ACTING REPONSIBLY

In class, we considered the following:

- intrinsically evil acts: an act that is wrong in itself cannot be justified for any reason (rationalizing why it wasn't really wrong does not make it right!); it takes merciful grace to overcome the guilt of such an act.

- teleology vs. teleolologism: the Last Judgment, not contemporary opinion/expediency, is the end toward which all action must be directed

- the bondage of guilt and the freedom of forgiveness: not acknowleding one's guilt is to lie to oneself; the burden of living such a lie weighs heavily upon the one who is guilty.  Confession unburdens one of guilt by placing one's faith in the work of Christ on the cross; repentance puts one on the path of following the way of life in Christ.

- working to justify oneself vs. working out one's faith: if one senses that one has fallen short of being a good person, one may strive to do things that seem good so that one is accepted as a good person; however, no amount of doing things that seem good can make one good, because only God is good.  God has proven Himself to be willing to overlook one's human shortcomings by becoming human Himself in Christ Jesus and doing what is right in living and dying in a way pleasing to God.  God showed His pleasure by raising Jesus from the dead; this resurrection power is available to every person whose faith is firmly placed in the person and work of Christ.  One then faithfully goes on to do good in living as followers of the Way which is the focus of Christian Ethics. 

- serving others: See John 13:1-17  Teachers are responsible for teaching what is true and hold high status because of this; however, Christian teachers are called, as are all Chrstians, to hold on lightly to their own status and be always ready to lower their status in order to raise the status of others.  Such servanthood was perfectly modeled in the example Jesus set for His disciples when He washed their feet.