SPX Theology : Ch. 8 Respect for Life (Courtney)

Freedom is not for against, freedom for choosing love and God
God is always love
God gave us freedom and cares what we do with it
If we don't use freedom correctly, we have perverted it.
Suffering is important and has meaning
If we do avoid suffering, then what we have done is reduce the physical to the organs
Body is not immortal, but eternal.
Body will return to us and perfected and glorified and incorruptible after the Resurrection of the Body.
Life is always a GOOD, which is why it is at the hierarchy of truth
Human beings have the use of reason and will: (reason+ will=freedom)
People are evidence that God is.
We demonstrate part of his glory
Reason and will and the capacity of love is what we mirror God in
Commandments exist because they are never detached from his love and is always meant for joy and growth.
Commandments help humans their freedom to flourish
Death Penalty: only in the most extreme circumstances.

Notes: 1/17/17

The Ten Commandments:

I am the Lord Your God; you shall have no gods before Me.
You shall not "misuse" the name of God.
Keep Holy the Sabbath
Honor Your Father and Mother
You shall not Kill
You shall not Commit Adultery
You shall not steal
You shall not bear false witness
You shall not covet your neighbor's goods
You shall not covet your neighbor's spouse.

Order is not given as random. SPECIFIC ORDER OF IMPORTANCE
First three: deal relationship with God, ultimate source of life
Last seven: deal relationship with others, reminds us to honor all our human relationships, since we get our daily life from them.

First three: Orthodoxy: right praise
Last seven: Orthopraxis: right behavior and conduct
orthodoxy orders and governs orthopraxis
If we get our praise right, everything will fall into place, especially our relationship with fourth commandment.
Also known as Decalogue

The Three Critical Relationships:

Based on inherent dignity

We are to respect all of our authority

All of the ten commandments were given in the desert when the Jewish had been slaved for four hundred years

Proper understanding:

Originally intended to remind adult children to care for aging parents
Promotes family values
Asks that the government guarantee basic rights to ensure that families prosper.
Basic Unit of Society:

Learn values/virtues
How to live in community
Education
Parents: first and primary educators: basic unit of society
Domestic Church: mirrors the Holy Trinity, dates back to the tenth century,
Mirrors the Holy Trinity: In God's very self, there is one, but there is a family. Because love by its very nature, goes outward, opposite of love is indifference and sin.
God explodes love
Love to be perfected pours forth from the two, into a third one
The two don’t have to love each other, but rather their love pours fourth and outward reach

5 things of the two categories:

1-3: orthodoxy: right praise, governs our life with God
4-10 orthopraxis, governs out relationship with others
Real title: The Decalogue

Orthodoxy govern orthopraxis

Notes: 1/19/17

If we get the fourth commandment right, everything will fall into place
We need the first and fourth commandment
Honor your father has implicit to obey all proper authority, we wouldn’t be able to break it.
The two don’t have to love each other, but rather their love pours fourth and outward reach
Honoring doesn’t mean literally and is extended to the Church and generations
Children owe parents: respect and is the duty, whether they are right or not. RESPECT AND OBEDIENCE
What, in turn, do parents own children: education, the basic things that you need for survival, such as food, shelter, clothing, and education,
In education, which leads the child to God.

Notes: 1/20/17

5th commandment: You shall not kill
Should be called you should not murder
Murder is the taking of life, unjust,
Killing can be regrettable but just
"Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end." (CCC)
GOD IS THE SOLE END

Murder, abortion, suicide, euthanasia, unjust warfare are all assaults on human existence. (culture of death)
Other offenses against 5th commandment: if we engage in trying to squash someone's spirit, then we are offending against 5th commandment
The lowest thing on the spectrum of fifth commandment: gossip
All just action can be attributed to the positive that relates to the 10 commandments
Bullying: clearly against the 5th commandment
Murder: maliciously (or with criminal intent) taking human life
Killing: righteous/justified taking of human life
Incorrect translation of the commandment:
Self defense: does not fall under the definition of "murder" and is not considered to be a free choice
Self defense: forced by the aggressor, where you have no choice, true in war and home
We should use the less deadly force to stop the person, sometimes we have to take the life.
Capital punishment: "If bloodless means are sufficient to defend human lives against an aggressor and to protect the public order and the safety of person, public authority should limit itself to such means, because they better correspond to the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person." - JPII

1/23/17

Is Capital Punishment Just?

