Good conduct and key moral principles

• Good moral conduct is important as it bring the reward of heaven and avoids being sent to hell
• The basis of good conduct is in faith of Jesus since Christians try to follow his example, Paul urges people to abandon bad conduct and put on a new moral nature which resembles Christ. For example one may be tempted to commit adultery but should resist it, speak the truth...
• Good conduct glorifies God and this can be seen by Jesus teaching 'Sermon on the mount' where he says 'let your light so shine before men, that may see your good works and give glory to the father in heaven'
• Good conduct is important as the greatest commandments are to 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart' and to 'love your neighbour' so good conduct is based on loving God and other people
• Some moral commands are seen as immoral for instance advice given to the slaves to be 'submissive to their master...give satisfaction in every respect'
• Some liberal Christians argue that Hell and Heaven are psychological concepts those who practise good conduct create God's kingdom here or earth rather than after death.
• Some Christians argue that good conduct is a matter of doing right for right's sake and not for reward.
• Paul says no human will be justified in God's law by works because 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the God' righteousness can only be given by the gift of grace which you can only received by faith, 'justifies him who has faith in Jesus'
• Paul discusses the story of Abraham and his sacrifice of his son, Abraham lived many centuries before Jesus atonement for sin so on the face of it Abraham could not have been justified by God. Paul says and that indeed he can because of the extent of his faith in God. Paul says of Abraham 'that his faith is reckoned as righteousness'
• Paul concludes that when we have complete faith in God, and rely upon God's grace rather than our own works and deeds, we have 'peace with God' so reconciliation and heaven will be our final destiny
• Martin Luther believed in 'sola fide' (faith alone) he says 'For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith' through Jesus atonement grants sinners justification Faith is passive and not active it not achieved by the humans achievements but by grace via Christ. Martin Luther went further to argue that to ignore sola fide was the preach fake gospels.
• What is the point of faith without works, in the letters of James it says "if a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them 'Go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what does he profit' faith without works is dead and useless.
• 'Even the demons believe'
• Faith can be shown by works, for instance Abraham showed his faith by his work 'Abraham our father justified by works... faith was completed by works'
• The parable of the sheep and the Goat, no where does it mention that those who are sheep like or goat like are full of faith or lacking in faith. Sheep go to heaven simply for doing good works 'I was naked and you clothed me'
• Faith and works, Catholics believe that some human effort needed to be put in place , Grace comes to the individual via the sacrament of baptism, a sacrament of faith. Faith grows after the baptism. In turn this leads to a new life in Christ, the outcome which is good works through living in the life of Christ.
• Predestination is the view that the events have been willed, it can imply morally good conduct is because God willed it, thus good moral conduct is less important than God's will.
• When is comes to predestination Paul says 'for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son' Implying God chooses people to do good moral conduct led Christ like lives only by God's choice.
• Predestination can clash with free will. If humans freely choose to reject God then hell awaits them but surely this is not a free choice if God has predestined them to do this. Why have moral responsibility if your life is already predestined. Furthermore, one may argue that the threat of 'hell' may just force someone to be good out of fear and not free will.
• Pelaguis view on predestination, it does not align with free will, God created everything good so humanity could not have had original sin. Grace was the gift of human free will, so predestination is just merely moral nonsense.
• Calvinist view on predestination, God has chosen who will be saved and who won't. Reaffirms Augustine belief but emphasises people choose to go to hell. 'some are eternally ordained to the glory, through the sheer will of God, and the rest are ordained to eternal torment'
• Augustine- people only holy because God chose you to be holy 'holiness is the result of election' God is omniscient therefore he knows who will be saved. Concept of double predestination 1, God predestines some people to go to heaven by his grace 2, he leaves other people to be immersed in their sins so go to hell via their choice.
• Problems with predestination include, why bother creating humans who will inevitably go to hell. If God is all loving why would he condone people to hell, infinite love surely cannot reconcile with infinite punishment. If God knows you will choice X at a given time then it would seem that you cannot avoid choosing this choice. Although some argue that God's omniscience is just seeing the whole of history.
• Sanctity of life means that life is sacred or holy to God, and this is based on two main texts, one 'for God make mankind in his image' and 'then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed life into his nostril the breath of life' the original Hebrew suggests that humans are the only ones with souls. The sanctity of principle holds that human life has intrinsic value.
• Sanctity of life may take two forms, strong and weak. Strong sanctity argues that all human life is sacred and that personhood begins at conception, therefore it is morally impermissible to allow contraception or euthanasia or to end life support even when the brain has no visible activity. Weak sanctity of life maintain all life is sacred but the issue at hand should be also be taken into account. For instance, abortion could be the lesser of two evils e.g. her life in danger.