First, what is morality?

Morality are principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior. It involves involves what we ought to do, right and wrong, good and bad, values, justice, and virtues. Hence, morality may be synonymous with 'goodness' or 'righteousness'. On the other hand, immorality is the opposite of morality. Moral actions are often taken to merit praise and rewards while immoral actions merits blame and punishment. Moral theology is teaching or official doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that deals with the goal of life and how it is achieved. So, the goal or purpose of moral theology is to determine how man should live. It examines such things as freedom, conscience, love, responsibility, and law. Moral theology seeks to set forth general principles to help individuals make the right decisions and deal with the details of everyday living in a way that is in accordance with the Churchs dogmatic theology. Moral theology is essentially the Roman Catholic equivalent to what Protestants usually refer to as Christian Ethics. Moral theology deals with the broad questions in life and attempts to define what it means to live as a Roman Catholic Christian. Moral theology addresses the different methods of moral discernment, the definitions of right and wrong, good and evil, sin and virtue, etc. One realizations that struck is our lesson about the captain's decision on saving passengers in a wrecked ship. Most will decide by the theory of utilitarianism the utility and function of each person to society, neglecting his own character and right as an individual and human being irregardless of his behavior and traits. Through this subject, I've learned that we must reflect to our conscience before deciding on this crucial situation. We must bear in mind that a person is human irregardless of what he has done on his past. Conscience helps us to decide and act morally good. To put it simply, morality is important. In our everyday life, our moral compass guides us in making decisions. It is vital in a sense that it directly affects our behavior and actions towards others and our environment which in turn have consequences that affect us in one way or another. If all of us are immoral, we would probably go around killing each other constantly. There are no if's and but's. We'd be like wild animals, very barbaric, doing everything for the sake of ourselves survival of the fittest, every man for himself. There would be no social order, no friends nor families and no trust with each other. In the end, chaos will erupt and the world would cease to exist. But because we are rational beings, highly capable of being moral, we don't have any excuse not to be. It is a necessity and at the same time a responsibility opted to us by our nature.

Carol C. Llorente BS Information Technology THES0004