Commandments 4 and 5

1. Commandments 4 and 5

2. Honor Your Father and Your Mother • This commandment highlights the need to obey our parents. • The traditional family unit is integral to society. It is how it flourishes and how it grows. • By children having the opportunity to grow in a family, they are formed morally, spiritually, and emotionally to become members of society.

3. The Holy Family • As a guide for our families, we should use the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. • Jesus was perfectly obedient to Mary and Joseph. • Mary and Joseph were totally loving and just towards the Child Jesus and brought Him up in the faith and in love of God.

4. Importance of the Family Unit • God created man and woman in a specific way. Each brings a certain amount of gifts and talents. These are on perfect display within the family. • It is important in the formation of the Child that they grow up with a mother and father. There are certain things that a Father can’t give a child that the Mother can and vice-versa. • The traditional family unit is scientifically and psychologically proven to be better for children.

5. Duties of the Parents • Parents are bound by this commandment to raise their children according to the law of God. • St. Paul tells us how that should be: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

6. The Three Duties • Fairness, Understanding, and Justice- As parents we are called to guide our children in justice. Not provoking them and treating them with respect. • Discipline- It is important for a parent to discipline the child if the child needs it. This should be within the bounds of justice but should always seek to bring about an attitude of reform. • Instruction in the Catholic Faith- Parents have a duty to pass on the faith and are in violation of this commandment if they decide not to. The well-being of the souls of the child is paramount.

7. Duties of the Child • Honor and respect for the parents • Obeying the parents in all things except immorality • This is independent of character flaws • Parents are always due our respect even if we cannot condone their wrongdoing

8. Duties of Citizens • This commandment also binds citizens to obedience. • We are bound to obey the laws of our country and state as long as they are just. • This leads to a better society. • All authority is given by God and must therefore be obeyed.

9. Duties of the State • The nature of civil authority is service. If the government is not serving us, it is not doing its job. • The Principle of Subsidiarity is the guiding principle in authority. • It says that a higher authority must not interfere with a lower authority without necessity. • This means that the state should not interfere with a family.

10. Principle of Subsidiary • It is first and foremost the right and duty of the parent to raise the child. • It is not for the state to interfere with the rights of the parent. • Unless there are grave reasons necessitating it, the state must stay out of raising the child.

11. Essential Questions • Explain why discipline is necessary in the upbringing of Children. In what ways might God discipline us? • What benefits does the unity of parents give to their children? • List the obligations that parents have toward their children.

12. 5th Commandment- You Shall Not Kill • This commandment forbids the taking of life. • God alone has ultimate dominion over man, we do not have the authority to take a life. • We are bound to respect life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.

13. The Sacredness of Life • God has given each of us the gift of life. This gift must be respected in every form. • The sacredness of life has been attacked in recent times. Along with the age old sin of murder, euthanasia and abortion are on the rise. • All human life must be protected. This requires an unconditional live for all people.

14. Human Dignity • Each person is created in the image and likeness of God. This gives them an inherent dignity. • If we don’t see the dignity of all people, we will begin to see others as expendable. • This type of thinking has crept into modern day thinking.

15. Sins against the Dignity of Man • Scandal- Leading another to sin. This can be either in a personal matter by formal cooperation or it can be in passing laws that allow people to sin. • Humiliation- To intentionally humiliate someone kills both their reputation as well as the respect and love we should have for one another. • Gossip- Telling another person’s business to those who don’t need to know. This can be either true or false.

16. Respect for our Own Lives • This commandment binds us to love and respect ourselves. • We are bound to take care of ourselves and to treat our bodies as the Temple of the Holy Spirit and to care for our soul with an eye towards judgment. • We do not have the final authority over ourselves. Ultimately, we belong to God.

17. Sins Against Ourselves • Suicide- The intentional taking of one’s own life. We do not belong to ourselves, but to God. Suicide is a grave sin that violates the authority that God has over our lives. • While suicide is a mortal sin, we cannot put a blanket over all suicides and say they all go to hell. • Mental instabilities are very common in suicides. This would reduce the culpability. Emotional, psychological, and spiritual damage can all contribute to suicidal thoughts.

18. Sins against Self • Self Harm- Any form of mutilation is going to violate this commandment. Cutting, burning, restriction of blood flow, etc. are all serious violations of our self worth. • Many times this comes with psychological issues. This would lessen the culpability.

19. Sins against Self • Cult of the Body- The disfiguring or mutilation of the body for vanity’s sake. Depriving yourself from food, inordinate piercings and tattoos, unnecessary plastic surgery. Obsession with exercise. • This sin reduces us to our bodily image and starts to destroy the recognition of ourselves as the image of God.

