theo morality Flashcards
For people who believe in God, to live a moral life means
means to reflect on, examine and clarify motives, consult others, pray to God. We are always making choices even when we’re not conscious of it.
Ethics
How responsible intelligent people should live and act.
Morality
Our actions and the way we live our lives is a reflection of who we believe we are, creatures of God.
Conscience
the voice of God written in our hearts.
Conscience
- A fundamental characteristic of being human that makes it possible to know and do good, an awareness of personal responsibility, value system.
- Aim of conscience formation is to help determine what sort of person I should become.
- Conscience is a judgement, a determination of good versus evil in a specific case.
- Conscience is both individual and communal. Our society forms us and we form our societies; the prophets, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa.
- The development of conscience is a lifelong task
2 critical aspects of moral decision-making
freedom and knowledge
Freedom
(freedom to choose the good). Aren’t free if we are under duress, bad habits, inordinate attachments.
Knowledge
: Critical for decision-making
Cognitive knowledge, gained through information and facts (memorize the 10 Commandments)
Evaluative knowledge, gained through relationships and experience
we sin when
we freely choose to do what we know is wrong
sin
before Vatican II, was an action or an omission in violation of God’s law.
• Since Vatican II, the focus is on the person who acts.
• St. Augustine: “I can will what is right but I cannot do it, for I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I do.”
One of the major sources of moral theology and answers the question:
How do I know what is good and evil?
Natural Law:
• It is not dependent on a particular religion or belief system, rather it is the belief that God made the world in such way that the laws guiding the actions of all created beings are built into these beings.
Natural Law:
• The knowledge of right and wrong is written on our hearts.
Natural Law:
- There is an objective moral order that is imprinted on humanity that directs humanity to God, the creator whose image we bear.
- Therefore to violate natural law is to go against our own humanity: We are to do good and avoid evil.
- But this can change over time; organ donations, sweatshops, child labour, slavery.
bible and natural law
• Doesn’t mention contemporary issues such as genetic engineering, cloning, nuclear weapons, but can use the principles found in the Bible to help make moral decisions
Covenant Law
No society can survive without laws that identify basic values. The Judeo-Christian law is based on the 10 Commandments.
Jews: Love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.
Jesus: And your neighbour as yourself.
New Covenant is the New Testament, love of neighbour.
Role of the Church:
The Church teaches that scripture and tradition (magisterium) form one source of revelation.
JUST WAR DOCTRINE
- The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain.
- All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective.
- There must be serious prospects of success.
- The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
