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　　Good morning. Scotland awoke yesterday a broken-hearted and bewildered nation. On Sunday afternoonin the rugby world cup quarter-final the nationalteam, who weren’t given a cat’s chance by anybody,were leading the mighty Australia with a minute togo. A borderline penalty was given against them,which wasn’t referred to the television referee for a second opinion, and they lost by a singlepoint.

　　In every sport-addicted sitting room there’s the same conversation. ‘The game’s over. Why’reyou still watching?’ The answer is, the chat. The after-game is half the fun. The chat oftensettles on blaming the referee. One pundit says, ‘What we’re looking for is consistency. Lastweek the ref didn’t give a penalty; this time he did. We just need the same rules foreverybody.’ The other pundit says, ‘Yes, what we need is common sense. Why follow the letterof the law? You should let the game flow and not blow the whistle all the time.’

　　What the pundits seldom realise is that they’re expressing the two rival schools of ethics. Oneschool is about right and wrong, about things being good or bad, regardless of circumstances.The other school is about outcomes – setting aside anxiety about right and wrong, andinstead evaluating which course of action is likely to produce the most positive consequences.

　　What rugby, like many walks of life, is trying to do is introduce technology to ensure mistakesdon’t happen. So everyone on Sunday quickly agreed that the ref should have employed thetechnology to turn a borderline decision into a conclusive one. But it turns out the regulationsstate the technology is only to be used in the case of try-scoring or foul play. So to find thetruth the referee would have had to bend the rules.

　　A minute later, at the end of the game, the referee bolted off the field – as if in panic at whathe’d done. However much ethicists deliberate and pundits pronounce, we’re still fallible. Thosewho stayed watching for the after-game chat on Sunday were rewarded with the extraordinarydignity of the Scots’ coach and captain expressing sadness without blame.

　　Jesus was especially close to two of his followers: John seems to have had a special place in hisheart. Meanwhile Peter was passionate but unreliable. Jesus chose to found the church onPeter – the one who made terrible mistakes, yet allowed those mistakes to be exposed andforgiven.

　　No system of ethics, no code of rules will stop us getting things wrong. No sophisticatedtechnology can ultimately prevent us suffering the consequences of other people gettingthings wrong where we’re involved. Life isn’t about not making mistakes: it’s about what we dowhen we’ve made them.