Good conduct and key moral principles

• Importance of good moral conduct in the christian way of life:

  • Christians should obey the teachings of the bible which is the word of god
  • Kingdom of god is built through caring for each other
  • Christians give glory to god through the way they live
  • Good conduct will be rewarded in the afterlife
• Justification by faith:

  • to be counted by god and have a relationship with him
  • eschatological--> concerned with ultimate fate of humanity
• Justification by faith: thinking of paul

  • "i have the desire to do what is good" -paul
  • due to original sin it is impossible for humans to earn a good relationship with god so they can only be saved by gods grace
  • new realtionship with god formed
• Justification by faith: thinking of martin luther

  • sola scriptura
  • faith of the believer is passive; jusification by faith is through the atonement with jesus
  • good conduct has no saving value
• Justification by works:

  • "faith without deeds is dead"
  • faith on its own is useless, even demons believe in god
  • faith is expressed through works e.g. when abraham was willing to sacrifice his son for god
  • parable of the sheep and goats, judgement is based on humans help for or failure to help those in need
  • judgement is carried out universally
  • " only the one who does the will of my father is in heaven"
• Justification by faith and works:

  • catholic church
  • jusification is gods gift to humanity
  • through atoning death of jesus and baptism
  • holy spirit enables us to live good lives
  • justification by works is a response to gods grace
• Predestination:

  • God has decided who will be justified based on the belief that god is omnipotent and omniscient
• Predestination through teaching of paul:

  • Pauls letter to the romans implies that god has decided in advance who would be justified
  • However for paul, gods purpose cannot be known or understood by humans
  • God could just know how humans would choose to act through free will so he could know predestination in that sense
• Predestination through teaching of augustine:

  • Predestination is an act of grace, determined through human goodness and not election by god
  • God is beyond understanding for us to know why he saved and condemned others
  • God predestines people to heaven or hell based off punishment or reward from human actions
  • Pelaguis opposed augustine saying that free will is incompatible with predestination
• Predestination through teaching of calvin:

  • Double predestination= Calvinist belief that god chooses who to send to heaven or hell
  • He decided before creation
  • Due to original sin everyone deserves damnation but god choose some due to his grace.
• Evaluation of predestination:

  • Catholic church rejects calvins teaching
  • "God predestines noone to go to hell"
  • It makes god unjust
  • Contrasts with the view that god is merciful, forgiving and loving.
  • Contrasts with view of free will
• Sanctity of life:

  • human life has intrinsic value
  • every life has the same value for god
  • humans are created in the image of god in genesis
  • nepesh hayya= living soul
  • STRONG SANCTITY OF LIFE--> All humans have a right to life and shouldnt be taken away by abortion or euthanasia
  • WEAK SANCTITY OF LIFE--> Human life is sacred but there are some exceptions in some circumstances, takes into account quality of life.
• Applying the sanctity of life principle:

  1. Strong sanctity of life: catholics and protestants--> personhood begins at conception due to a genetic blueprint being produced at fertilisation
  2. at conception, there is a right to life and protection
  3. "human life must be protected and respected absolutely from conception"-catechism of the catholic church
  4. Intentions of embryo research is good however the act itself is wrong, the end doesnt justify the means as embryo doesnt give consent, disobeys bible principle to protect vulnerable, seen as murder and could develop to designer babies.
• Weak sanctity of life principle:

  • church of england and many protestants
  • the embryo is only a potential person
  • church of england teaches that embryo research is acceptable only before 14 days
  • it views abortion as a greater moral evil but it is the lesser of two evils
  • mothers life takes priority over the embryo
  • or even rape, disability on child
• Strengths of sanctity of life:

  • respect for human life
  • protection of vulnerable
  • true to jesus' teaching of agape and compassion
  • weak allows adjustments as an act of desperation
• Weakness of sanctity of life:

  • ignores modern science and that humans evolve from animals
  • devalues animals (anthropocentric view)
  • view on abortion leads to women being devalued
  • unloving and lacks compassion (strong)
• Just war theory:

  • in early stages, the church was pacifist
  • just war theory developed by augustine and aquinas
  • lus ad bellum-->conditions to make war justifiable
  • lus in bello-->the way in which war must be fought
• WOMD: weapons

  • atomic, biological and chemical
  • atomic bomb in hiroshima caused environmental damage for years and killing of innocent civilians
  • these dont fulfill the just war criteria of discrimination, proportionality and probability of success
• Christian views on application of just war theory to WOMD:

  • weapons are intrinsically evil
  • pope francis is against it
  • others believe these weapons should be minimised
  • used as deterrent
• Dominion and stewardship:

  • Dominion--> having power over the created world
  • stewardship--> care for the world, being gods agents
• Christians and dominion:

  • many christians have a anthropocentric view on the universe
  • aquinas thought that animals were irrational, had no souls and existed for the purpose of humanity
  • he opposed being cruel as that could lead to humans being cruel to each other
  • animals are property
  • " you made them rule over the works of your hands"-pslam
  • "everything that lives and moves around will be food for you"
  • humans are created in gods image
• The role of humans as being stewards:

  • humans are the guardian of creation, looking after it for god
  • we have responsibility
  • "saw and it was good" link to the environment
  • Andrew linzey saw the world as theocentric (god-centred)
• Environmental crisis:

  • burning of fossil fuels
  • lots of pollution
  • "the earth was here before us"-pope francis
  • eco-theology- relationship between religion and nature