Scripture is God-breathed — it comes out of the mouth of God as surely as breath comes out of yours. That is its authority. And then notice the four uses Paul gives it: doctrine teaches us what is true, reproof shows us where we have gone wrong, correction sets us back on the path, and instruction in righteousness trains us to walk that path going forward. Teaching, rebuking, correcting, training — that is the full motion of a life being shaped by the Word. And mark the result Paul aims at: that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Word is not merely sufficient to save us. It is sufficient to form us. There is no good work for which Scripture leaves the man of God unequipped.

Hiki ndicho tunachomaanisha kwa utoshelevu wa Maandiko, na kwa mchungaji si wazo la kinadharia tu. Maana yake ni kwamba wanandoa wanapoketi mbele yako ndoa yao ikiwa imevunjika vipande vipande, kijana anapokiri uraibu ambao hawezi kuuvunja, mzee wa kanisa anapouliza jinsi kanisa linavyopaswa kumshughulikia mshirika aliye katika dhambi ya wazi — hutupwi kwenye werevu wako mwenyewe au kitabu cha karibuni cha mbinu. Una Neno kutoka kwa Mungu lililo hai, tena lenye nguvu, linalotambua mawazo na makusudi ya moyo (Waebrania 4:12), na linaloweza kumfanya mtu wa Mungu kuwa kamili. Ulimwengu utakuambia kwamba Biblia ni kitabu cha zamani kisicho na la kusema kuhusu matatizo ya kisasa. Mtu ambaye ameitumia kwa kweli katika mapambano ya huduma anajua zaidi.This is what we mean by the sufficiency of Scripture, and for the pastor it is not an abstraction. It means that when a couple sits across from you with a marriage in pieces, when a young man confesses an addiction he cannot break, when an elder asks how the church should handle a member in open sin — you are not thrown back on your own cleverness or the latest book of techniques. You have a Word from God that is living and powerful, that judges the thoughts and intents of the heart (Hebrews 4:12), and that is able to make the man of God complete. The world will tell you that the Bible is an old book with nothing to say to modern problems. The man who has actually used it in the trenches of ministry knows better.

Sasa, nataka kuwa mwangalifu hapa, kwa sababu mamlaka ya Maandiko mara nyingi hueleweka vibaya kana kwamba ni dai kwamba Biblia inatoa mstari wa moja kwa moja kwa kila hali. Haifanyi hivyo. Hakuna sura na mstari kuhusu iwapo uchukue kazi fulani au matibabu gani ya kumfuatilia mzazi anayekufa. Lakini utoshelevu wa Maandiko haumaanishi kwamba Maandiko yanajibu kila swali kwa amri ya moja kwa moja; unamaanisha kwamba Maandiko yanatupa kila kitu tunachohitaji — ukweli kuhusu Mungu, kuhusu sisi wenyewe, kuhusu mema na mabaya, na hekima ya akili iliyofanywa upya — ili kupambanua jinsi ya kumheshimu Mungu katika kila hali. Biblia si katalogi ya kadi za majibu. Ni msingi wenye mamlaka ambao juu yake hoja zote sahihi hujengwa.Now, I want to be careful here, because the authority of Scripture is often misunderstood as a claim that the Bible gives a direct verse for every situation. It does not. There is no chapter and verse on whether to take a particular job or which medical treatment to pursue for a dying parent. But the sufficiency of Scripture does not mean Scripture answers every question by direct command; it means Scripture gives us everything we need — the truth about God, about ourselves, about right and wrong, and the wisdom of a renewed mind — to discern how to honor God in every situation. The Bible is not a card catalog of answers. It is the authoritative foundation on which all right reasoning is built.

Kifungu 1.3 — Tofauti na Mitazamo ya Kidunia na ya Uhusiano (Relativism)Section 1.3 — The Contrast with Secular and Relativistic Approaches

