Dancer 41 Offline

Morality of Individual Pt 1

The Morality of the Individual, pt 1

Thank you for coming here tonight.

In a previous discussion, I defined what morality is and used biblical examples to prove is validity for Jewish and Christian faiths.

With this established, I am going to use it as a platform for several discussions concerning how this can be used in a practical manner in our everyday lives.

I will eventually cover three types of morality: the Morality of the Individual, the Morality of Society and the Morality of Destination.

For this study, as well as for several more, I will focus on the Morality of the Individual.

So, just what is the Morality of the Individual?

By using the definition I presented earlier and limiting its focus to oneself, we get "of using fundamental source(s) of good or bad in regards to oneself in one's choices for action or inaction".

Morality of the Individual applies to one's own life. It encompasses one's soul and one's body.

So, what fundamental sources will impact the morality of self?

As Jews and Christians, the Bible and the religious traditions of our particular brand of faith is prominent and considered the most important fundamental source, or the ultimate (as in original) fundamental source.

People from other religions will likewise have a fundamental source with regards to their views on spirituality.

Other key fundamental sources include, but is not limited to, parents, teachers, peer groups, local laws and customs and, for the last few hundred years, social media.

In the end, we ultimately take all this information and form a core of fundamental beliefs that is unique to each of us.

While there are lots of fundamental sources, I will be focusing on the biblical ones here.

Government is interested on the good of the people, not so much the individual. Cultural influences likewise tend to address groups of people over the individual. These will be dealt with in a later study.

Sadly, way too few people have strong families they can look towards for strong moral values, and the education system is increasing being controlled by political expediency.

Religious institutions, therefore, may be the only stable institution many people have to learn values from.

It is not my intent to promote a specific religion or denomination, but as this is a Christian room, I will look to the bible for discussing the fundamental spiritual source as it applies to the individual.

Even so, the bible is so full of lessons on the Morality of the Individual that I can only hit a few highlights.

I will start with Deuteronomy Chp 6 v 5, where we are famously told to love God with all our hearts. We also see in Leviticus Chp 19, v 18 that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.

These two principles are united by Jesus in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew Chp 22 v 39, Mark Chp 12 v 29-31 and Luke Chp 10 v 27).

There is indication in Luke's gospel that this was already known to the learned, as it was the scholar, and not Jesus, who combined them. Mark's gospel hints, but does not confirm, that this was indeed the case.

If this supposition is true, then we do not have a new teaching, but rather a justification of man's earlier interpretation of these laws.

Another key foundation is the Decalogue, also known as the 10 commandments (Exodus Chp 20 and Deuteronomy Chp 5 v 6-21).

The "Greatest Commandment" and the 10 commandments are all directed towards an individual's behavior.

If your bible is cross referenced, like mine, you can see how these commandments were the basis for other biblical law.

The Morality of Society and Destination, which will be discussed later, is clearly rooted in the Morality of the Individual.

Now that the definition of Morality of the Individual has been made and its fundamental sources identified, I want to point out that there are practical applications to be considered.

Having knowledge is one thing, but being able to use it in everyday life is often difficult. We inevitably find that what seemed so clear in the class room is not so clear in reality.

To help with the transition, we have various devices at our disposal.

While I do not wish to impress my personal faith on others, I do want to note that Catholics believe that the scripture the devil hates the most is found in Matthew Chp 5 v 29-30.

Here, Jesus tells us to simply avoid temptation.

If we know in advance that going someplace, doing something or meeting someone is going to tempt us, then it is virtuous for us to avoid that action and sinful to embrace it.

Another such tool is the parable.

They are entertaining, easy to remember and are direct to the point.

Jesus gave us no less than 31 of them in the synoptic gospels, and I see no reason not to follow His example.

As a personal standard, I do not consider myself to have mastered a moral concept unless I can create a believable parable of it.

The last tool I will speak of here are the virtues and sins, with virtues corresponding to "good" behavior with respect to God and sins being "bad".

In Galatians Chp 5 v 19-21 St. Paul speaks of works of the flesh and in v 22-23 he speaks of the Gifts of the Fruit.

St. Paul gives us a fairly extensive list of behaviors and how God would see them.

The most famous list does not come from the bible, but from Christian governor Aurelius Clemens Prudentius in his epic poem Psychomachia (Contest of the Soul) in early 5th Century AD and endorsed by Pope Gregory in 590 AD.

The Seven Deadly Sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride) are each counted by the Seven Virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility).

Of course there are many more sins and virtues to be found specifically in the bible and in Christian tradition.

By reflecting on the sins and virtues and how they apply to our everyday lives, we can mentally prepare ourselves for the decisions we may have to make in our lives.

Another benefit from the lists of sins and virtues is that we can measure how we have grown in our faith in God.

If we find the virtues are getting stronger, then we should feel secure in believing we are getting closer to God.

If honest reflection shows the sins are growing, then we should admit we are pulling away from God and make an effort to reverse the process.

I have now given the definition of the Morality of the Individual, identified the fundamental sources (or principles) that can be used to shape it and what Christians believe is God's principle to make choices by.

I have also given a short list of tools we can use to measure our morality by.

I will address some specific issues and their practical applications to the Morality of the Individual in the next few studies and then move onto the Morality of Society and then Morality of Destination.

Any questions?