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Religion: Moral Decision Making - Conscience - Coggle Diagram
Religion: Moral Decision Making - Conscience
Catholic concept of Conscience
Catholic Definition of Conscience
'Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of a man. There he is alone with God, whose voice echoes in his depths' (CCC 1776)
'Conscience' comes from the Latin conscientia literally meaning, 'with knowledge' (CFM 2009)
Secular and Catholic view of conscience
Differences:
Catholic View
Most inner core and sanctuary of a person
Hear God's 'voice'
Stirred within to make a good moral choice based on moral principles and natural law
Secular View
Angel and devil informs you of right and wrong choices
Voice inside your head telling you the right choice
Based on what one thinks is right and wrong
Good moral decisions are choices made from one's conscience, based on:
Moral Principles
Moral principles are used for evaluating whether a thought, word or action is right or wrong.
Human beings should strive to behave in loving ways and avoid doing wrong, treat all humans with respect, treat all human life as sacred.
Natural Law
Natural law refers to the laws natural to people, that is, laws in harmony with the nature of each person. It applies to all people and values love, goodness and justice
Natural law must never change
Natural law is based on moral principles
Natural law is not always easy for people to see.
Natural laws are derived from moral principles
e.g 1. Life is sacred (MP) therefore, no murder is allowed (NL)
e.g. 2 Humans should be treated fairly (MP), therefore, not racism is allowed (NL)
AIC
3 elements of any moral decision
All 3 must be good for the decision to be morally good
Intention
For Judgement to be morally good, the person's intention must be right as well
Intention refers to the motivation or reason behind an action
Action
Actions that obey God's laws are morally good and actions that disobey God's law are morally bad
We have the help of the 10 Commandments and the life and teachings of Jesus to follow
Circumstance
An action can be morally right in itself, but it would be wrong in some circumstances
The circumstances include consequences
If a person does something that is morally acceptable in itself, and the consequences of the action age against the laws of God, it would be morally wrong.
It is morally acceptable for an adult to have a glass of wine. However a person drives whilst knowing that they have had a number of glasses of wine and may be over the limit. then action is morally wrong.
Consequence: drinking and driving is putting yourself and others in danger.
4 principles of Conscience
1st principle: everyone is obliged to form their conscience
2nd principle: everyone is obliged to follow sincere conscience
3rd principle: conscience does not decide right or wrong
4th principle: a good end does not justify immoral means.
People usually have good intentions when faced with choices that require a moral judgement.
Few people ever set out to do something that will deliberately harm others.
Every case that requires a moral judgement, a person needs to consider the good end and the means or the way people go about achieving the good end.
Consequences of every decision, just because the situation benefits you does not mean it's a good deicison.
Only God, the Creator ultimately knows and determines what is right and what is wrong.
Role of moral conscience: Discern whether a particular action follows God's law = right or disobey's God's law = wrong.
Right and wrong = not determined by conscience
Individual's conscience's role: answer questions:
Which moral principles apply to this situation?
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No human person has the right to disobey God. Nor does anyone have the right to tell others that they may disobey God.
Ask questions: 'Which moral principles apply to this situation?' , 'How do they apply?', 'What should I do?'. Answering these can steer us in the right direction.
God created human beings to do good, and to always do what is right
Therefore people are obliged by the Creator to obey what their conscience tells them is the right thing to do.
Society does not always accept 'conscience' as suitable grounds for a person to deliberately violate the laws of the community.
Conscience can be mistaken. For many reasons people can make mistakes about what is right and what is wrong. They may be misinformed, lack good moral education or be pressured by circumstances. They may be unduly influenced by others by bad habits.
People are obliged to do all they can to 'form' their conscience.
They are obliged to avoid as far as possible, situations in which their emotions are likely to cloud their better judgement and their conscience.
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Always choose what is right even though it may seem hard or wrong to do - listen to conscience in order to prevent negative consequences.
Everyone is obliged to form or mould their conscience by discipline, training and instruction.
Everyone must learn to distinguish between right and wrong
1st step in development of any human gift: to learn and use necessary skills
Skill to develop a moral conscience: ability to learn right from wrong.
1st requirement for the formation of moral conscience: learn the commandments of God as taught by Jesus.
It can be difficult to obey moral conscience in practical daily life situations due to various pressures.
People need to keep trying to become more aware of when such pressures are affecting them. They need to withdraw and take time out. They need to think before they act.
how to follow: Pay attention to their emotions to make a right decision. Be aware of the circumstances and use moral principles to guide them.
Holy Spirit Guides Conscience
Through Holy Spirit strengthens against temptation
Through the Magisterium
The Pope and Bishops together form the Magisterium.
The body that officially teachers and leads in Jesus' name
Apostolic Succession: The bishops receive the same spiritual gifts as first Apostles
Provides stability in changing times and ensures the teaching are taught consistently
the deposit of faith handed down is preserved and not subject to relativism.
Holy Spirit strengthened Jesus' followers and strengthens modern people to:
resist social trends and peer pressure
resist different cultural beliefs and attitudes that would challenge conscience
temptations to sin are weakened as Holy Spirit strengthens and guides conscience.