Are biblical ethics cultural?

I hope you don't miss this. Toward that end, I'm going to refrain from adding any other posts until Monday so this remains at the top all weekend. Please take a moment to respond.

Yesterday I posted an interview by Desiring God about LIFE International, in which Kurt Dillinger said,

Cultural attitudes and worldviews that devalue human life have infected the global culture in general and the Christian culture as well. For example, in places around the world, we have seen married pastors carry on with multiple mistresses. Church leaders send their wives and daughters to have abortions. Some Christian husbands even abuse their wives to enforce submission. Christian women may have dozens of abortions during their childbearing years. Each of these examples demonstrates how every nation has a flawed theology of life.

Isn't this disturbing? Baptists for Life has seen the same thing in our travels around the world. It's surprising to us that the sanctity of human life -- and, apparently, the sanctity of marriage -- have not been taught as biblical principles even though strong churches exist. What accounts for this? How does the body of Christ in other parts of the world -- Spirit-filled and equal in every way to the Church in America -- miss such significant doctrines?

I hasten to add another question -- what biblical principles might American Christians be missing or overlooking that a Christian from another culture could readily point out? It's scary to think we'd have as glaring a blind spot, but it must be admitted that we could. I'm willing to learn from our non-American brethren.

But let's go back to this issue. I can remember a day pre-Roe, when the American church did not mention abortion, when the sanctity of human life was not the "big deal" it is now on the cultural landscape. Indeed, I don't remember the Supreme Court decision having any affect on my life, ever crossing my awareness, even though I attended a Baptist high school. I was 15 years old when Roe was decided, and even though I have no recollection of ever hearing the word abortion mentioned (let alone preached about) before that time, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I would have recognized it as evil right away.

If you had said to me then, "What about abortion in cases of rape? What about incest? What about abortion for babies who are going to die anyway? What if a continued pregnancy will devastate a family?" you would have caused me to pause. In my heart of hearts I would have not wanted to approve abortion in those instances, but I would have had difficulty explaining why.

When I first got involved with Baptists for Life, I needed a great deal of education on the issue, but I didn't need convincing abortion was wrong, or that it was a biblical issue. Thanks to our first executive director, Mark Blocher, my understanding of the "hard cases" matured; I'm sure most of us who've been involved in the American pro-life movement have experienced a similar learning curve.

So how is the sanctity of human life (and marriage) not readily apparent to brothers and sisters in other parts of the world where the Gospel has been preached and accepted? Is it a matter of biblical illiteracy? Is it a matter of missionaries not "teaching the whole counsel of God"? Is it a matter of multiculturalism run amok?

I know I could be stepping on toes here, but I beg to be enlightened. I really don't know and want to learn. I do not want to offend. Nevertheless, the questions remain to be answered in the hope of improving our partnership with missionaries and nationals: Is Kurt's assessment accurate? If so, what is the biblical or theological explanation?