About Me
My name is Lauren Horn, and I just started my third semester here at Southeastern. I work on campus in the Student Resources and Financial Aid office and as a Resident Assistant at Flaherty. I attend Christ Covenant Church in Raleigh and am very grateful that the Lord brought me here to Wake Forest.
People always act surprised to find out that I am pursuing a Master’s of Divinity in Christian Ethics. Now, I don’t know if that means they find Ethics an ambitious degree for me specifically or if they are surprised to discover that Southeastern offers a degree in Ethics. Whatever the case, the response is usually the same, a slightly high-pitched “Oh.”
I chose to study Ethics because I feel it is basic to the Christian life but so often overlooked as a field of study. I don’t want to be someone who has passion for the Lord but dispenses ignorant boisterous objections to cultural events to the masses. I recognize my need to be trained to think and to pray to the Lord daily for wisdom and a love for His Law. I want to be able to produce a well-reasoned and Biblical response about the events taking place in the world around me. I have discovered that people are not always willing to talk about theology or philosophy, but they don’t have a problem giving me their two cents on homosexuality or abortion. Ethics can be a handy tool regarding evangelism.
When I am asked what I plan to do with the degree once I have it, I usually respond bluntly, “Live ethically.” But it is the truth. I think often about God’s words to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30:19b, “Therefore, choose life in order that you and your offspring may live” and Christ’s words in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” I think there is a practical and immediate implication to both of these passages. The Christian life is not about escaping this world but living rightly in it so that we may flourish through obeying God and by grace draw others to Him. Proverbs is probably one of my favorite books for this very reason. Chapters 7 and 8 give such a clear picture of God’s desire for right living. The chapters portray Wisdom and Folly personified and calling out to the ignorant youth to follow them. That “youth” is you and me. We have a choice: to either live or to die, to find blessing and life or to descend into the chambers of death. That may seem dramatic, but what are we to expect from such a holy God?
I want to incorporate my everyday living under the Lordship of Christ and by the aid of the Holy Spirit. I want my words and my life to be a witness for Him, and I would encourage anyone considering an Ethics degree to take an additional ethics course apart from the Intro course, if only to sharpen the mind to better honor him with holy living and intellectual cultural engagement. I believe firmly that we need to do a better job speaking out about the evil in the world. I know I need to. My fear is that the poet Yeats is right when he comments in The Second Coming,
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
I hope at the end of my days that will not be true about me.
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