Freedom and

Choice: The
Human Person
Lesson 3
 OBJECTIVES:
●The only creature created in God's image and likeness is man.
●It follows that we possess intelligence, free will, and the ability to
love.
●We have the option to act or not to act freely thanks to our free
will.
●There is no freedom unless it is used to further what is right and
just.
●We are accountable for the decisions we make because we have
the freedom to do so.
 Table of Contents

I Schumacher’s Hierarchy of Being Chart

II The Christian Anthropology

III The Truth Will Set You Free

IV Free To Choose God

 Schumacher’s
I Hierarchy of
Being Chart
What does it mean to be human? How
are human beings unique in all
creation?
According to Genesis 1:26-27
“Then God said: Let us make human beings
in our image, after our likeness. Let them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, the
birds of the air, the tame animals, all the
wild animals, and all the creatures that
crawl on the earth. God created mankind in
his image; in the image of God he created
them; male and female he created them.”
 Has anyone heard the idea that some truths are
self-evident?

One of these self-evident

That all men are created
truths is that there is a
equal, that they are endowed
hierarchy of creation. The word
by their Creator with certain
hierarchy means an
unalienable Rights, that
arrangement in which some
among these are Life, Liberty
things are ranked higher than
and the pursuit of Happiness.
others. For example, the
military has a clear hierarchy: a
general’s rank is higher than a
lieutenant’s.
 The philosopher E. F. Schumacher identified what he
called a “chain of being” or hierarchy of creation:

There exists There exists

material. material plus
life.

There exists material There exists material plus life

plus life plus plus consciousness plus
consciousness. self-consciousness.
 What is the difference between consciousness
and self-consciousness?
Consciousness is awareness. Self-
consciousness is a particular kind of awareness
that allows us to think about thinking. It allows
us to contemplate our place in the world and our
relationship to others and to imagine how others
see us. Self-consciousness is what makes
possible the intellectual disciplines of
philosophy, feelings of love, charity, guilt,
shame, and so forth.
 II
The Christian
Anthropology
 The ancient Greek philosopher Plato put forth
a theory about the human soul. He said it was
made up of three parts: the head (our reason),
the heart (our will), and the belly (our appetites
or desires).
NOTE: The Christian understanding of the
human person we call imago Dei: Image of
God － made in the image and likeness of God.
 How this revelation about dominion gives us a great
responsibility to use our freedom in accord with
principles of good stewardship?
1. The principle of ownership. - God owns everything, we
are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf.
2.The principle of responsibility.  - We are called as God’s
stewards to manage that which belongs to God.
3.The principle of accountability. -A steward is one who
manages the possessions of another.
4. The principle of reward. - faithful stewards who do the
master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be
rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.
In philosophy, Freedom is the power or right to
act, speak or think as you want without
hindrance or restraint. When we say Freedom,
it is the ability to choose between two
alternative options. The ability to exercise
one’s freedom in any manner is called freedom
of choice. In freedom, there’s always the
element of choice. Freedom is always
associated with free will. Free will is a choice
made independently.
Is this really freedom?

the world’s definition of

freedom is not the true
meaning.
The Truth
Will Set You
Free
III
 Christ’s words from the Bible
“the truth will set you free”
“you will know the truth, and the truth
will set you free”
“you will truly be my disciples,and
you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free”
“If you remain in my word, you will truly
be my disciples, and you will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free”
(John 8:31-32)
 Jesus said, “If you remain in my word,
you will truly be my disciples, and you
will know the truth, and the truth will set
you free” (John 8:31-32).
Free To Choose God IV
St. Irenaeus explained, “Man
is rational and therefore like
God; he is created with free
will and is master over his
acts.”
“The more one does what is good, the
freer one becomes. There is no true
freedom except in the service of what is
good and just. The choice to disobey and
do evil is an abuse of freedom and leads
to “the slavery of sin”.
-We become freer when we depend on
God. He helps us know what is good and
true, so that we can choose those things.
 “Now the Lord
is the Spirit,
and where the
Spirit of the
Lord is, there
is freedom”.

2 CORINTHIANS 3:17
THANK
YOU!
GROUP 3

Martinez, Mariecris D.
Castañeda, Jeric
Allauigan, Wiljay