Christian Morality Section 1: Foundational Principles for Christian Morality

Christian MoralitySection 1: Foundational Principles for Christian Morality

Part 1: Moral Choices and God’s Plan

• God made us to live in loving communion with Him and with one another so as to experience true happiness and peace.

• The core of Scriptures tells us that humans were created to be in loving relationship with Him.

• Humans were not created by gods to feed upon their egos or for their amusement; if so, humans would be at the mercy of the changing whim of the gods, be self-centered, be in competition with each other always, and love would not be freely given.


•The effects of Original Sin make it difficult for some people to know or understand God’s plan.

•Idolatry is the primary sin against the First Commandment and the most prevalent in our world.

•God made us in His image and likeness, bringing us into even deeper communion with who He truly is and calls us to be.


•God gave us three gifts that allow us to be with Him for all eternity, which are our:▫Soul▫Intellect▫Free Will

•Our soul is our spiritual principal that is immortal and which makes us most like God.

•Our soul is created by God, united with our body at conception and is the seat of human consciousness and freedom.


•Our soul and our body form one nature called human nature and are not separate.

•Intellect is the divine gift that allows us to understand and see the order of God’s creation and understand God through that order.

•We understand how to be in communion with God by knowing what is truly good and what only appears to be good.


•Free Will is a gift from God that allows us to choose from various actions, for which we are accountable for.

•Free will is the basis for moral responsibility.•Our free will shows God is not manipulative

and does not force us to love Him.•Our soul, intellect, and free will orient us

toward God and a loving relationship with Him; however, intellect and free will can also separate us from God if not used properly



• Every person who has ever lived is free to accept the will of God and His love or reject it.

• Adam and Eve chose their freedom to reject God when they disobeyed His command to them not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

• Pursuits of popularity, pleasure, and wealth all are evils that can distract us from true happiness.

• Unlike animals, whose instinct drives their actions, we can analyze an action as wither good or bad before acting.


• Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand since we must be responsible for all actions we freely take, whether right or wrong.

• Some situations, such as fear, side effects of prescription drugs, or social pressures affect our moral choices and do not allow us to make perfectly free choices on our part.

• Our basic human right of free will is built into us and no one can take it from us, even if it is lessened by outside agents (though they are not excuses for acting badly).


•Original Sin is the sin of Adam and Eve, the first humans, who disobeyed God’s will by choosing their own will, losing holiness and becoming subject to death.

•Original Sin is also the fallen nature that affects every person born into this world except Jesus Christ and Mary, His Mother.

•Original holiness is the original state of humans in communion with God, sharing in the divine life in full relationship with Him.


•Adam and Eve sinned not just against themselves, but all human nature, since their state of original holiness was for all their descendants as well.

•Original sin weakens human nature, making us concupiscent, or the tendency toward sin as a result of Original sin.

•The most serious loss of all due to Original Sin is that humans now experience death, something God never intended for life.



•Change can be a very difficult thing to accomplish and we sometimes give up on changing something in our life when it just seems too difficult.

•God did not give up on humanity after the fall of Adam and Eve; instead, He called humanity to change from sin and turn to Him.

•God formed covenants with humanity, gave the 10 Commandments, provided leaders for the Israelites, a people He chose as His own.


•At first, when God allowed for a new leaf to be turned off, the Israelites rejoiced and tried to follow God; however, within one generation, the people God called His own has strayed from His ways again, just as Adam and Eve did.

•God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to complete salvation history, or the specific events in human history that revealed God’s presence and saving actions.


• Through Christ’s Paschal Mystery, which was the work of salvation by His death, Resurrection, and Ascension, we are called to new life in Christ; to turn a new leaf away from the death of the Old Adam to life in the New Adam, who is Christ Himself.

• When we place our trust in Christ, we are called to live the life of the Beatitudes, which are our vocations as Christians and the goal of our existence. It is truly blessedness and happiness experiences partially on Earth and fully in Heaven.


•The Beatitudes show us the paradox nature of God’s wisdom in comparison to what we hold true.

