INTRO TO MORAL THEOLOGY

Introduction to Moral Theology.

A.         General Exposition:

            Human life is the most precious and most wonderful gift of God to a human person. Human life is designed for co-existence since a human person is essentially co-existing and open to others, to the community, and to the world around him. This openness makes him capable of influencing others, and also being influenced by others. For this reason, a human person cannot help but manifest his inner experiences externally to the people around him and to the community to which he or she belongs. There are two closely related ways of expressing the inner experiences inside him or her; first, through the use of language or by expressing it out through human acts.

            Moral theology is a course dealing with human acts leading a human person progressively towards the goal determined by reason enlightened by faith.  It is the study of a human person’s lifetime journey back to God. Moral theology is inseparably linked to divine revelation since the path or the way of the journey, as well as, every human person’s ultimate destiny is known by God Who in turn reveals it to every human person. Since Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation then His person is the model and guide of all moral actions. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (Jn. 14: 6).” It is in this sense that moral theology could also be considered in its fullness as Christian Morality. It would deal on human conduct based on the person of Christ and his great commandment of Love of God and love of neighbor.

            Human reason alone unaided by faith in divine revelation is not sufficient in itself as guide for human conduct. It needs the aid of divine revelation, since reason and faith compliment each other. Genuine morality is designed to be linked with our basic understanding of God as the ground of reasonableness and as the ultimate source of human existence. Such basic understanding of God Who is the Supreme Lawgiver, could only be possible through faith, hence we have come up with a study of Moral theology, and integral part of the entries theological course.

B.         General Definition of Moral Theology:

            Moral theology or otherwise known as Christian Ethics is that part of theology which studies the guidelines a human person ought to follow in order to attain his or her final goal (Perfection, Happiness, Nirvana, Brahman, Redemption, Liberation, Enlightenment, Heaven, Communism, or Salvation) in the light of Christian faith and of reason.

            Moral Theology, in other words, is part of Theology which deals more in making clear how faith should shape and guide Christian life, both the lives of individual Christians and the life of the community of believers which is the Church. We study revelation in moral theology to find its practical meaning for our lives; from faith we seek guidance for practical thinking, choices, and commitments.

            The most basic part of moral theology is the study of Christian moral principles. However, they are not only the standards by which we distinguish right from wrong. The central mysteries of faith - The Trinity, Incarnation, and our adoption as children of God - are also normative, as indeed the whole of revealed truth is. To say revelation is “normative” means that it has practical implications. Invited by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to intimate communion, we are to live our lives worthy of his calling, and the only style of life worthy of God is that which is exemplified and taught by Jesus. In clarifying this way of life , the study of Christian moral principles makes clear the practical relevance of the whole Christian faith.

            In other words, Moral theology for Christians is likewise defined as the response of every human person, which is faith to God’s call, which is revelation. This divine revelation reaches its fullness through Jesus the Christ, the Son of God who became one like us except sins. By following Jesus’ deeds and words, thus, each human person becomes like him. As Jesus invites each one to be perfect as his heavenly Father is perfect. For, whoever sees him has seen the Father in heaven. So, he says, come follow me and there is no turning back.

C.         Moral Theology as Christian Morality:

            Moral Theology has its basis on the encounter between God and The human beings. God reveals himself to the human beings, and the human beings respond freely to his revelation. This event can be distinguished into two different levels, the natural and supernatural.

1.         In the natural level, God reveals himself to human beings through his creation.

The human person is related to God his or her creator. But the relationship between the two is not a relationship between equal partners. God is greater than the transient human person.

Because of this inequality, the human person is unable to reach directly God. The human mind cannot grasp fully the immensity of God’s intellectual power. Thus, God is always an absolute mystery to human mind in the natural level.

Humans, however, could perceive God as the Creator of all that are tangibles to the naked eyes, his wonderful creation. “Ever since God created the universe, His invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen. Man can perceive them in the things that God has made (Romans 1: 19 - 20).” In other words, all human beings are able to perceive God through his creation.

On the other hand, a human person’s response to God’s call in the natural level is his or her recognition and promotion of the created value, in the faithful fulfillment of the task assigned to him in this world, and in obedience to the moral command. In short, to answer his call in willing obedience and responsibility.

On the contrary, human beings take things for granted. They continue to live their life in this world as if everything they see around them exists because they deserve them. They use and sometimes abuse nature and other created things as if they were the owners. They do not realize or ask themselves about God who is the giver and the Creator of everything on earth. But if something unpleasant happens to them, that’s the time they remember God. What worse is, they will turn to him and even blame him unfairly. God is often, if not always, forgotten.

2.         God’s revelation to all human beings in the supernatural or religious level.

God is free Spirit who freely initiates an invitation to all human beings to participate in his being in a very special manner based on love-relationship. This relationship is infinitely higher and more intimate than the Creator-creature relationship. In this new level of dialogue based on intimacy of friendship, a deeper relationship is established whereby God touches the inner consciousness including man’s inner faculties resulting in the creative transformation of the whole man. In such transformation, the whole man is raised up to a new level of consciousness, which surpasses his natural capabilities. Man is supernaturalized or divinized through God’s grace.

God on the other hand, if he desires to love us and to be loved in return, has to love us in our terms otherwise we would not be able to recognize it as love. When man is ready God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ in order to make possible the establishment of love-relationship. This kind of relationship must have these two following characteristics: (1) it must be free, and (2) it must be a relationship between two partners who are in some way equal. This is because freedom and equality are essential characteristics of love as we know it.

In the person of Jesus Christ man could freely accept him or reject him with the corresponding responsibility of losing the true meaning of life. It is only through Christ, in Christ, and with Christ that the most intimate love-relationship with God becomes possible. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me (John 14: 6).”

Through God’s grace man is transformed and raised up into the supernatural or religious level, and God on the other hand became man in the person of Jesus Christ, where God and man should meet. The person of Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s revelation, and it is through our faith in him that man’s true identity and dignity are known.

3.         The mutual relationship between the natural and supernatural level of revelation.

Natural and supernatural revelations are not exclusively sealed from one another. They compliment each other since God is the author of both nature and supernature, and He could not contradict Himself. The natural is ordained for the supernatural, and the supernatural has its basis in the natural.

4.         Christian Morality as the focal point of Moral Theology.

Morality is the quality of character, the rightness or wrongness of human activity and conduct. The norm of Christian morality is the relation of man’s actions to God’s will. Morally good are those actions that are in conformity with God’s will. Only man among all other creatures is given the ability to distinguish between good and evil and to choose freely whatever side he wishes to take.

Man is gifted with the power of intelligence and capacity to love. Man has power over the material universe because he is given the power to know and understand things. He shares in the light of the divine. The rational nature of the human person is perfected by wisdom and knowledge. For wisdom gently attracts man’s mind to desire and love, that which is understood as true and good.

Man has a sense of what is right and wrong in his innermost self. It moves him to do what is right and warns him to avoid what is wrong. This inner knowledge is God’s voice speaking through man’s conscience. Man’s conscience is a gift from God, it is the duty of every human being to develop and properly inform such gift in order to remain fully attuned to god’s will.

A true human act always involves knowledge and free will. True human acts do not happen be mere chance. They are the result of a deliberate decision of man himself. Morality is concerned exactly with these acts of man. It tells us how they ought to be and then judges them as right or wrong.

Christian morality is guided by Christ’s great commandment of love, and the person of Christ is the model of all-moral decision and actions. It helps man develop his ability to respond to god in love and to express such love in service to one’s fellowmen.

The general principles of Christian morality is very simple; namely, do good and avoid evil. However, the practical application of this principle in the different situations in life is not always that simple.