christian moral principles (5) Flashcards
how can the Bible be read
literally true and dictated by the wholly spirit, fully authoratitive but influenced by context, inspirational book but not holding authority in the day
2 Timothy 3:16
Bible is ‘God breathed’
God is the author of the scripture and cannot be wrong
how does the Bible teach
telling the story of God’s people and teaching through stories. Christians learn not to keep teh word at face value but in every day.
bible denominations
Calvin thought the Bible was in harmony and Catholic church says Bible points towards eternal word
biblical contradictions
there are a range of genres, styles of writing and contradictions which proves there cant be one writer.
example of contradictions
Mark 10:11, Jesus compltley against divorce and remarriage
Matthew 19:9, Jesus says divorce is permitted in the case of sexual immorality
The Bible is a comprahensive moral guide
- makes sense God would give humans a way to live life and Bible must contain all
- Bible’s moral guidelines not always welcome today but doesnt make it wrong
- the Bible is a form of relevation so shoudlnt be rejected
The Bible is NOT a comprehensive moral guide
- God’s word surely cannot be expressed in human langauge
- Bible cannot be comprehensive as it does not cover many modern ethical issues
- reflects societies and ways of life that no longer exist
Jesus’ meaning of love
love came from God, love is unconditional, love comes from within in Matthew 5, love is sacrificial
so agape makes more sense, it is christian love that reflects God’s
Jesus and love
love was the central rule and Jesus came to build up teh Kingdom of God abd taught this was done by understanding others.
Cathecism paragraph 1754
‘Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of the act’
examples six fundamental propositions of agape
intrinsically good, christian ruiling norm, justice
The principle of love is sufficent to live a good life
- love when understood is complex enough that moral decisions can be gained
- agape ensures christians always put people first in difficult situations
- Jesus’ focus on agape means it must be the centre of Christian ethics
The principle of love is NOT sufficent to live a good life
- over simplistic to suggest Jesus’ teachings were only about love
- love cannot be sufficent to live a good life cause people have different interpretations
- Pope Francis believed love was cenral but not as a moral guideline, he thought it was a persons basic character.
deposit of the faith
what Jesus passed onto his apostles. it is the church’s job to authentically interpretate this. “make disciples of all nations”. apolistic succession is the transfer of this knowledge onto bishops.
magisterium
the authority that the catholic church has to teach, held by bishops and pope
protestants
believe there is no required teacher but simply a clear understanding of the Bible.
infalliable statement
made by pope and unable to be wrong, spoken during controversy
Cathecism
‘the Church belongs the right always and everywhere to announce royal principles’
the church has authority in an indiviual christian ethics
- without the church christian ethics is far too subjective and indivdual
- it is not an indivual, it is ‘collective wisdom’ of 2000 years
- continues process begun by Jesus about seeing problems and higlighting
encylicals
statements published by the pope about specific issues, francis and environment
the church has NO authority in an indiviual christian ethics
- the Bible is God’s word and should be sufficent alone, any other approach denies this
- the chirch does not have the same authority but exists to help spread message
- God gave reason to his people and they should use their reason to know the most loving thing
interpret of the Bible
may be applying a past situation to current needs or understanding principles. Many think it is impossible for ethics to be based on the Bible alone as we always use reason.
reason
as thought devlops reason becomes formalised and threatens the church. humans are sinful and are likely to lead to different conclusions. reason differs because of context.
catholic church and reason
they would say the Bible and church teachings should influence our reason. they apply reason to natural law and see Bible/church and reason as 3 wats to understand Fid,
protestants and observation
combination approach- reason and church work as tools to interpret the Bible.
conscience
inner voice, perhaps God, which helps people know right and wrong. many protestants would agree and say this is different from reason.
christians ethics are personal
- each decision and situation is unique and they must apply the situation to themselves
- God gave humans free will and the ability to reason
- ethics comes out of rules and it is up to the indivual whether they want to follow them
christian ethics are communal
- christian community isnt just a group but all aspects of life take place together and build Kingdom of God
- earliest christians modelled life as a community
- church’s authority to teach means ethics applies to a whole community. protects church from arg that indivual reasoning can be mistaken
propositional / non propositional revelation
propositional: God reveals himself in truth statements
non- propositional:God does not reveal himself through truth statements, so needs to be interpreted
christian ethics are distinctive
- a religion not of rules but of message Jesus, a unique understanding of God’s revelation
- ethics based in agape could be distinctive as they are based in christian love
- christians are called to be counter cultural and be prophets, so if ethics arent distinct they should be
christian ethics are NOT distinctive
- christians who take the Bible as the only source of authority could follow rules similar to that of other religions
- all christian ethics are similar to basic ethics everywhere
- all ethics are designed to make a society be peaceful.
heteronomy
bible, church and reason to decide moral authority
theonomy
moral authority comes from God, which we access through the Bible
2nd vatican council
Bible written “under the inspiration of the divine spirit”