•The Beatitudes teach that by embracing the hardships of life, we gain meaning to our moral choices.

•We will not experience full happiness in life on Earth when living by the Beatitudes, but will do so only in Heaven.


•Through Scripture and Tradition, we are given direction to live as disciples.

•By Baptism, Eucharist, and the Sacraments, we are given God’s grace and strength to follow through on change.

•We grow closer to the Holy Trinity when we make moral choices when we are called forth by the Father, guided by the Holy Spirit, and taught by Christ the Son.


•God calls us to enter through the narrow gate, the path less trodden, since the wide open gate leads to destruction and death, pot hole filled and ridden with pain.

•God never gives up on us; He did not give up on Adam and Eve and their descendants, us men and women, since He sent for us to die His only, beloved Son, Jesus Christ.



•We are saved through God’s works, not our own.

•Our primary goal then is to collaborate with God’s grace and not just try to earn our way to Heaven.

•Justification is the process by which God frees us from our sins and sanctifies us.

•Original Justice is the state our first parents, Adam and Eve, had with their inner self, with each other, and with creation.


•In Baptism we united ourselves with Christ as original sin is washed away, though its effects remain.

•Justification starts with conversion on our part as we realize we do need God, in both good and bad times.

•At the end of the justification process, we become sanctified, or holy people, like the saints, by giving praise to God through our lives.


• Saint Ignatius of Loyola wanted to be a nobleman when he was younger; yet these dreams were dashed when he was hit by a cannonball at age 30. During recuperation, Ignatius learned about the saints and read about Christ, thus beginning his conversion. Ignatius was sanctified by God’s grace and achieved true holiness thereafter.


•Merit is God’s reward for those who love Him and follow Christ’s law of love.

•To have merit means you are justified in the sight of God, freed from sin and sanctified by His graces.

•We do not earn merit on our own; it is a free gift to us from God due to the grace of Christ in us.


• Merit is first and foremost God’s free gift to us, then secondly, our acceptance of His gift and participation in His saving plan, for nothing we do can earn merit in God’s sight.

• So why should we be good?▫Because that is how God made us to be.▫We should be good not to impress others or

earn our way to Heaven because this puts US at the center of our deeds and not God.

• God justifies and sanctifies us so that we can live in perfect communion with Him.


Part 2: The Law of God

•God is the source of all true law.•Moral laws govern how people should be

in relationships with one another and with God.

•We are the only creatures that can cause chaos and disaster to the order of the universe God has set in place, as well as support and strengthen the natural order of creation.


•There is always a price to pay when going against God’s natural order, such as when telling one lie after another.

•The Eternal Law is the order in creation that reflects God’s will and purpose; it is eternal because it is always true and never changes.

•All other laws have their basis in the Eternal Law and are only true laws when they reflect the truth of the Eternal law.


•In general, law is a rule of behavior that is made by a competent authority for the sake of the common good.

•Moral law is established by God and is a rational expression of the Eternal Law.

•Moral law reflects God’s wisdom and is the teaching that leads us to the blessed life He wants for us.

•It is our conscience that allow everyone to know the moral law.


Part 2: The Law of God•Through the gift of reason, all people can

follow moral laws.•Natural law is the moral law that can be

understood through the use of reason; it gives our God-given ability to understand what it means to be in right relationship with God, other people, the world, and ourselves.

•The basis for natural law is our participation in God’s wisdom and goodness because we are created in the divine likeness.


•The Golden Rule is an example of natural moral law.

•People of all faiths and non-faiths hold fast to the Golden Rule, showing that it goes beyond laws and into the gift of human reasoning.

•The natural moral law is an expression of the Eternal law, meaning that they do not change with time, culture, or beliefs.


•To be moral is to be fully human since natural law is part of our nature as human beings.

•Laws based in custom, according to Aristotle, are true to a particular place and time, but natural laws are true everywhere for everyone.

•Saint Paul says that knowledge of God and of moral law is evident to every person through creation.

Part 2: The Law of God• Saint Augustine

compared how all people of all religions know in their hearts what is right based on natural moral law to how a king stamps a royal seal into wax like God stamps the Law into our hearts.


