Religion IV

1. Religion IV November 20, 2013

2. Conditions that Lessen Guilt… • “Violence is an external force applied by one person on another to compel that person to perform an action against his or her will.” • “Fear is a disturbance of mind resulting from some present or imminent danger.” • “Concupiscence is the rebellion of passions [emotions] against reason.” It is the tendency of human nature toward evil.

3. Conditions that Lessen Guilt… • Ignorance is lack of knowledge in a person capable of possessing such knowledge.There are two types of ignorance: • - Vincible Ignorance is that which can and should be dispelled. For example, if someone thinks it might be wrong not to eat meat on Fridays in Lent, but purposely never asks a priest or a friend about it, then he still commits sin if he eats meat on those days. • - Invincible Ignorance is that which cannot be dispelled. In other words, someone is ignorant of his own ignorance.

4. Conditions that Lessen Guilt… “We can sum up by saying that invincible ignorance eliminates the moral responsibility for a human act; vincible ignorance does not eliminate moral responsibility, but may lessen it.”

5. Lax vs. informed • A lax conscience is when a person does not use their conscience in decision making, thereby not thinking about the morality of his or her actions. • An informed conscience is educated and developed through constant use and examination

6. Divisions of Conscience… Certain vs. Doubtful • Certain: one which dictates a course of action in clear terms without fear of error True (correct) vs. Erroneous • True (correct): one which indicates correctly the goodness or badness of a moral conduct • Doubtful: one which leaves a person undecided as to the proper course of action • Erroneous: one which falsely indicates that a good action is evil, or an evil action is good **We must always follow a certain conscience! A person with a false conscience may/may not be guilty of an evil act depending on whether his ignorance was vincible or invincible. Did he try to know the truth and yet remained in error?- invincible; he is innocent. OR Was he negligent in seeking the truth or tried NOT to seek the truth?- vincible; not innocent Lax vs. Scrupulous • Lax: forms moral judgments on insufficient grounds; may be persuaded that great sins are permissible • Scrupulous: when someone sees evil wherethere is none

7. When our conscience is honestly and correctly formed, we MUST follow it in every circumstance! But, in order to follow our conscience, we must always seek to FORM our conscience… Steps to help our conscience grow and be attuned to God’s will. 1. Find the facts. 2. Examine your motives. 3. Think of the possible effects. 4. Consider alternatives. 5. What does the law have to say? 6. What is the reasonable thing to do?

8. 7. What does your own experience and that of other people say about the issue? • 8. What would Jesus have done? • 9. What is the teaching of the Church? • 10. Pray for guidance. • 11. Admit that you sometimes sin and might be wrong. • 12. After all of this, follow your conscience. “Everyone who knows what is the right thing to do and does not do it commits a sin.” James 4:17

9. Our goal is an informed conscience, educated and developed through constant use and examination