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1. God creates us in the state of freedom

Christian Morality 2. God is the ultimate source of all moral truth
Etymology and Definition 3. Using human reason, we can deduce the principles of this natural law,
Derived from the latin word: mos, moris (customs) but because sin clouds our vision

Permanent moral behavior in accordance with the precepts of the natural

moral law which is universality known and common to all men such as: We use our natural facility called conscience to apply the general principles
-telling the truth of the law to specific situations, judging specific actions to be right or
-paying debts wrong in accordance with objective law.

Morality
Right and wrong
Refers to the righteousness and wrongness of an action in relation to
standard or norm of conduct.

is concerned with what ought to be.

(Antonin Ssertillanges)
It is interested in how people should act.
Judges with what is right and wrong in the light of what humanity is.

3 Important Elements

morality is a science.

Knowledge expands the more we learn about ourselves the more

we learn about what is right and wrong.

Morality is concerned with what ought to be.

It is interested in how people should act.

Morality judges
Morality asks people to be persons they are meant to be.

Morality
Can be summed up in the word responsibility according to Michael
Pennok

2 components
1.) response 2) ability

For Christians morality is a response to God's incredible, freely given love

and his gift of salvation offered to us through our lord Jesus Christ and the
ability to respond to God.
The ability to love. The ability to say yes to God.

Christian morality is like

Jesus is telling his people/ you: follow me!
People/me: what should I do?

It is concerned with identifying and explaining the principles that determine

the quality of human behavior in the light of Christian revelation.

Disposes the human person to pattern one's behavior to the life lived by
christ

is a call of the human person to live life of constantly following Jesus

Christ

Catholic Morality
is a christian morality guided by the teachings of the church.

a catholic faithful believes that Jesus has entrusted his teaching authority to
the church.

The church has the responsibility to offer guidance, help, and direction.

FOUNDATION OF CATHOLIC MORALITY

Importance of Morality It is only when we believe in ourselves that we can bring out our talents and
relate with equal relevance and respect to another person (Earnest Tan)
1. Guide to the fullness of freedom
Ultimate meaning of Freedom - achievement of life in
accord with the moral law Our concept of ourselves as human persons can influence our decisions and
behaviors as agents of morality
Man is meant to use his freedom in order to grow to
this state of mature responsibility, a state of full Knowing ourselves makes it easier for us to understand what Christian
development. Morality
2. The entrance of the eternal into the life of man
Morality plays an important role in raising man’s life to Who am I as a person in a community and as disciples of Jesus today?
the level of the eternal
Who we are as persons…
By living in terms of eternal value such as bravery,
justice, love, truth, and beauty rise above time and 1. From Nature of things , that is. From the way things are…
forever Our very makeup ourselves something about who we are

As man lives in the spirit of these ideals, his life also This is called the Natural Law
takes on a forever dimension
3. A guide to the fullness of human development 2. From what God has revealed to us throughout the history of our
Morality is an inner law(within us) which leads man salvation in the old testament
and communicates towards growth(growing up) 3. From the word spoken to us by God the Father though His Son,
Jesus Christ
Grow, mature, and responsible. Functioning fully as a
member of a family and a community. The Christian view of Man

4. A guide towards reality Persons are created in God’s image and likeness
Moral law reveals the truth about human life, about
ourselves which might easily tend to ignore or take for God places within us human persons as identity that sets us apart from all
granted other creatures

Human who is a creature who is limited, related, and Gen. 1:25 let us make man in our image and likeness
dependent to others
1. Persons as created by God – He is the Ultimate origin of life
He must acknowledge his creator 2. Persons as image of God – given the power to think to make
decisions and judgement
Humbly accept the moral law of the universe 3. Persons as the likeness of God – to be holy like God
4. Persons as fundamentally good – Gen.1:31” God looked at
Truth: Greed and Pride everything He made and He found it very good”
5. Persons as God’s partners – Gen.1:28 “Be fertile and multiply fill
5. A guide towards meaning the earth and subdue it”
Morality leads man into a more meaningful existence
Persons are redeemed by Jesus Christ
Man recognizes the needs of others, the challenge of
existence and the call of God and responds to these that John 3:16
his life becomes fully meaningful For God so loved the world that hHe gave us His only son

“It is in Christ and through His blood that we have been redeemed and our
Filipino Customs and Traditions sins forgiven”

 Mano po Persons are sanctified by the Holy Spirit

 Bayanihan
 Hospitability The presence of the Holy Spirit in the human person sanctifies the human
 Religion person and makes one the temple of God
 Courtship
 Fiesta Cor. 3:16-17
For the temple of God is Holy, you are the temple
 Filipino Christmas
Persons are called to be the children of God
 Filipino Cuisine
Child-like trust and confidence

Persons are destined for eternal life

God never abandoned man and woman despite their sinfulness. He offered
salvation through His incarnate Son
THE MORAL AGENT AND OBJECT
THE NATURAL/EXPERIENTIAL VIEW OF MAN
The Human Person
Persons are open and relational
To recognize ones own worth is the foundation of all productive behaviors
God created man as a social being
and healthy relationships
Persons are embodied spirits
 Man knows all things by direct intuition, and has all the knowledge stored
God breathed life into man with body and soul in mind

Persons are historical realities NIHILISM

Man undergoes the basic stages of human growth and Man and hIs life have no ultimate meaning
development
How can I create a life that is patterned with the life of Christ?
Persons are unique, yet fundamentally equal

THE NON-CHRISTIAN VIEW OF MAN The Human Act vs. Act of Man

Playboy Philosophy of HEDONISM Human act

Is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man
Man is the object whose purpose in life is only to help others attain Freely willing human being
happiness, especially of the physical life Can be considered good or evil and indifferent
It is good when it is in harmony with the dictates of right person
He escapes total commitment which involves sacrifice or pain because it
diminishes pleasure Acts of Man
Bodily tendencies which is involuntary
Hedonism makes glorifies pleasure, a god and an ultimate end of life Not a product of choice
No moral responsibility
HUMANISM
Morality therefore is not concerned with the acts of man but rather it is
The humanistic philosophy is atheistic in nature and materialistic in concerned with the human acts since man is deemed worthy to be punished,
application merited or praised of blamed.