•In the Bible, the most dramatic and awe-inspiring appearance of God was right before He gave Moses the 10 Commandments, using the signs of lightning, thunder, and earthquakes as ways to make the Israelites “pay attention.”

•Natural moral law is not obeyed by everyone, as we can see today in certain hot topics of debate where one side says they are fighting for morals, yet in reality go against it.


•It is for this reason God gave us His own law through Scripture and Tradition.

•The Old Law was the Divine Law revealed in the Old Testament to Moses in the 10 Commandments.

•The 10 Commandments are also called the Decalogue.

•The 10 Commandments make perfectly clear the natural law God already had placed in nature.


•The 10 C0mmandments are part of the Old Covenant, or Original Covenant God first made with the Israelites, sometimes called the Sinai Covenant.

•The covenant was a loving relationship between God and His people.

•God wanted to restore a loving communion between Himself and His creation, starting with the Israelites, then with all the Earth.


•The Pentateuch are the first five books in the Bible, or the sacred Scripture of the Jewish people.

•A Catechism is a book that summarizes Catholic doctrine and teachings used for formal programs and classes.

•The 10 Commandments are the framework for teaching Christian morality in the Catechism because they answer and address all sorts of moral issues.

Part 2: The Law of God• The Old Law does not

restore us to Original Holiness, but rather shows us away from sin to eternal happiness.

• The Old Law shows us what we must do, but the graces and strength to actually keep the Law is from the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the fulfillment of the Old Law, at His coming.

• The Old Law is preparation for the Gospel.

Part 2: The Law of God• When Jesus established the New Covenant, He

also established the New Law, or Divine Law revealed in the New Testament through the life and teaching of Jesus.

• The New Law fulfills the Old Law and is known as the “Law of Love.”

• Jesus’ New Law is found throughout the Gospel, but specifically at the Sermon on the Mount, for Moses received the 10 Commandments on a mountain, and Jesus delivered His from a mountain too.


•Jesus starts the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, values like poverty of spirit, meekness, peacemaking, etc., thing that we must possess to live a moral life.

•Jesus then says we must be “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.”

•Jesus quotes the Old Law and then teaches what the true meaning of the law is.


•“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” was the Old Law that limited revenge you could take on someone who hurt you.

• Jesus teaches that the New Law preaches love and forgiveness, not of revenge.

•Who can live such a life of forgiveness?▫Those who follow and live by the Beatitudes.

•The Great Commandments were Jesus’ summary of the entire Divine Law to love God and neighbor.


•The first three Commandments can be summarized in the first Great Commandment from Jesus; the last seven Commandments can be summarized in the second Great Commandment from Jesus.

•The Law of Love becomes the basis for interpreting all moral laws.

•The New Law shows us why God did not treat us with revenge for disobeying Him, but rather with love by sending us His Son.


•The love Jesus preaches though is not love we have for a boyfriend or girlfriend; rather, it is loving in which we forgive others and work at being holy people; a sacrificial love.

•God wrote the natural law in man’s heart, made in clear through the revelation of the 10 Commandments, and even sent Jesus to guide us and give us the Holy Spirit to fulfill the Law of Love, the Great Commandments.



•As Christians, we are called to live a life of holiness and be examples for others, not by judging one another for shortcomings, but by continuously striving to do good.

•“How can you see the splinter in your neighbor’s eye when you have a beam in your own?”

•The Church has two sets of laws:▫Precepts▫Canon Law


•Precepts of the Church are sometimes called the commandments of the Church, which ate basic obligations of Catholics that are dictate by the laws of the Church.

•Canon Law is the official body of laws that provide good order to the visible body of the Church.

•The Precepts are the minimum requirements of Catholics to participate in the life of the Church.


•Catholics are obligated to follow the Precepts of the Church, but should do so as reminders of our faith and who we are.

•Each law of the church is called a canon, which means “rule.”

•Canon Law governs issues such as norms for the celebration of Sacraments, Catholic education, rights and responsibilities of the ordained, and has penalties when the law is broken.


