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OMLC 3 FreedomandtheMoralAct PPP
OMLC 3 FreedomandtheMoralAct PPP
Moral Act
OUR MORAL LIFE IN CHRIST
1. Introduction to Freedom and the
Moral Act (pp. 54–56)
ANTICIPATORY SET
Write for a few minutes on what you think of this teen’s experience.
1. Introduction to Freedom and the
Moral Act (pp. 54–56)
BASIC QUESTIONS
What is true freedom?
What is the difference between freedom of indifference and freedom of
excellence?
What are the two motives for living a Christian moral life?
What is the relationship between moral action and freedom?
KEY IDEAS
True freedom is not doing whatever you want but doing what you ought.
Freedom of indifference is choosing between contraries, usually good and evil.
Freedom of excellence is the power to act freely in the pursuit of human
perfection and everlasting joy.
Love and fear of consequences are respectively perfect and imperfect valid
motivations for obeying the moral law.
Good moral actions make us freer; bad moral actions make us a slave to our sin.
1. Introduction to Freedom and the
Moral Act (pp. 54–56)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What is at the very heart of the human person’s exalted place in creation?
It is the freedom to make moral choices, or “free will.”
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Free write for five minutes on what you consider the most
attractive idea presented in this lesson.
1. Introduction to Freedom and the
Moral Act (pp. 54–56)
ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT
Identify in writing one moral act you have already performed today
and one act that does not qualify as a moral act. Explain why the
act was either a moral act or not a moral act.
2. Moral Life and The Moral Act
(pp. 56–58)
BASIC QUESTIONS
Why are human beings necessarily moral agents?
What is the nature of the moral act?
KEY IDEAS
Every human person faces moral decisions, has the necessary free will
to make moral decisions, and is morally responsible for his or her own
moral acts.
A moral act involves both deliberation and choice, has a moral content,
and affects the character of the person who acts.
2. Moral Life and The Moral Act
(pp. 56–58)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
What does it mean to say every person has the necessary free will to make
moral decisions?
Every person has the ability to choose what is good and right or what is evil and
wrong. Every person has the natural law written in his or her heart so he or she
knows good from evil.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
Rank the following four moral acts based on the responsibility of the
persons who commit them as determined by their level of knowledge. Put
the least responsible person first and the most responsible person last.
KEY IDEAS
Knowledge and moral responsibility are related in that the more knowledge one
possesses the more morally responsible one is for his or her actions. This is why
well-formed Christians have the greatest moral responsibility. Knowledge increases
the virtue of a good action, and ignorance decreases the sinfulness of a bad action.
If one has a doubt about the morality of an action, he or she has an obligation to
resolve it by gathering more information.
Vincible ignorance is when we do not know something we ought to know.
Invincible ignorance is when we do not know something impossible for us to know.
One is not morally culpable for acts performed when one is invincibly ignorant.
3. Knowledge and Moral
Responsibility (pp. 58–60)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Use the following table to clarify factors that lessen or remove moral fault.
3. Knowledge and Moral
Responsibility (pp. 58–60)
3. Knowledge and Moral
Responsibility (pp. 58–60)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Revisit the Anticipatory Set of this lesson. Would you revise your
ranking in light of what you have learned?
4. The Gift of Human Freedom and Aspects
of Human Freedom (part one) (pp. 61–63)
ANTICIPATORY SET
KEY IDEAS
To truly love as Christ loves involves the gift of oneself to another. To give
oneself, one must have freedom. To be free, one must have self-mastery.
Human freedom attains its perfection when it is directed toward God.
Human freedom is limited to what is good and to the unique circumstances of
each individual’s life.
There is no such thing as a freedom that is independent of responsibility.
4. The Gift of Human Freedom and Aspects
of Human Freedom (part one) (pp. 61–63)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
GUIDED EXERCISE
FOCUS QUESTIONS
GUIDED EXERCISE
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
CLOSURE
Batter my heart, three-person’d God; for you Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
As yet but knock; breathe, shine, and seek to But am betroth’d unto your enemy;
mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
bend Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
new.
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
I, like an usurp’d town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end. John Donne (1572–1631)
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, Holy Sonnet XIV: Batter My Heart,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue. Three-Person’d God
4. The Gift of Human Freedom and Aspects
of Human Freedom (part one) (pp. 61–63)
KEY IDEAS
The origin of moral evil is the free decision of man to reject God's
moral law.
God’s grace, which makes it possible for us to follow his plan, is not
imposed on us but must be freely received.
The moral law enhances our freedom by giving us self-control, which
increases our dignity. Perfect freedom is expressed in the ability to make
and carry out correct moral decisions.
5. Aspects of Human Freedom
(part two) (pp. 63–66)
GUIDED EXERCISE
Focused reading of the passage from Veritatis Splendor 35 (p. 64) using
the following Focus Question:
What is wrong with the “current” idea that the individual determines
truth?
Reread section (e) “God Respects Our Freedom” (p. 63) and work with
a partner to build a concise argument for why it is man, not God, who
is responsible for human evil.
5. Aspects of Human Freedom
(part two) (pp. 63–66)
FOCUS QUESTIONS
Much of what we have looked at in this chapter has to do with the desire of
some people to make their freedom the most important value.
The other side of the coin is for people to willingly choose a lack of freedom.
Donne’s poem, Batter My Heart, Three-Person’d God asks God to overcome the
speaker’s own freedom.