The Problem with Core Values

Remarks given at the Logos Online Graduation 2023

To you graduates of Logos Online, warm congratulations. To you parents and grandparents of these graduates, deep respect. To the administration and faculty of this wonderful educational service, well done, yet again. Another batch of cookies out of the oven.

I learned many valuable things from my father, and as I thought about what I wanted to say to you all by way of exhortation today, I settled on passing along just one of them. The thing I want to talk about today is the difference between principles and methods. When you come to understand this, you will be in a position to ground your principles where they absolutely need to be grounded, which is in the law of the triune God, and you will also be in a position to distinguish your principles from their relativistic counterfeit, which frequently travels under the misleading name of “core values.”

You are called to live a principled life, grounded in the will of the eternal Creator God. Your values need to come from outside the world, otherwise they are not values at all, but rather just opinions. Not only would they be mere opinions, but they would be the mere opinions of meaningless bits of protoplasm, floating on the surface of a large and entirely pointless sewage lagoon.

So here is the logic—right reason in the light of God’s gift of Christ. He is the Light who enlightens every man. In order to be principles at all, your principles need to be anchored. They must be anchored in the law of God, which in turn is a revelation of the very character of God Himself. Because God is entirely righteous, and because God is immutable and unchanging, the law that manifests His character is also righteous, and also unchanging.

But it is the principles that are unchanging, not the external circumstance. And this is how we come to understand the difference between principles and methods.

For example, the law of God requires the people of God to place a railing around the roofs of their houses.

“When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8, NKJV).

Now suppose a miracle happened, and the rulers of this current generation turned to us Christians and said, “All right then, you make the laws.” Would we require a change to the building codes, such that all houses would then need to have a balustrade along the roof, just above the gutters? No, of course not. That law was given in the Ancient Near East, in a time and place where people would go up on their flat roofs in the evenings to cool off. It was like a second story deck, and was used as such. So, yes, railings in such circumstances. Obviously.

The principle is that homeowners have an ethical obligation to take obvious prudent measures to protect those who are on the premises. If there is an accident, failure to do so brings blood guilt on the person who neglected this basic obligation. The principle is that of safeguarding others. The methods could include covering the well, fencing the pool, shoveling the walk, reinforcing the rail on a second-story deck, and so forth. These are methods, and they are methods that embody the principle. But residents of Hawaii don’t need to shovel the walk.

Here is another illustration. Military thinkers, from Sun Tzu to Clausewitz, have long known about the principles of warfare—things like mobility, surprise, concentration, communication, and so on. Now these principles can be observed (or neglected) by armies and navies that have a wide range of methods when it comes to their technology and weaponry. An army with slings, bows, spears, and catapults can observe these principles, or neglect them. A navy with fighter jets, aircraft carriers, submarines, and surface-to-air missiles can observe these principles, or neglect them. Methods come and go. Principles do not. Principles do not because of how they are anchored.

So here is my charge to you graduates. I know that what you have studied—your classical and Christian education—is consistent with all of this. You are therefore in a position to look at a particular circumstance and see what is actually going on. But you still have to grow in wisdom, and you still have to do it.

There are people who have the appearance of an education, but all they do is focus on methods. They tick boxes. They paint-by-numbers. They follow directions without understanding the point of the directions. Don’t be like that. Always look at the root of the tree, and don’t get distracted by the twigs. There are people who have been offered a classical Christian education, but they have only grasped the outside of it. Someone who is truly educated is someone who knows how to see down to the root of the matter.

So this is the way of wisdom when you are choosing between options that conservatives follow. Some conservatives love the principles and select the best methods given the circumstances. Other conservatives act as though the method is synonymous with the principle, and they put a balustrade up on a part of the roof where no one ever goes.

But I said something earlier about core values. If you know that principles are grounded in law, and that all true law is grounded in the nature and character of God Himself, you are not going to be blown around by every wind of doctrine.

In our time, rootless individuals and rudderless companies and corporations draft and post mission statements that say quite a bit about their “core values.” But where do these core values come from? Invariably, our relativistic generation wants to say that these core values are derived when you learn how to “follow your own heart.” But because everyone’s heart is different, and all of our hearts are corrupt, sinful, and bent toward wickedness, the advice to follow your heart is actually disastrous counsel.

“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: But whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26).

You should know by now that one of the basic questions raised by all educated Christians is this one: by what standard?

You have been taught to ask intelligent questions, and to insist on intelligent answers. So suppose that someone points to “core values.” The questions should just tumble into your brain. The core of what? The core of the founder’s opinions? The core of the curriculum at some Ivy League business school where the person who drafted the mission statement went? The core of this person’s sentiments, and not another person’s counter-sentiments?

You have been Christian students, and in just a moment you will be Christian graduates. Acquit yourselves, then, like Christians. Walk like Christians. Love like Christians. Sing like Christians. Worship like Christians. And to bring us to the point of this exhortation, continue to think like Christians.