"Everything is on the Table"

"Every option is on the table."

What does it mean, ethically and morally, to make that statement?  There are some folks who might view that assertion as a mark of strength and flexibility, as a sign that a decision-maker is someone who will get things done.  If you set a goal, and are willing to get to that goal by any means necessary, then it is far more likely that you'll succeed.

And what could possibly be more important than success?

But the problem with this declaration is obvious.  If a person isn't willing to rule out any course of action, then they are amoral.

Good and moral people are defined not simply by what they do, but also by what they are unwilling to do.  Morality isn't just about goals, but about the means to those goals.  If I pursue a good end with evil methods, then I am evil, and the final result of my actions will be colored by my evil methods.

Still, I may reach my goal, rather than failing to do so because there are things I will not do.

In that sense, amoral and evil people have "strengths" that a moral and good person does not.

But what even is good, and what is evil, some folks might offer.  My understanding of the good may differ yours, so who is to say where the truth of anything lies?  In our amoral age, this amoral assertion passes for common wisdom.  The sons and daughters of Pilate would have us understand truth as essentially subjective, and moral action as relative.

I reject this.

I have a clear understanding of my ethical purpose, even as I recognize my failings in striving towards it.  If you are a Christian, if you make that claim about yourself, then your actions must be governed by the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.  It's a non-negotiable.  And that constrains me.  Violence against others is off the table.  The single minded pursuit of material gain and profit is off the table.  Cruelty, lies, and manipulation are off the table.  The brute consequentialism of power and dominance are off the table. 

They must be, or we are not who we say we are.

We would become salt without saltiness, as Jesus once put it.