CHRISTIAN MORALITY REVIEWER
Objective Morality states that our actions are
Morality in General
Morality
To reach our goal, we need to lead a good
moral life.
We need to live according to our faith by
using our free will to make good moral
decisions.
If we happen to be a Christian, then we need
to live our moral life in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17-19
So, whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old
things have passed away; behold, new things have
come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled
us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry
of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting their
trespasses against them and entrusting to us the
message of reconciliation.
1 John 4:7-11
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of
God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and
knows God. Whoever is without love does not know
God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was
revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might have life through him. In this is love:
not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God
so loved us, we also must love one another.
Freewill is the freedom to do good.
Church Teachings
We become authentically human when we
live a good moral life.
We are called to live a moral life on account
of our human dignity.
Following the moral law leads us to true
happiness and freedom.
Moral Law
Moral law is not simply about rules, but more
importantly about how best to love God and
other people in thought, word and action.
It refers to standards of human behavior
established by God.
Natural Law
It shows the human person the way to follow
as to practice the good, and attain his end.
2 aspects of Morality
good or evil independently of what we think
about them.
Subjective Morality claims that the moral
value of our actions depends on situations
and opinions.
How is Human Freedom related to Morality?
Free will enables the person to contradict
Gods law.
Abuse of ones freedom.
Although Gods natural law is inscribed in
our soul, our concupiscence makes it difficult
for us to make the right moral decisions on
our own.
We need Gods grace to distinguish good
from evil choices.
Concupiscence is the tendency to sin.
We need Gods grace to distinguish good from evil
By regular prayer life
Sacraments
Confession or Reconciliation or Penance
o Should confess mortal and venial sins
o Should confess at least once a year.
Last things of Catholic Faith
Death
Judgement
Heaven
Hell
Christian Morality
John 17:1-3
When Jesus had said this, he raised his eyes to
heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Give
glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,
just as you gave him authority over all people so that
he may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this
is eternal life, that they should know you, the only
true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
Following Christ
Since God has loved us, we are called to love
one another.
The Christian Moral life is our personal
response to Gods loving call.
We are called to follow Jesus Christ.
Discipleship learning to live everyday like
Jesus Christ.
God reveals Himself in 4 Principal Ways
1. Creation through the beauty and abundance
of nature.
2. Bible through the history of salvation.
3. Christ the unique and definitive revelation of
God.
4. Church through which Christ continues to
remain present in the world.
God
The very first one to know us.
The very first to establish a relationship with
us.
Other Important Information
Only in relation to Christ can we become our
true selves.
Only in coming to know Christ can we grow
into the fullness of our being.
In the person of Christ, God shows us how it
is to truly love.
In the same manner, Christ challenges us to
freely respond to the Father in faith and love.
For it is only in loving that we can attain our
true self, and our salvation.
Christian life is based on the conviction that
God has spoken to us, and that the main truths
of our Faith are given in this revelation.
The love of Christ is the norm, the source,
and the final goal of Christian morality.
We are called to conform ourselves to Christ.
Christian Morality
Is a positive morality that prescribes what we,
motivated by love for God, must do in order
to imitate the life of Christ.
Is at the service of freedom.
Serves and safeguards human dignity.
Human Person
1 Corinthians 2:9
But as it is written:What eye has not seen, and ear
has not heard, and what has not entered the human
heart, what God has prepared for those who love
him.
Church Teachings
Every person is a child of God who is
destined for eternal beatitude in heaven.
Every Christian is an adopted child of the
Heavenly Father in Christ, and is called to
devote oneself in loving service of others.
By the grace of Baptism, the person, through
the infusion of sanctifying grace, is raised to
the status of a child of God.
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Like the church, we are Holy or Sacred.
Mutilation is when you are hurting yourself.
Symbolism of Water in Baptism
It symbolizes Life because baptism is an
entry to the life of the church and the Holy
Trinity.
It symbolizes Death because it can drown us.
It is Cleansing because it cleanses us from
sins.
2 ways of Baptism
Baptism by Blood dying for your faith.
Baptism by Desire by simply living a good
life (good moral life).
Why is the person an embodied spirit?
Every person has a physical body and a
spiritual soul.
Soul makes the person or anything alive.
The human soul is created by God.
Body is an essential part of our being human.
Soul is more important than body because the
soul goes back to God but the body is
destroyed.
Bilocation the body in two places at the
same time.
The human body is good and honorable
because it is created by God, and will be
raised up by Him on the last day. (GS 14)
GS Gaudium et Spes
Our final destiny is already an active and
present reality, not just something in the
future.
