CHRISTIAN MORALITY

ENDS vs MEANS
Ends Means
• Purpose • We have to choose
• Goal • -/+
The End: Become Rich
The Means: (+) Job → Earn → Save → Invest // (-) Illegal Activities → Sell Drugs
CHRISTIAN MORAL LIFE
• Living in Moral Excellence
• Faith
o Doctrine (Believing) o Worship (Trusting)
o Morals (Obeying)
o W understands that other people have D too
o The triad is the involvement of the “whole person”
• “The person must have a mind that feels and a heart that thinks” – PJP II
HUMAN
Attraction • Openness to each other
• Physical Love
• Human expression • In its many ways
Interest • To be there when in need
• Formed/developed • To share
• “To know” the good and/or bad Commitment
• Develop cooperation and move to trust • What we should consider home
Trust • Comes with faith, respect, love, and loyalty
• Reciprocation *If there is a problem with the process, go backwards.
BIBLICAL
Attraction
• Through the supreme being’s work
o Nature’s beauty and harmony
o Us as His creations (anatomically perfect)
• Essence of being purposefully made
Experiential
• Biblical revelations/truths
• Church symbols etc.
• Religion
o Must not monopolize the truth o Respect each other
• Be challenged by Christ’s (3) ways
o Practice of mercy, forgiveness, loving others especially the “least, lost, and last”
▪ “Outcasts”
▪ Ignorant, Uneducated, Sinners, Underprivileged, Impoverished, Sick, Dying
o Way
▪ Ethical Indignation Anger when sin is done, a justifiable act of
correction
o Truth
▪ Believe in the truth He brings – Freedom – “Truth hurts, reality bites”
o Life
▪ Imitate Christ by His Holiness – Be Conscious – choose what is good
• (-) Vices (+) Virtues (÷) Time (x) Blessings
VIRTUE vs VICE
Virtue Vice
• Doing good with consistency • Doing evil with consistency
*Both are habits that control us
TYPES OF VIRTUE
Theological (Given)
• Faith Belief in God and in what he says/reveals
• Hope Trust in His promises to come true
• Love To serve Him
Cardinal (Acquired)
• Prudence Intellect in deciding the best means to reach your end (“rational animals”)
• Justice Ability to give what is due to everyone and ourselves
• Fortitude Strength/courage amidst difficulties – grace under pressure
• Temperance Self-control from pleasures in life – use of resources (“know thyself”)
 PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS OF THE HUMAN PERSON
THE HUMAN PERSON
• A/the moral agent • Has his own principles/reasons
• “He chooses and he does”
DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS
• Logic The study of “correct thinking”
Eastern Philosophy
• Man behaves because of the world • Horoscopes, signs, karma
• Environment “placing” influences man’s
behavior
Communistic View
• Man is group-oriented
• “No self” – The “self” is the group
• What he does will always be for the welfare of the group
o He//she will see significance in what he/she does in the group – a sense of uniqueness/specialty
• The person is a “cog” to the grand machine
Atheistic Existentialist View
• Existentialism “Existence precedes essence”
o The self is responsible of creating his/her own life
o Man = Self = I am
• Absolute Freedom Not bound by any principles
o To achieve so, one must negate/reject all limits/limiting factors
▪ Rules, Laws, Others, God
Nihilistic View
• Nihilism “Life is absurd”
o Man is born, he suffers, then he dies
o In view of death, nothing is important
o What was done before death is meaningless
• Death marks the end of it all
Hedonistic View
• Hedonism “Man is primarily a pleasure-seeker”
o Pleasure = Good
▪ Lust Desires, Gusto
▪ Greed More and more and more
• Avoids pain, agony, problems, and challenges
• “Playboy Philosophy” Receptive to and wanting only what is pleasurable.
o Non-accepting of any flaws
o Bails when it becomes a burden and sets off to look for what could be pleasurable
Christian Perspective
• Morality and Personal Responsibility
• Based on Christ and his Truths
o Reason (Intellect) Cause & Effect – Life itself as a product of divine intervention
o Revelation (Bible) Faith – Biblical revelations add value to the truths with intellect
• Persons in Experience (People are…)
o Open and Rational
▪ Innately social and relational beings
▪ The better version of oneself could only be attained by relating to/with other people
▪ Man is built for relationships: friendship, family, acquaintances, etc.
▪ Man is full of possibilities, he is in constant becoming
 o Conscious Beings
▪ Possess awareness within and outside himself and their outgoing activities
▪ Barely nothing escapes the consciousness and intellect of man
o Embodied Spirits
▪ Man is made of a body and a living soul
▪ He has his physical and spiritual needs
• Physical Food, shelter, clothing, money, material things
• Spiritual Love, appreciation, presence, faith
o Historical Beings
▪ Capable of growth in its stages until it reaches maturity
▪ What one does in his present is a product of his past and is to be the determiner of his future.
▪ Humans move towards development which requires sacrifices and priorities
o Unique
▪ -- Yet fundamentally equal
▪ Their dignity/worth makes them equal as their rights are also accorded.
• Persons in Christ (Faith) (Revealed Truths about Man) (People are…)
o Created by God
▪ “Imago Dei” – In His Image/Likeness
• As we also possess intelligence, freedom, truthfulness, and beauty
▪ Man is created out of His overflowing love
o Redeemed
▪ The death of Christ is symbolic (sacrificial lamb)
▪ His death had redeemed us
o Sanctified by the Indwelling Holy Spirit
▪ The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit
▪ Life must be valued (One’s body must have no price)
o Called to be Children of God
▪ We are the adopted sons& & daughters of God
▪ “God will provide” … our needs
▪ Address God as “Father”
o Destined for Eternal Life
▪ Death is the necessary passageway to the “real life”
▪ Death is not the end.
GOD IS EXPERIENCED
• Nature
• Love/Friendship
• Struggle/Pain
• Moral Goodness
• Justice/Peace