•The Magisterium is the Church’s living teaching office, composed of the world’s bishops in communion with the Pope.

•The Magisterium’s purpose is to teach the fullness of the New Law of Christ first to the Church, then to the entire world.

•The Magisterium uses the natural law when speaking out on such issues as abortion and embryotic research so as to speak to people of all faiths.

Part 2: The Law of God• When the Pope and bishops speak on a matter

of faith and morals, they do so infallibly, meaning the Holy Spirit guides them to speak without error.

• Infallibility is the gift of the Holy Spirit to the entire Church by which her leaders are protected from fundamental error when speaking on topics of faith and morals.

• To be clear though, not every word spoken from a bishop or the Pope’s mouth in daily life are infallible, as some people believe.

Part 2: The Law of God• The moral law taught by the Church is not her

invention, but that of God’s universal law meant for all people.

• The Church public speaks its teachings, but accepts a person’s right to reject her teachings outside of the Catholic faith.

• The Church has an obligation to public opinion and laws to help establish a just society for God’s people.

• The Church does not want to take over the state; it just wants to assure the safety of all God’s creation.


Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Sin is any action that is contrary to God’s

will.•There are serious, mortal sins, and sins

that are less serious, that are called venial sins.

•Sins mostly harm ourselves, but never just ourselves, since we are a relational people.

•The result of sin is that we are further alienated from God with the ultimate consequence of sin being death.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •The central focus of salvation history is how

God saves us from sin and death.•From the covenants with Abraham, Noah, and

David, to the sending of Christ, God show us how His saving love for us can defeat death.

•In the Old Testament, one key concept of sin is that it involves rebelling against God.

•Adam and Eve rebelled against the will of God by eating from the tree they were told not to touch.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences • The Israelites rebelled

against God in the desert after God saved them from slavery in Egypt by speaking and grumbling against Him, as well as worship a golden calf as a god that they created, directly breaking the First Commandment just after Moses received the Commandments.

• Moses in turn shattered the slates of Commandments in disgust and anger.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •People rebel against God because they

want life to be different than it is; they want God to be different than He is.

•People want to be in control of their own life.

•But that is why Jesus taught that people must have faith in God like a child has faith in their parents: they are always watching out for us, loving us, and want what is best for us.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Sin is also seen in the Old Testament as

“missing the point” that our life’s goal is to be in communion with God.

•This is different than seeing sin as rebellion because it shows people trying to do good, but just missing on that goal.

•Some of the Kings of Israel, such as David and Solomon, were faithful to God many times, but feel short at different times as well into sin.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences • The Holy Spirit can come

to our aid and help us hit the mark of life’s goal when we continually miss, showing us that we cannot get through this life on our own.

• When we realize we have done wrong, it is then a moment of grace, because we can realize we need help from God to achieve life’s goal of communion with Him.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •The New Testament continues that idea

that sin is “falling short” of the moral mark.

•The New Testament also adds the ideas that sin is also breaking the natural law written on every human’s heart.

•This leads to lawlessness in society where people are greatly harmed by others and life begins to lose its deepest meaning, that of communion of creation and Creator.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •The happiness that comes from sin is

fleeting and does not last; usually after indulging in one sin, one needs more of it because they are not satisfied.

•People sin in darkness, or in secret, and avoid the light, which reveals their sins to all, the light that is Jesus Christ.

•Whoever lives in the light then, their works are seen by God and are not trying to hide from God what God sees no matter what.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Jesus is centrally concerned with sin and

how to conquer it, which is through God’s forgiving love.

•Jesus ate with sinners and tax collectors and came to “call the sinner,” not the rich, the powerful, or the pompous.

•Jesus preached loving forgiveness, which can be summed up as “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •We must be willing to forgive people who hurt

us infinitely, which is obviously extremely difficult, but is what God does exactly for us every time we sin against Him.

•God does not want to condemn the creatures He loves and created; He wants to save us from our sins, which can only be done if we accept Him.