Social Relational
We are called to be with and for others.
We have been created by God as social
beings.
We grow into our full selves as persons only
by means of relating with others.
All nations form but one community because
all came from one stock that God created to
people the whole world.
Also, because we all share a common destiny,
and that is God. (Nostra Aetate 1)
Conscious Being
We are aware of ourselves in our outgoing
acts.
We have the capacity to know and to will or
to choose.
We are capable of setting our goals in life,
and working to achieve them. (CFC 688)
We are pilgrims on the way.
Pilgrims are simply temporary in this world.
Historical Being
Through time, we gradually become our full
selves. We undergo stages of development.
Our life is journey of faith towards fullness of
salvation. (CFC 690)
Unique
Persons differ from one another physically,
intellectually, and morally.
We are all equal because
We are all children of God
We are created in the image of God
We are the temple of the Holy Spirit
Christ gave His life for us
We came from God and we will go back to
God
Human Dignity
Genesis 1:27
God created man in His image; in the Divine image
He created Him, male and female He created them.
Dignity
Refers to the value of a person that comes
from what he is. (Christifideles Laici 37)
What gives inherent value to every human person?
Our human dignity is grounded in God.
We are created in the image and likeness of
God.
Reasons for Dignity
a. Created in the image and likeness of God
b. Child of God
c. Temple of the Holy Spirit
d. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ
e. Destined for eternal life with God
Human Dignity and Sin
Sin destroys our human dignity
Sin makes us deny our real identity as human
persons.
Respect for the Human Person
Since every human being has dignity, Christ
calls us to respect ourselves and one another.
To respect means to always consider the true
identity of oneself and that of others.
Factors that Negate Respect
a. Indifference we dont care about our true
identity.
b. Selfishness too much love for oneself, and
too little love for others.
c. Lack of Faith without faith, there is no dignity
at all.
Freedom
Galatians 5:1
For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do
not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
Identification by Elimination
Discovering the identity of something by
eliminating the characteristics that it does not
have.
What Freedom is not
a. Not just doing what I want (Goodness)
b. Not saying or doing anything anytime
(Propriety)
c. Not my own private possession (Respect)
d. Not found in deceit, ignorance, and prejudice
(Limitation)
e. Not without authority and norm (Others)
Freedom
Doing what is good at the proper place and
time while respecting others since we are
aware that our freedom is limited.
Freedom in the Old Testament
Old Testament shows how freedom has been
affected by sin.
We are no longer that free to do good,
because sin has already affected our
perception of what is good.
Pauline view of Freedom
Every Christian has a vocation to freedom.
We are called to do everything in our power
to avoid being enslaved again by sin, so that
we can be free to love God, and other people.
o Free from Sin
o Free for People
o Free to Love God
Responsibility
Personal accountability for ones thoughts,
words, and actions.
Conscience
Romans 2:15
They show that the demands of the law are written
in their hearts, while their conscience also bears
witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even
defend them.
Conscience
Inner power that discerns and calls us to do
good and avoid evil, according to the divine
law written in our heart.
Levels of Conscience
a. Synderesis level of reward and punishment.
b. Habitual sense of responsibility for the
common good.
c. Actual level of discernment, dictate, and
decision.
Main types of Conscience
a. Correct corresponds to objective moral
norms and values.
b. Erroneous mistakenly judges a moral good
as evil, and a moral evil as good.
Factors considered by the Conscience
a. Act objective nature of the action, good or
evil.
b. Intention purpose of the doer in performing
an act.
c. Circumstance overall context or situation of
the action.
Forming a well-informed Conscience
a. Read and reflect on the word of God.
b. Know and put into practice the teachings of
the Church.
c. Be responsive to the Holy Spirit.
d. Critically reflect on ones experiences and
moral choices.
Introduction to Decalogue
Decalogue
Ten words that sums up the Law given by
God to the people of Israel in the context of
the Covenant mediated by Moses.
Keeping the commandments is the way to
salvation. He who keeps them is saved, and
he who does not is condemned.
God revealed to Moses the Ten
Commandments on Mount Sinai and they
were engraved in stone so that the people of
God would not forget them.
Jesus Christ perfected the Law and entrusted
it to the Church so that she might safeguard it
and teach it to all men. Following Christ
implies keeping the commandments.
Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
1. I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.
You shall not have other gods besides me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your
God, in vain. For the Lord will not leave
unpunished him who takes his name in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and your mother, that you
may have a long life in the land which the
Lord, your God, is giving you.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your
neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbors house.