Sometimes, but rarely
When it is just: It is when they are a current threat to society
Torture: not just
We must seek right counsel
Sometimes just, always regrettable
No matter how bad the person has done, it is never just to take the life of a human being

What about "common criminals"?

In A "modern society" the use of capital punishment should be "practically non-existent."
Fallible justice system
Racial and ethnic disproportion

If you are a young black man and you commit a murder, you are much more likely to get the death penalty, statistically speaking, as compared to the white man.
There is big prejudice that fills the sentencing

Appeals cost more than imprisonment
Returns to the "eye for an eye" concept that Jesus overturned (Lex alionis, Law of Retaliation)

It was actually okay because of the time during Ancient Israel it was common to punish people disproportionately
Lex talionis was put in place to limit what could be done
Society has progressed further morally
Creating a proportion, but no longer needing

What is the true meaning of the word discipline?

Discipline has at its root the word disciple: meaning to follow the way of the Master.

Rejoicing in the loss of life is NEVER acceptable

Notes: 1/24/17

Church always promotes a peaceful settlement of disputes
Even in war, the moral laws apply
Noncombatants, wounded soldiers and prisoners deserve respect and humane treatment.

Cant be tortured, starved, poor conditions

Torture and mass extermination are condemned

Gas laws, poisons, biological warfare

Terrorism in never justifiable.
Terrorism is the use of deadly force against civilian population for the purpose of inducing fear or panic, as a means of undeclared warfare or to achieve political ends.
TOTAL condemnation of nuclear weapons. Reason: widespread and long-term effects of massive radiation
We think of terrorism now as extremist Islam

Just War Doctrine:

Said by St. Augustine

There must be a real, lasting, grave, and certain damage inflicted by an aggressor

Cant be just a threat, if it’s a credible threat and if the threat can be substantiated, then it can also put us on rocky footing.
Ends must not justify means

War must be a LAST resort

Restrictions against trade and political dealings and supports
Withdraw military support, all except human support
Sometimes sanctions are just, least successful dictated by a dictatorship.

The rights defended must be fundamental.
War is conducted with the hope of peace, nor for the purpose of eliminating the enemy. Therefore, we must use strategies that will allow life to endure after war.
Only proper authorities can declare war.
Chances of success must be real.
The damage must be proportionate to the outcome expected.

Notes: 1/26/17

Euthanasia and Suicide:

Assisted suicide:

"mercy killing" (a misnomer)

"Death with dignity" a label for laws allowing physician assisted suicide (a label) which exemplifies successful branding designed to form/sway public opinion)

Medical ethics:

Extraordinary means: can be ethically removed, (not necessary)
Food and water= necessary
Ordinary means: cannot be removed from someone in an ethical way

Assisted suicide is a grave sin.
Suffering is a part of life.
Redemptive value of suffering.

Nazi Propaganda:

"Life…..without hope.."
"Life….as a burden."

Important distinctions:

Ordinary care:
Extra-ordinary care:
Terri Schiavo's case

Euthanasia and Suicide

Concerning Euthanasia…"what might seem logical and human, when looked at more closely to seen to be senseless and inhumane. Here we are faced with one of the more alarming symptoms of "the culture of death," which is advancing above all in prosperous societies, marked by an attitude of excessive preoccupation with efficiency and which sees the growing number of elderly and disabled people as intolerable and burdensome…

… a hopelessly impaired life no longer has any value" (Evangelium Vitae, 64).

If people are not productive anymore, they are considered an intolerable burden.
Suicide is a grave sin, but it is not a place people being sent to hell.

Suicide:

Freedom is not for against, freedom for choosing love and God
God is always love
God gave us freedom and cares what we do with it
If we don't use freedom correctly, we have perverted it.
Suffering is important and has meaning
If we do avoid suffering, then what we have done is reduce the physical to the organs
Body is not immortal, but eternal.
Body will return to us and perfected and glorified and incorruptible after the Resurrection of the Body.
Life is always a GOOD, which is why it is at the hierarchy of truth
Human beings have the use of reason and will: (reason+ will=freedom)
People are evidence that God is.
We demonstrate part of his glory
Reason and will and the capacity of love is what we mirror God in
Commandments exist because they are never detached from his love and is always meant for joy and growth.
Commandments help humans their freedom to flourish
Death Penalty: only in the most extreme circumstances.