•Saint Paul speaks of sins ultimate end: death; however, death is not the end in the New Testament thanks to Jesus’ Paschal Mystery.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences • However, just because Jesus died for us all

doesn’t mean that everyone gets into Heaven. Those who sin and reject God without remorse are destined for Hell.

• Jesus also teaches that God does not cause bad things to happen to people when they sin, as people thought happened to the sick.

• Just because a person is rich and healthy does not mean they are leading lives pleasing to God; just because a person is poor and lowly does not mean God has punished them.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences • Sin is an offense against God as well as a fault

against reason, truth, and right conscience. Sin is a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the Eternal Law of God. In judging the gravity of sin, it is customary to distinguish between moral and venial sins.

• Three objects determine the morality of any human act:▫Object (the thought, word, or deed the person is

doing)▫ Intention (intended outcome of the object)▫Circumstances (conditions affecting the decision)

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •For an action to be morally good, both the

intent and object must be good. Circumstances play a secondary role.

•Doing the right thing for morally wrong reasons does not make the act morally good in the end.

•Some actions are just always morally wrong, such as murder, rape, etc., no matter what the situation is, i.e. being peer pressured to act in some way.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Sins of Commission are sins that directly

result of freely chosen thought, word, or deed.

•Sin of Omission is a result of failing to do something required by God’s moral law.

•When we see something stealing an item, and do not want to be the person who rats out the thief, we are committing a sin of omission against the Eight Commandment.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Sins have different degrees of severity,

such as mortal and venial.•A Mortal Sin is an action contrary to the

will of God that results in complete separation from God and His grace. A result of that separation is eternal death.

•A Mortal Sin consists of:▫Involving a grave matter▫Knowing the action is evil▫Full consent is given to act in such a way

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Venial sins are less serious offenses

against God and diminishes one’s personal character and weakens, but does not rupture, our relationship with God.

•Vice is a habit that leads a person to sin; Virtue is a habit to do good.

•One vice leads to another or repetition of the same vice over and over, leading to sin.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Capital sins are seven sins that are

particularly harmful because they reinforce other vices.

•The Capital Sins are:▫Pride ▫Greed▫Envy▫Anger▫Gluttony▫Lust▫Sloth


• Christian Morality is being the person God created us to be: a person who chooses to do good.

• Acting morally allows us to:▫ Have greater self esteem▫ Form healthier

relationships▫ Form a deeper sense of

God’s love for us in our own life

• Practice makes perfect when it comes to fighting sin actions, thoughts, and deeds, since failure happens along the way; But don’t give up!

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences • Some sins infect our society and become

accepted as normal by large numbers of people in society.

• Social sins are the collective effect of many personal sins over time, which corrupts society and its institutions by creating “structures of sin.”

• Social justice is the defense of human dignity by ensuring that essential human needs are met and that essential human rights are protected, fighting against social sin.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Since all people are made in the image

and likeness of God, all people have infinite worth and dignity.

•The term “state” in Church documents refers to political authority , such as countries, kingdoms, or nations.

•Our human communities should reflect the love and life of the Holy Trinity, living with and for one another.

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •Common good is social conditions that allow

all citizens to meet basic needs and achieve fulfillment and the goal of our human communities.

•Common good addresses the needs of humans life food, clothing, education, employment, respect, etc.

•Mandating any religion as a national religion goes against the common good since God does not force us to believe in Him or not (free will).

Part 3: Sin and Its Consequences •States and governments have the

responsibility to defend and promote the common good of its citizens; it is the primary reason they exist.

•A society that practices the common good is participating in social justice.

•Racism, sexism, and ageism are all results of social sins, i.e. when multiple people judge and are paid based on race or gender.

•Social sins occur when sinful attitudes become normal.


• When numerous people commit a personal sin, i.e. an employer paying less money to female employees than male employees, and numerous companies do so, the personal sin forms into a social sin because it has become an institutional structure.

• Social sins can be fought though and overcome, like racism by Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Sin does not have the final say thanks to moral choices.

Documents

Christian Morality Section 1: Foundational Principles for Christian Morality