Ili kuona tulicho nacho, inasaidia kuona waziwazi kile ambacho ulimwengu unatoa mahali pake. Ukiondoa majina na msamiati wa kitaaluma, mapokeo kadhaa halisi hujitokeza tena na tena. Mtazamo wa matokeo (consequentialism), pamoja na falsafa ya manufaa (utilitarianism), huweka kipimo katika matokeo: tendo ni sahihi ikiwa linaleta wema mkubwa zaidi kwa idadi kubwa zaidi ya watu. Mitazamo ya wajibu (deontological) huweka kipimo katika akili na wajibu: sahihi ni kile ambacho mtu mwenye busara angetaka kiwe kanuni ya ulimwengu wote, bila kujali matokeo. Maadili ya fadhila (virtue ethics) huweka kipimo katika tabia: tendo sahihi ni lile ambalo mtu mwenye hekima ya kivitendo angefanya, likilenga ustawi halisi wa mwanadamu. Mapokeo ya sheria ya asili (natural law) — ambayo kozi hii yenyewe inayatumia baadaye, katika kushughulikia njia za kawaida na zisizo za kawaida za matibabu mwishoni mwa maisha — yanashikilia kwamba mpangilio halisi wa kimaadili umejengwa ndani ya asili ya mwanadamu na unaweza kujulikana kwa akili hata bila ufunuo maalum. Baadhi ya wanafikra katika kila moja ya mapokeo haya hutetea ukweli halisi wa kimaadili usiotegemea maoni bila kuuweka waziwazi juu ya Mungu; tunapaswa kujadiliana nao kwa uaminifu badala ya kuwakejeli. Na baadhi, ingawa si wote kamwe wanaokataa msingi wa Kikristo, huishia katika mtazamo wa uhusiano (relativism), yaani wazo kwamba hakuna jema na baya lisilobadilika, bali tu ukweli wako na ukweli wangu.To see what we have, it helps to see clearly what the world offers in its place. Strip away the labels and the academic vocabulary, and several real traditions recur. Consequentialism, including utilitarianism, locates the standard in outcomes: an act is right if it produces the greatest good for the greatest number. Deontological approaches locate it in reason and duty: right is whatever a rational person would will as a universal rule, regardless of outcome. Virtue ethics locates it in character: right action is what a person of practical wisdom would do, aimed at genuine human flourishing. Natural-law traditions — which this course itself draws on later, in its treatment of ordinary and extraordinary means at the end of life — hold that a real moral order is built into human nature and can be known by reason even without special revelation. Some thinkers in each of these traditions defend real, objective moral truth without grounding it explicitly in God; we should engage them honestly rather than caricature them. And some, though by no means all who reject a Christian foundation, land in relativism, the view that there is no fixed right and wrong, only your truth and my truth.

Sikuombi uyatupilie mbali mifumo hii kana kwamba haina chochote cha kweli. Mtu anayechunguza matokeo yuko sahihi kwamba matendo yana matokeo na kwamba upendo huyazingatia. Mfuasi wa mtazamo wa uhusiano ametambua kwa usahihi kwamba hukumu za wanadamu zinaweza kukosea na zinaundwa na utamaduni. Kosa kamwe si kwamba mitazamo hii haioni chochote; kosa ni mahali inapoweka uzito wake hatimaye. Inauweka juu ya kiumbe. Na kipimo kilichojengwa juu ya kiumbe hakiwezi kuwa thabiti zaidi, kitakatifu zaidi, wala chenye mamlaka zaidi kuliko kiumbe chenyewe — yaani, si sana. Wanafikra wa kidunia walio waaminifu zaidi wanakiri hili. Ikate sheria ya kimaadili kutoka kwa Mungu na mwishowe unabaki na matakwa yaliyovikwa vazi la kanuni.I am not asking you to dismiss these systems as if they contained nothing true. The man who studies consequences is right that actions have results and that love considers them. The relativist has correctly noticed that human judgments are fallible and culturally shaped. The error is never that these views see nothing; the error is where they finally rest their weight. They rest it on the creature. And a standard built on the creature can be no more stable, no more holy, and no more authoritative than the creature himself — which is to say, not very. The most honest secular thinkers admit this. Cut the moral law loose from God and you are left, in the end, with preference dressed up as principle.

Hapa ndipo kiini cha jambo, na nataka uhisi uzito wake kama mchungaji na si kulielewa tu kama mwanafunzi. Mtazamo wa uhusiano hauwezi kutekelezwa maishani. Mtu anayekuambia kwamba hakuna jema na baya halisi, mara tu utakapomkosea, atadai haki ambayo anasema haipo. Hawezi kujizuia, kwa sababu ameumbwa kwa sura ya Mungu na kazi ya torati imeandikwa moyoni mwake (Warumi 2:15). Hiki ndicho kituo chako kikuu cha kukutana na ulimwengu uliopotea. Huingizi maadili ya kigeni kwa watu wasio na maadili yoyote. Unawaita warudi kwa Yule ambaye sheria yake tayari wanaijua katika dhamiri yao na wametumia maisha yao kuikandamiza. Mfuasi wa mtazamo wa uhusiano si adui yako kama alivyo shamba lako la utume, na sheria asiyoweza kuikwepa ni kiongozi (mwalimu) aliyekusudiwa kumleta kwa Kristo.Here is the heart of the matter, and I want you to feel its weight as a pastor and not merely understand it as a student. Relativism cannot be lived. The man who tells you there is no objective right and wrong will, the moment you wrong him, appeal to a justice he claims does not exist. He cannot help it, because he is made in the image of God and the work of the law is written on his heart (Romans 2:15). This is your great point of contact with a lost world. You are not importing a foreign morality into people who have none. You are calling them back to the One whose law they already know in their conscience and have spent their lives suppressing. The relativist is not your opponent so much as your mission field, and the law he cannot escape is the schoolmaster meant to bring him to Christ.