10. You shall not covet you neighbors wife, nor
his male or female slave, nor his ox or ass,
nor anything else that belongs to him.
The goal of man
Mans final goal is to give glory to God,
loving and obeying him on earth so as to be
happy with him afterwards in heaven.
We can give glory to God by always doing
his will.
The Divine will leads man to his goal, and
we, as free beings, ought to assume his will,
wanting to love and obey our Creator and
Lord.
The Divine will is expressed fundamentally
in the commandments of the Law.
Eternal law orders creation to its goals
By observing created things, we see that they
follow some natural laws.
God has created everything so that each
creature attains its goal.
 Since this order has been foreseen and
planned by God from eternity we call it
eternal law.
Natural Law as guide for Man
Man, as a free creature, freely guides himself
after discovering with his intellect the law
God has placed within him.
This law engraved by God in our hearts is
called the natural law, and since it is engraved
in human nature, it binds all men of all times.
Since natural law is a part of the eternal law,
man cannot change it; it is therefore universal
and immutable.
At times it is difficult to know Natural Law
The natural law is engraved in mens hearts.
Nevertheless, original sin and personal sins
obscure the intellect.
For this reason, and in order that all men may
know it more easily, with certitude and
without error, God revealed his will and gave
us the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments point out our
essential duties, and indirectly the
fundamental rights inherent in the human
person. They contain a privileged expression
of natural law.
The Revelation of the Ten Commandments to Moses
In Mount Sinai, when the chosen people had
fled from Egypt, God announced to Moses
the Ten Commandments engraved in stone so
that they would not be forgotten.
The Commandments outline clearly show
how we should behave and mark out the way
to happiness in this life and in the next. God
shows men what is good and what is evil,
what is true and what is false, what is pleasing
and what is displeasing to him.
Jesus Christ Protects the Law
The law given by God was made perfect by
Jesus Christ who proposed himself as the
model and the way to obtain eternal life. I
am the Way, the Truth, and the Life(Jn 14:6)
After being told to love God with all our
heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are told to
love one another the way he has loved us.
The Decalogue has to be interpreted in the
light of this commandment of charity, which
is the fullness of the law.
The Obligation of Observing the Commandments
Man is free. If man does not observe the law,
he commits a sin, offends God, and hurts
himself and others.
On the contrary, if he observes the
commandments, he is sure to be on the right
path and to be doing Gods will.
But we should not feel oppressed by the
commandments. We should keep in mind that
God wishes man to be very happy, and for
this reason God defends and guards mans
freedom with concrete norms.
To Observe the Commandments with Love
The commandments are like a path with well-
designed road signs which tells us how to act
and warns us of dangers. It is clear that the
Ten Commandments are a proof of Gods
love.
Therefore, the commandments should be
observed with love.
Eight Beatitudes
Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-12)
1. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
2. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will
be comforted.
3. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit
the land.
4. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
5. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be
shown mercy.
6. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will
see God.
7. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will
be called children of God.
8. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the
sake of righteousness, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
Beatitude
Supreme blessedness; Perfect joy.
Describe the characteristics of a disciple of
Jesus.
Not promises, but affirmations of true
happiness.
It speaks about happiness.
Happiness consists in who we are, not what
we have.
 God wants us to be happy in this life, not Bliss of the Martyr
only in heaven. Happy is the one who endures suffering for
Happiness is the consequence of faithfulness the sake of love and commitment to God and
to God. other people, because he becomes united
Came from word Makarios, which means with the Crucified Christ.
happy because of ones relationship with
God.
Bliss of the Poor
Not the acceptance of poverty.
Poor in spirit means the humble
recognition or acceptance of dependence on
God, the source of all good.
Bliss of the Mourning
Acceptance of our sinfulness that leads to
repentance.
Bliss of the Meek
Does not mean passivity or weakness.
Meekness means tranquility and gentleness
of spirit of one who is united with God.
Elements of Meekness:
o Passion to right the wrong
o Compassion to forgive the
wrongdoer
Bliss of Starving Soul
Happy are those who desire righteousness or
goodness as a matter of life and death.
No room for compromise.
Bliss of the Kind Heart
More than pity.
It means empathy.
o Sorry
o Solidarity
o Service
Bliss of the Pure in Heart
Happy is the one who centers his life on
God, and has purity of intention.
To center ones life on God is to seek Gods
will in everything.
Bliss of the Peacemaker
Happy is the one who is working to achieve
true peace.
Peace is founded on love, justice, and truth.