Unit 3 AOS 1 DP#5 The nature and purpose of human life Flashcards
Nature of human life: (general definition)
Nature: Qualities of something Adjectives.
Depending on the worldview of religious traditions the nature of humans can be good, evil, finite, free, controlled etc.
The nature of humanity takes into account the characteristics that constitute humanity including temperament, personality, physical presence, intellectual and moral capabilities, creativity and additional features that distinguish humans from all other living creatures.
Purpose of human life: (informed by nature)
Base of their understanding of the nature of human life, religions could understanding human purpose to be a life of servitude, creativity, suffering, dominance etc. Usually verbs
Human nature in RCT
The RCT believes that all people are Imago Dei (made in God’s image and likeness). The RCT also believes that God lovingly created the universe and all within it Ex Nihilo (out of nothing).
This informs them about the human nature and leads them to discern the implications of what being made in the image of God means for their lives.
Church teachings explains that to be an image of God means that all people, from the moment of conception to death, have an inherent dignity and freedom that are fundamental to personhood.
Human beings are also distinct from the rest of the creation because they are capable of self-knowledge and are capable of accessing God’s revelation and entering into relationship with God.
Human purpose in the RCT
If the imago Dei is the nature of human person- and the nature informs purpose - then through the teachings of Christ and theological reflection, the Church believes that the purpose of human life is to know, love and serve God and to offer creation back to God (the creator) in thanksgiving.
-Jesus is presented as a model of the perfect Imago Dei through his Incarnation and life (Word made flesh) and his rising from the dead highlights that the destiny of all human beings is God.
- Jesus also points the way to purpose in this life, his teachings and parables highlight the need for people to treat each other fairly and equally, sharing God’s love with friends and enemies.
Good:
may be understood as the essence of the divine nature, or those actions a human being carries out that are virtuous, worthy and beneficial to themselves and others. It can include the qualities of obedience, excellence, being favourable to someone or something
Evil
is used to describe something that is profoundly immoral, wrong or negative. It can originate within an individual or it may be perceived as an external force that exists outside of human nature and the environment. Evil can also be defined simply as the absence of good
Good and Evil in the Roman Catholic Tradition:
Human beings have knowledge of good and evil and are capable of committing acts of both. Human beings are called as images of God to follow the example of Jesus in his humanity and pursue the path of good. However, human beings are capable of sin, that is acts that go against that love and goodness of God. This is due to the problem of Original Sin which is the tendency of human beings to sin due to humanity’s fallen nature as depicted in the story of ‘The Fall’ in Genesis 2. This condition, known as concupiscence.
Human nature:
-‘So God created humankindin his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’
Genesis 1:27: This passage depicts human beings as creates Imago Dei. It is placed on the sixth day of creation to highlight the uniqueness of humanity from all other created things.
How did God create the universe?
God created the universe freely with wisdom and love. The world is not the result of any necessity, nor of blind fate, nor of chance. God created “out of nothing” (ex nihilo).
2Maccabees7:28) a world which is ordered and good and which he infinitely transcends. God preserves his creation in being and sustains it, giving it the capacityto act and leading it toward its fulfilment through his Son and the Holy Spirit.
59 What did God create?
Sacred Scripture says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis1:1). The Church in her profession of faith proclaims that God is the Creator of everything, visible and invisible, of all spiritual and corporeal beings, that is, of angels and of the visible world and, in a special way, of man.
63 What is the place of the human person in creation?
The human person is the summit of visible creation in as much as he or she is created in the image and likeness of God.
66. In what sense do we understand man and woman as created “in the image of God”?
The human personis created in the image of God in the sense that he or she is capable of knowing and of loving their Creator in freedom. Human beings are the only creatures on earth that God has willed for their own sake and has called to share, through knowledge and love, in his own divine life. All human beings, in as much as they are created in the image of God, have the dignity of a person. A person is not something but someone, capable of self-knowledge and of freely giving himself and entering into communion with God and with other persons.
67 For what purpose did God create man and woman?
God has created everything for them; but he has created them to know, serve and love God, to offer all of creation in this world in thanksgiving back to him and to be raised up to life with him in heaven. Only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of the human person come into true light. Man and woman are predestined to reproduce the image of the Son of God made Man, who is the perfect “image of the invisible God” (Colossians1:15).
Matthew 20:1-16
Parable of the workers in the vineyard teaching that God looks invites all people into his kingdom equally. A call for people to look at each other with equal dignity because they are images of God.
Luke 10:29-37
The parable of the Good Samaritan. Teaches that human beings should regard each other without prejudice towards race and to love enemies.
John 13:34-35
To love one another as He loves humanity.
Texts: The Nicene Creed
To live in hope of eternal life: ‘I believe in the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’
Rituals:
The Funeral rite
This ritual commends the soul of the deceased to God and represents the hope of eternal life for each person when their earthly life is over.
‘Into your hands, Father of mercies, we commend our brother/sister, in the sure and certain hope that, together with all who have died in Christ, he/she will rise with him on the last day.’
Rituals: The Eucharist
The bread and wine are also symbols
Before the bread and wine are consecrated in the Eucharistic ritual, they are first brought forward in the ‘offertory procession’ which signifies the offering of creation back to God in thanksgiving
The bread and wine are made from the ‘work of human hands’ made from the fruits of the earth
Creation is offered to God as an anticipation of the union of God making them a ‘new creation’
The bread and wine are blessed by and become the presence of Christ to be unified with believers
