[Darris McNeely] Can ethics be taught? Can ethics be learned? It's a good question. It's asked by people in all sorts of industries, business, churches, all walk of life people study this question. I was reading about it in the Financial Times this morning, and the question was put: can ethics be learned outside of a classroom once business students get out into the business world? Ethics has to do with decisions that we make in our life no matter what we're doing based upon principals, based upon morality, based upon policy, based upon law - man's law, God's law. It's like we're going along in our road in our road of life and we reach a crossroads. And there's a fork and two ways diverge, kind of like the poem by Robert Frost. And we have to make a decision right here as to what we will do as certain things come across our lives. We have to decide whether we will reveal something that has been made known to us. We have to decide whether or not we will act ethically, legally, by policy in a particular decision in our office or wherever we may be. And we have to make those decisions. And we will do so based upon our character. But can it be learned? Can it be taught? Yes, it can be. I think that the most important foundation that one must approach this in is from the word of God. There's a Proverb that I think helps us to study this. It's in Proverbs 3:5-6 that help us to form a foundation upon which we make these decisions. It read this, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths."

God has to be at the foundation there. Trust in Him and He will direct all of our paths no matter which one we take when we come to that crossroads and we can have a confidence and assurance that if the word of God, the law of God, the teachings of God, and God Himself is a partner in those decisions we will make the right one, we will make the ethical one. And you, your family, your company, your church, whatever it is that you're working with will be better off for it.

That's BT Daily. Join us next time.