Kifungu 1.4 — Kwa Nini Wachungaji Lazima Wafuatilie Malezi ya KimaadiliSection 1.4 — Why Pastors Must Pursue Ethical Formation

Acha nimalizie sehemu hii ya kwanza kwa kusema nawe moja kwa moja kuhusu kwa nini somo hili lina maana kwako hasa, zaidi kuliko kwa karibu mtu mwingine yeyote katika kusanyiko lako. Kuna angalau sababu tatu, na kila moja inapaswa kukuangukia kwa uzito fulani.Let me close this first unit by speaking to you directly about why this study matters for you in particular, more than for almost any other man in your congregation. There are at least three reasons, and each one should land on you with some weight.

Ya kwanza ni kwamba unawajibishwa kwa kiwango cha juu zaidi. "Ndugu zangu, msiwe waalimu wengi, mkijua kwamba tutapata hukumu kubwa zaidi" (Yakobo 3:1). Mtu anayewafundisha wengine jinsi ya kuishi amebeba mzigo ambao mwamini wa kawaida hajabeba. Mungu hatakupa alama kwa kukulinganisha na wengine kwa sababu kazi ilikuwa ngumu. Mwalimu huhukumiwa kama mwalimu. Hilo linapaswa kukutia kiasi kila mara unapofungua Kitabu ili kufundisha nafsi nyingine.The first is that you are held to a higher account. "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). The man who teaches others how to live has taken up a burden the ordinary believer has not. God will not grade you on a curve because the work was hard. The teacher is judged as a teacher. That should sober you every time you open the Book to instruct another soul.

Ya pili ni kwamba unaongoza kwa mfano, si kwa mafundisho tu. Petro anawaagiza wazee kulichunga kundi "kwa kuwa vielelezo kwa lile kundi" (1 Petro 5:3). Paulo anaweza kuwaambia Wakorintho, bila unyenyekevu wa uongo, "Mnifuate mimi, kama mimi ninavyomfuata Kristo" (1 Wakorintho 11:1). Hii ndiyo sehemu nzito zaidi na inayochunguza zaidi ya maadili ya kichungaji, na nimesema jambo linalofanana na hili kuhusu kuhubiri kwa miaka mingi: hatimaye si kitu unachofanya, ni kitu ulicho. Unaweza kuhubiri mahubiri ambayo hujayaishi, lakini huwezi kuwachunga watu kwa kile usicho. Kusanyiko litapokea tabia yako kwa kina zaidi kuliko maneno yako, na mahali ambapo hayo mawili yanapingana, tabia yako itashinda hoja kila mara. Mtu anaweza kusahau mahubiri yako bora kufikia Jumanne; hatasahau kamwe mwaka ule alipoona jinsi ulivyomtendea mke wako, au jinsi ulivyomshughulikia shemasi aliyekupinga, au ulichofanya wakati hakuna aliyekuwa akitazama isipokuwa Mungu.The second is that you lead by example, not merely by instruction. Peter charges the elders to shepherd the flock "being examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:3). Paul can say to the Corinthians, with no false modesty, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). This is the heaviest and most searching part of pastoral ethics, and I have said something like it about preaching for years: it is not finally something you do, it is something you are. You can preach a sermon you have not lived, but you cannot pastor a people you are not. The congregation will absorb your character far more deeply than your words, and where the two contradict each other, your character will win the argument every time. A man may forget your finest sermon by Tuesday; he will never forget the year he watched how you treated your wife, or how you handled the deacon who opposed you, or what you did when no one but God was looking.

Sababu ya tatu ni rahisi zaidi na ndiyo inayosahaulika mara nyingi zaidi. Unafuatilia malezi ya kimaadili kwa sababu injili inakudai hilo kama inavyomdai kila mwamini — si kama gharama ya wokovu wako, ambayo Kristo ameilipa kikamilifu, bali kama tunda lake linalostahili. "Maana tu kazi yake, tuliumbwa katika Kristo Yesu, tutende matendo mema, ambayo tangu awali Mungu aliyatengeneza ili tuenende nayo" (Waefeso 2:10). Hukuokolewa kwa matendo yako mema, lakini kwa hakika uliokolewa kwa ajili ya matendo hayo. Kozi hii yote inasimama juu ya mpangilio huo na kamwe haiugeuzi: neema kwanza, daima kwanza, kisha maisha matakatifu ambayo neema huzaa. Shika mpangilio huo sawasawa na maadili yanakuwa somo la furaha la jinsi mtu aliyesamehewa anavyojifunza kuenenda kama inavyostahili kwa Yule aliyemnunua. Ugeuze, na maadili yanageuka kuwa sheria inayoponda. Tutakuwa waangalifu, njia yote, kuushika sawasawa.The third reason is the simplest and the most often forgotten. You pursue ethical formation because the gospel demands it of you as it demands it of every believer — not as the price of your salvation, which Christ has paid in full, but as its proper fruit. "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). You were not saved by your good works, but you were most certainly saved for them. The whole of this course rests on that order and never reverses it: grace first, always first, and then the holy life that grace produces. Keep that order straight and ethics becomes the joyful study of how a forgiven man learns to walk worthy of the One who bought him. Reverse it, and ethics curdles into a law that crushes. We will be careful, all the way through, to keep it straight.

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