If there is no God, man is not a created being, he does not possess an The Elements of Human Act
immortal spirit, he has no moral responsibility and no eternal pleasure 1. Knowledge-it is awareness of the act that man does..
2. Freedom-human act is always determined by the will. Act is the product
He does not bear the image of God, but only the mark of natural of the will that can do it or leave it undone.
evolutionary forces Every act that comes from the will is called a free act
3. Voluntariness- it comes from the latin word voluntas which means will.
God is dethroned and man is deified Voluntariness is the formal essential quality of the human act, and for it
present, there must be ordinarily be both knowledge and freedom in the
MARXIAN-COMMUNISM agent.
Christian Freedom and Love
as an essential element of human act, freedom is not just a license to do
what one wants to do.
“freedom is a power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do
this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own
responsibility.
➢By his free will man shapes his own life.
➢The more one does what is good the freer one becomes.
The government controls the resources and means of production to ensure Christian Freedom and Love
equality
as an essential element of human act, freedom is not just a license to do
Religion is the opinion of the people what one wants to do.

ATHEISTIC-EXISTENTIALISM “freedom is a power, rooted in reason and will, to act or not to act, to do
this or that, and so to perform deliberate actions on one’s own
Man is radically alone and separated from others responsibility.
➢By his free will man shapes his own life.
Jean-Paul Sartre believes that a person is born into absurdity (unreasonable) ➢The more one does what is good the freer one becomes.
and feels nauseated (sickening) as he realizes this
Human freedom can be internal(the freedom to be all one can possibly be)
He sees no meaning in life and external (the freedom to do all one possibly can do)
The latter is a freedom of action, a freedom to do whatever one wants to do,
Life after all is void of meaning and purpose a means to experience inner freedom.
However, man can be an obstacle to his own freedom.
ORIENTAL PHILOSOPHY
Factors that prevent man from experiencing authentic freedom....
Man should try to lice a life of gentle submission to the cosmic powers Biological-(inherited handicaps and defects as well as external substance
flowing in the universe-powers that control man’s happiness and destiny in like drugs)
life Psychological- (interior compulsions, including those originating in the
unconscious)
GREEK PHILOSOPHY Social Pressures-(economic, political and cultural conditions)

Man is a knower (all-knowing) before his birth. But the greatest single obstacle to freedom is sin.

His soul pre-existed his body

Christian freedom- it refers to the capacity of the will, aided by God’s against his will. This cannot reach the will directly. As long as the will exert
grace to decide, to do what is good, and to avoid what is evil in every command to counter the force the agent is not responsible of the act.
possible way.

➢Do not let your sin rule your body...sin will no longer have power over
you: you are now under grace, not under the law ...”(Rom 6: 12-14)

Two Important Truths with regards to Christian Freedom

1. The freedom that we enjoy as children of God is simply God’s
gift.
2. The gift of freedom involves responsibility.
➢One of the greatest proofs of man’s freedom is that he can desire or not
the good of another person.

According to Greeks, there are four kinds of love:

1) Narcissism or self -love- destructive, self-love
2) Eros – the passionate attraction between sexes
3) Philia or platonic love - love among friends
4) Agape – brotherhood sense of community, highest form of love
➢Moreover for Christians agape is a total self-giving love independent of
the lovable qualities of the other. It is the quality of love that characterizes
the Christian love. It captures Christ’s commandment of love: love God and
neighbor (Mt. 22:37-37).

Modifiers of Human Act

Ignorance-this is defined as the mere absence of knowledge.

In the case of man, it is the absence of any intellectual knowledge.
Negative- there is the absence of knowledge
Privative- this absence of knowledge ought to be there and present it is not
just negative but also privative.
Positive- a person knows something but his knowledge is not true.

Concupiscence- In morality, this term has a different

meaning from that of its usage by the theologians.
In theology it refers to the proneness of sin in man’s nature due to the fall of
Adam and Eve.
But in morality, it refers to the bodily appetites or tendencies which are
called the passions.
These are love, joy, grief, desire, aversion or horror, courage, anger, despair,
and hope.

Antecedent concupiscence- passions are called antecendent when these

passions spring into action without any stimulation or influence by the will.
-acts of man and not human acts therefore they are amoral or without any
connection to morality.
Consequent concupiscence- these are acts directly or indirectly stirred by
the will. This means that the will approved or consented them either
directly or indirectly.
-so the agent is responsible for them.
We see that antecedent concupiscence is an act of man and therefore the
agent is not responsible for it since he does not will it.

Fear- is defined as the shrinking back of the mind from danger.

Ex. A pilot who knows that the weather is bad but would still fly the plane
does it with fear but a father of a kidnapped child who would pay for
ransom does it from fear that his child would be endangered if he does not
give the money.

Principle of Fear
An act done from fear, however great, is simply voluntary, although it is
regularly also conditionally involuntary.
The same as with the other passions, man should still be the one who is in
control over fear and not fear over man. As long as the man has still the use
of his reason, it is still voluntary.

Violence- it is external force applied by a free cause {a cause with free will
by man} for the purpose of compelling a person to perform an act which is