Christian Morality: Dignity, Freedom, and Responsibility
Christian Morality: Key Concepts
The Moral Christian (Numbers 1691-1876)
The Root of Human Dignity
According to Christian faith, the dignity of the human person is rooted in their creation in the image and likeness of God. Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, intelligence, and free will, the human person is ordered to God and called, body and soul, to eternal bliss.
The Importance of the Beatitudes
- How important is the message of Jesus contained in the Beatitudes in the context of Christian morality? The Beatitudes are the center of the preaching of Jesus, gather and perfect God’s promises made from Abraham. They draw the face of Jesus and trace the authentic Christian life, revealing to man the ultimate end of their deeds: eternal bliss.
- Is human happiness, as understood by Christianity, limited only to eternal life? Or is it limited only to this life? Reasoning.
Freedom in the Christian Sense
- What is freedom in the Christian sense of the term? Freedom is the power given by God to man to act or not act, to do this or that, to run itself through deliberate actions. Freedom is the property of properly human acts. The more you do good, the freer you are in doing good. Freedom reaches its perfection when directed toward God, our supreme good and Bliss. Freedom means the possibility to choose between good and evil. The choice of evil is an abuse of freedom, which leads to the slavery of sin.
Freedom and Responsibility
- What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility? Freedom makes man responsible for his acts, to the extent that they are voluntary, although both the accountability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified because of ignorance, inadvertence, endured violence, fear, inordinate attachments, and habits.
The Right to Exercise Freedom
- Why, according to Christian faith, is man entitled to exercise their freedom? The right to exercise freedom belongs to every man, as inseparable from the dignity of the human person. This right must always be respected, especially in the moral and religious spheres, and should be civilly recognized and protected within the boundaries of the common good and just public order.
The Weakening of Human Freedom
- Why does Christianity say that human freedom is weakened? Our freedom is weakened by original sin. The weakness was compounded by subsequent sins. But Christ “freed us to be free” (Galatians 5:1). The Holy Spirit leads us by his grace to spiritual freedom, to free us as his collaborators in the Church and the world.
The Three Sources of Morality
- What are the three sources of morality of a human act according to Christian faith? Describe them briefly. The morality of human acts depends on three sources: the object chosen, i.e., a real or apparent good; the intention of the acting subject, i.e., the purpose for which it carries out its action; and the circumstances of the action, including the consequences of it.
Morally Good Acts
- When is an act morally good according to Christian morals? The act is morally good when it means, at the same time, the goodness of the object, purpose, and circumstances. The selected object can by itself vitiate an act, although the intention is good. It is not lawful to do evil so that good may result. An evil end corrupts the action, even if the object is in itself good; also, a good end does not make right an action which in itself is bad, because the end does not justify the means. Circumstances may reduce or increase the liability of the perpetrator, but cannot change the moral quality of the acts themselves because they never make a bad action good in itself.
Always Illegal Acts
- Are there acts, according to Christian morality, which in themselves, regardless of the purpose and circumstances, are always illegal? Why? There are acts whose choice is unlawful by reason of their object (for example, blasphemy, murder, adultery). His election is a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil that cannot be justified under the property that could possibly arise from them.
Passions in Christian Morality
- What are the passions in the context of Christian morality? The passions are the feelings, emotions, or impulses of the sensibility—natural components of human psychology—which tend to act or not act, and view what is perceived as good or as bad. The key is love and hate, desire and fear, joy, sadness, and anger. The fundamental passion is love, caused by the attractiveness of the property. But do not love good, real or apparent.