20. Sins against Self • Gluttony- Consuming in excess past the point of need. This can be anything but is most commonly associated with eating. We must temper ourselves so as to not overeat and become unhealthy. • Substance Abuse- Drugs, overconsumption of alcohol, anything that inhibits our ability to use rational thought. These are sinful because they keep us from making moral judgments as well as hurt the body in many cases.

21. Respect for the Life of Others • These are the most common sins against the fifth commandment. • These are all grave offenses against the dignity of the person. • We are bound by this commandment to love others unconditionally, these sins will be an offense to love.

22. Sins against Others • Murder- This is the intentional taking of another person’s life. This is a grave violation of the dignity of man as well as the authority of God. With this sin, we disregard the dignity of the person and take their life without the authority to do so. • All life is sacred and we have no right to take another person’s life from them.

23. Sins against Others • Violence- To cause violence against another person in any other manner but self defense is an offense against this commandment. Hurting another person out of anger, revenge, or entertainment reduces them to an object that you can abuse. • Hatred- Hatred is totally against the Christian mind set. While we are called to love, hatred desires the absolute worst for other people. It contradicts the very words of Christ. It does not matter who the person is, we are called to love them.

24. Sins against Others • Racism- Stemming from hatred is the specific hatred of someone because of the race they are. We are created equal by God. Any unfair advantages or persecution that is levied against another because of their race violates this commandment. • Omission of Service- Failing to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the imprisoned, free the captive, and instruct the ignorant. These are integral to the life of the Christian. What we do for the least among us, we do for Christ.

25. Essential Questions • When does life begin? What implications does this have for the unborn Child? • What are the three classifications of Abortions? • What is IVF, and what moral questions are raised by its usage?

26. Abortion • Abortion is the intentional killing of a child in the womb. • This is a grave offense against the human person because we are both killing a person but even more, we are killing the most innocent and defenseless among us. • At all times, this is morally wrong and is the killing of a Child.

28. The Human Person • The Human Person is composed of body and soul. All humans have them. It is impossible for a body to live without a soul. • The soul is the faculty by which the body moves. A body cannot grow without a soul. • From the moment of conception, the fertilized egg is growing. This denotes that there is a soul that has been placed there by God. • This soul, which comes at the moment of creation, makes the fertilized egg a person.

29. Human Development • Advocates for abortion try to use the argument that the zygote is not a person because it is not developed. • The reality though, is the zygote, fetus, etc. are just moments in time in the development of a person. Just as infant, child, teenager and adult are moments in development. • Each person is continually developing throughout their life. To say that one point of development makes you a person while before hand they had no personhood, is absurd.

30. Before Humanity? • The question begs then, if the child is not a human before a certain point, what was it before? Animal? Mineral? Plant? • Nothing in creation changes what it is. If it is a cat, then it is always a cat. The cat will never change into something else. How then can something turn into a human at a certain point?

31. In Vitro Fertilization • IVF is the artificial creation of a child, independent of the marital act. • This process fertilizes numerous eggs and implants only one. The rest are kept frozen or discarded. People are thrown away. • Anytime the creation of children happens outside of the Marital Act, there is a grave sin.

32. Euthanasia • This is the killing of someone because they are deemed to not be contributing to society. They are thought to have a lower quality of life and are therefore deemed killable. • Assisted Suicide is different in that the person chooses it for themselves. They are in pain and ask to be killed. • Both are grave sins against the dignity of human life.

33. Just War • There are legitimate times where a war can be seen as just. • It must fulfill five criteria and cannot violate even one of them. • Just War is founded upon the right to defend ourselves against an attacker. At all times, the life of the innocent must be protected.

34. Criteria for Just War • Self Defense- The nation must be defending themselves. The perceived attack must be lasting, grave, and certain. • Last Resort- There is no other alternative than to go to war. All avenues of peace have been shown to fail. • Certainty of Success- It must be reasonably known that it is likely to succeed. To go to war knowing that a loss will occur is a waste of innocent lives. • Proportionality- Any attack on an aggressor must not exceed that which was done to us. • Non Combatants- It is absolutely immoral to attack civilians in any circumstance. Even if the above are fulfilled, if this is violated there is no longer a just war.

35. Capital Punishment • Genesis 9:6 gives man the authority to put someone to death if they have shed blood themselves. • This allowance was given to man in God’s justice. • However, just because something is allowed, doesn’t mean it necessarily must be done.

36. John Paul II • JPII said that while capital punishment can be allowed it should only be done in instances when the public cannot reasonably be kept safe from someone. • With the ability to put someone in jail for life, these times are practically nonexistent.