Class notes Christian Religious Education LEVEL 4

Formfour work deals with social issues in society. We shall compare the issues in the following communities – The Traditional African Society Christian community and the contemporary one. By the end of it the student should be able to understand the meaning of life and live to it’s fullest. TOPIC ONE. INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN ETHICS Instructions. Form four work covers contemporary issues in a Christianslife. You are advised to read newspapers, listen to radio news, watch television news and current affairs and any other relevant news source. Work in twos. Give yourself topics to study and then give a presentation to your partner or colearner. Learning outcomes. Afterreading and discussing Christian ethics, you should be able to: a. Explain the meaning of Christians ethics b. Explore the basics of Christian’s ethics a. Christian ethics. The word ethics comes from a Greek term ‘Ethikos’ which means custom, or conduct. Ethics are moral principles, which influence a person’s behaviour. Ethics are defined as the systematic 2 study of human actions and behaviour. We use ethics to judge, determine and assess the right and wrong of human behaviour. Morals refer to human character, which isthe inclination to behave in oneway or another. Ethics isthe study of morals and they determine and influence personal and societal behaviour. Christian ethics isthe study of human conduct or behaviour from a Christian point of view. b. Basis of Christian ethics. Sources of Christian’s ethics: - 1. The bible, teachings of Jesus Christ 2. Human reason and experience 3. Natural law 4. The Christian community – the church 5. Situation ethics 6. Authoritative Christian literature – based on the bible 7. Godsrevelation – through prophets i. Human reason. These are internal thoughts that guide us when we are making decisions and taking actions. We use our minds and thoughts when confronted by situations. They also rely on internal thoughts in their life experiences. Internal guiding thoughts have many parts. One is our Conscience. This is our inner self that tells us and lets us know what isright and wrong. There are four types of consciences; doubtful conscience, sensitive conscience, certain conscience and perplexed conscience. For a Christian, rights and wrongs are in the Bible. God gave the Law of Moses to Israelites. Jesus came and explained the Old Testament and taught new scriptures in the New Testament. These teachings, which we have covered from Form one to three, explain very clearly what isright and wrong. When doubtful of the morality of an action, Christian consults the Bible to know if a decision isright or wrong. ii. Human Experiences: – these are internal and external guides When confronted by situations, Christians use their minds i.e. human reason and their life experiences in making decisions. They rely on internal guides, (Human reason) and experience (external guides) Internal guid 3 (i) Conscience: – Mind, aspect of knowing right or wrong. When right, there’s’ approval when wrong it registers guilt. When doubtful of the morality of an action we should not do it If conscience is perplexed then make us decision. A decision should be based on a certain conscience. Types of conscience