COURSE NO.

COURSE TITLE CREDIT

: ReEd 40 : The Christian Witnessing in the World : 3 Units Lecture

Morality : Living as Witness of Christ

What is morality? MORALITY- is the standard, norms principles of knowing what is GOOD and what is EVIL Factors affecting Morality A. External Factors These are the outside forces that conditions our moral view. E,g, Society, Environment, Culture, Customs, Traditions, Duty, Responsibilty, Religion, Government and Authority Figures etc. B. Internal Factors These are the inner forces that even though nobody is telling us what is GOOD and what is EVIL something in us knows. E.g. Feelings, Guilt, Conscience, knowledge, intellect, freedom, will etc. TWO KINDS OF MORALITY ACTION-CENTERED MORALITY In this kind of a morality ACTION determines the GOOD or BAD itself. There is an existing list of dos and donts of good and evil. Actions are already labeled so it is very easy to determine what is good or evil because it is just black and white. Killing, stealing, lying etc are actions that without any considerations are seen to be evil and preservation of life, respecting others properties and telling the truth which are the exact opposites are seen to be Good. HUMAN PERSON-CENTERED MORALITY (CHRISTIAN MORALITY) Christ as the model of Christian morality shifted the perspective. To know if an act is GOOD or EVIL and if a person is responsible for his/her action, one must evaluate first who did the action? why and how the action was made? Before we can judge if a particular action can be considered as evil. When someone commits stealing yet the reason for the action is because of his/her medical condition which is being a kleptomaniac then the person is not responsible for the action. Therefore the moment that an action is done we will not judge automatically but we will evaluate first the things we need to consider.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS THE STARTING POINT OF MORALITY

Human Person Approach Emphasizes the totality of the person so that human activity must be judged insofar as it refers to the human person fully considered. In a person-centered morality, the person has to be adequately considered before judging whether a human action is morally right or wrong.

The Person Adequately Considered A. Person as a Relational Being Human existence is born of relationship and nurtured by it. To be human is to be essentially directed toward others. And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us . . . male and female, God created them (Genesis 1:26-27). The Lord God said, 'It is not good for man to be alone . . .' (Genesis 2:18) Basically, the human person is a social animal. He finds meaning, joy and fulfillment in relating with others. As a relational being, the human person is capable of giving himself to serve the good of others. This is so because the human person is created in the image of the Triune God. Through interdependence we bear mutual responsibilities. Our personal goals & endeavors can be justified only to the extent that we respect the rights and duties of others. In view of justice, we need to ask whether our moral decisions & actions consider the well-being of others or promote the kind of self-giving which sustains common good.

B. Person as an Embodied Subject Being a Human Person means that we are RATIONAL ANIMALS, We are made up of Body and Soul and so we are driven by INSTINCTS because of our being an animal yet we differ from all the other creatures because we are RATIONAL and we have the ability to go beyond our instincts and go towards our SPIRITUALITY. This means that every human Person is considered important and most especially HOLY. We show respect for every human person. We love persons and use things, not the other way around. Exploitation of human persons for ones own advantage is never allowed

C. Person as a Historical Subject LIFE is a journey. Every Human Person undergoes a process of character building and development. The past experiences affect the Persons character behavior and outlook in life. If a person does something which is bad we might as well look into his/her history and then we can discover that most of the time they are victims of the same act and because of that bad experience they tend to do the same to others in short the victim becomes the victimizer. A person needs constant guidance and reminder because he/she is constantly growing and learning; we must be patient with everyones growth in the moral life.

D. Person as Fundamentally Equal with Others but Uniquely Original Human beings are equal in dignity, though each one is unique in a sense that no two persons are totally identical. Each person has his own life-history, physical make-up, psychological and emotional set up, spiritual development, etc. Because each person is unique, we cannot expect two persons to respond to the same situation in the same way Even though there is an objective norm in relation to the same issue, each of us will only be able to live up to the norm and respond to the issue according to our capacity. A persons subjective responsibility for moral behavior is relative to the development of that persons moral ability. A person is only morally culpable for failing to do what he is capable of doing.

CONCLUSION An action is morally right if it is beneficial to the person adequately considered in himself or herself (i.e., as a unique, embodied spirit) and in his or her relations (i.e., to others, to social structures, to the material world, and to God).

HUMAN CONDITIONS THAT AFFECTS MANS CAPACITY OF BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ACTIONS AND BEHAVIOUR A. FREEDOM Are we truly Free? Do we have that capacity to choose? This question is often debated in a sense that we experience that in life we are FREE to choose our own deciscions BUT there are certain things that is not under our control which leads us of having no choice. On the one hand, in the Scriptures there is the conviction that the human being has the freedom to do what is good and to avoid what is evil Do not say, "It was the Lord's doing that I fell away"; for he does not do what he hates. Do not say, "It was he who led me astray"; for he has no need of the sinful. The Lord hates all abominations; such things are not loved by those who fear him. It was he who created humankind in the beginning, and he left them in the power of their own free choice (Sir 15:10-20). On the other hand there are experiences in life that compels us to belive that we dont have a choice. When we were born we dont choose our gender, nationality. Our genitical make up relies on the infuence and heridity that comes from our parents whom we also did not choose freely. These realities opens the idea of Deteminism which believes that all acts of man and all events or social changes are predetermined by natural or supernatural causes. FREEDOM is commonly associated with the capacity to do whatever we want but TRUE FREEDOM is NOT about doing what we want but the capacity TO DO WHAT IS GOOD. PHYSICAL FREEDOM IS DIFFERENT FROM MORAL FREEDOM - On the one hand, a person can move around freely and not being morally responsible for his/her action or motion. (e.g. the mentality retarded person). On the other hand, some people are incapable to move around freely and yet are morally responsible for their thoughts and actions (e.g. prisoners, paralyzed persons). FREEDOM is NOT something PERSONAL. TRUE FREEDOM is always a shared FREEDOM in a COMMUNITY because in as much as we have rights, other people also have rights We can say that although we are limited by certain conditions such as physical, religious, cultural aspects etc., we are TRULY FREE because we have the capacity to choose good over evil as far as MORAL FREEDOM is concern. Therefore we will discover that the Human Person is a Free being but the FREEDOM that he/she enjoys is limited.

