CCRS Question 1 Final
CCRS Question 1,500 words
In what sense can we say that human persons are made in the image of God and what does that have to do with morality?
The quick answer here is that we are made in God’s image in every sense: God created humankind in his image: in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
(Gen 1:27)
Therefore this means that we potentially all have within us our (His) moral sense. Now I haven’t been vastly original starting with this quote, as it is also in the opening passages of Catholic Anthropology by Ethna Regan. I am going to discuss more of her views later. But let me begin by stating that my learning and reading for this essay have reinforced in me the idea that our morality, our application of it in our moral life, must go hand in hand with our faith life. One cannot be a good Catholic without living under the guidance of life and as I endlessly tell my students it is impossible to do wrong if we just live by Jesus words in Mathew
1. Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
If we take these as the backbone of our faith life, and of our moral conscience we can come to know harm. Through loving God, we engage with him and create our partnership with him. We have the actual words of Jesus inour life and we can respond to difficult situations with the power of the Holy Spirit in us. This gives us the strength to say whether an action is right or wrong in the eyes of God and Man. Even tricky ones such as abortion suddenly have a clearer resolution. We love God, therefore we follow our love and his words, equally we are told to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ thus we must love the unborn life that God has created. However God hasn’t made us that
In what sense can we say that human persons are made in the image of God and what does that have to do with morality?
The quick answer here is that we are made in God’s image in every sense: God created humankind in his image: in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
(Gen 1:27)
Therefore this means that we potentially all have within us our (His) moral sense. Now I haven’t been vastly original starting with this quote, as it is also in the opening passages of Catholic Anthropology by Ethna Regan. I am going to discuss more of her views later. But let me begin by stating that my learning and reading for this essay have reinforced in me the idea that our morality, our application of it in our moral life, must go hand in hand with our faith life. One cannot be a good Catholic without living under the guidance of life and as I endlessly tell my students it is impossible to do wrong if we just live by Jesus words in Mathew
1. Matthew 22:37-40, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
If we take these as the backbone of our faith life, and of our moral conscience we can come to know harm. Through loving God, we engage with him and create our partnership with him. We have the actual words of Jesus inour life and we can respond to difficult situations with the power of the Holy Spirit in us. This gives us the strength to say whether an action is right or wrong in the eyes of God and Man. Even tricky ones such as abortion suddenly have a clearer resolution. We love God, therefore we follow our love and his words, equally we are told to ‘love thy neighbour as thyself’ thus we must love the unborn life that God has created. However God hasn’t made us that