B. KNOWLEDGE Do We really Know? Why is it that even if we already know what is good or evil we still do bad things as if we really do not know? Ex. We know stealing is bad but we all have a share of doing the act when we were little children and even if we are already grown up we get money from pockets or wallets of our parents. KNOWLEDGE - Information and skills acquired through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.

KINDS OF KNOWLEDGE A. CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE (SYMBOLIZED BY THE HEAD) It is intellectual or scientific knowledge; something that has a certain objectivity, a certain independence from the knower. THEORETICAL CK of moral values = comes with a knowledge of moral rules and the strategies for doing what the rules recommend. But CK is not sufficient if we are to act as morally virtuous persons. A mere conceptual grasp of a value is not a guarantee that a person will pursue it. Interiorization of the value is necessary. Evaluative knowledge is needed.

B. EVALUATIVE KNOWLEDGE (SYMBOLIZED BY THE HEART) It is felt-knowledge; the kind of knowledge that we discover through personal involvement and reflection. (PRACTICAL APPLICATION) The kind of knowledge that we gain not by words but by touch, sight and sound, by experiencing joy and pain, victories and failures. More personal, and has something to do with grasping the quality of a person, object or event.

Significance of the Distinction As it pertains to morality, CK includes the knowledge of rules and the strategies for achieving what the rules prescribe. This is knowledge about values. On the other hand, EK is a personal grasp of value. This is what makes our actions truly our own. With EK, we act on the basis of what we truly value. Henceforth, we say that it is EK that counts as genuine moral knowledge because it calls forth decisions and actions expressive of ones moral freedom

C. CONSCIENCE What is Conscience? A sense of right and wrong A kind of inner voice which guides us in our moral life Gods voice inside us telling us what to do. It makes us feel bad when weve done something wrong. The experience of conscience often is associated with guilt feelings: In the moral development of a person, guilt feelings are important. However, we need to be careful because some guilt feelings are not healthy. Formation of Conscience (Psychology based on the Human Personality Development Theory of Sigmund Freud) I. Instinctual Drive (ID) The instinctual drive for pleasure: seek pleasure, avoid pain. It includes the drive to be fed, held, caressed, cleaned, be warmed, etc. Basically, the id is self-centered A normal behavior for little children: It would be stupid to criticize a child for being selfish II. SUPER EGO The internalized commands of authority telling the child what it can do, what is right and what is wrong. It works from the standpoint of authority (parent, teacher, church, and other authority figures); it does not develop a sense of why something is right or wrong There is a powerful need to be loved and accepted in the child. Normally, the child obeys the voice of the superego because of fear of love-withdrawal. The superego has an important function: to keep limits on the child; to give a sense of discipline; as well as to keep it safe. III. EGO As the child grows older, it becomes more capable of recognizing why something is right or wrong beyond the commands and rules of the superego. Gradually, it realizes the values behind the rules. It begins to decide for itself more and more. This is the gradual formation of the ego. In Freuds vocabulary, the ego is the self, or the I. It is the referee between the superego and the id. The ego is the capacity to integrate the various dimensions of our being. It is aware of the impulses of the id and the prohibitions of the superego. Nevertheless, it makes its own decisions about what is good and bad.

As a person matures, his/her ego becomes more and more dominant; the person is now in charge of his/her life.

EGO AND CONSCIENCE Freud, like many others, identified the superego with conscience. According to this perspective, conscience is primarily the values of the community as they are communicated through the parent and other authority figures and internalized by the child. This is, however, not what the church means by a mature conscience. If superego is related to conscience, it is at best the immature conscience, the beginning of conscience, one that has not blossomed. SUPER EGO may be either realistic and healthy or illusory and pathological. It might happen that guilt feelings will call our attention to a situation or an action for which we are and ought to be truly guilty. And if so, they are helpful guides for moral human living. But the exact opposite may also be the case. For whatever reason, the person might feel guilty about something that he should not repent. For example, a woman who had been trained from childhood to be submissive might feel that she is being immoral if she does not do just what her husband desires. Therefore, guilt feelings do not make an accurate barometer of the personal moral life. In fact, some people would even participate in wide scale graft and corruption without feeling guilty. From a psychological perspective, the Christian conscience is more related with Freuds concept of ego. It is the mature self who decides, not the immature self-guided by fear of lovewithdrawal or by guilt. In order for the MATURE conscience to develop, the power of the superego must gradually diminish and the power of the ego must increase