Transcript YourLifeinChrist PowerPoint Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE
Conscience Formation
With and Without Conscience
Conscience
A practical judgment of reason
that helps a person decide the
goodness or sinfulness of an
action or attitude. It is the
subjective norm of morality that
we must form properly and then
follow
Definition of Conscience
What Conscience Is Not:
Conscience as majority opinion.
Conscience as a feeling.
Conscience as a superego.
Conscience as gut-instinct.
Conscience as “Jiminy Cricket.”
Conscience as myth.
Definition of Conscience
What Conscience Is:
1. Conscience is awareness of God’s call
to be.
2. Conscience is awareness of God’s call
to know and do the good, that is, to
love.
3. Conscience is a practical judgment of
the intellect.
How Conscience Works
virtue
A bad habit,
that inclines us
to choose the
evil rather than
the good
vice
A good habit
that empowers
us to do good
with ease
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review:
Study the facts
Elect a course
of action
SEER –
a person in
tune with truth,
a prophet
Review the
Execute the
decision
action
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
You must always form and
keep informing your
conscience.
You must follow your
conscience.
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
1. Study
 Gather information about the moral
object, the motives, and the
circumstances involved in particular
decisions.
 Review the fundamental principles
of morality and consider how best
to apply essential moral rules.
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
2. Elect
 Decision should be based on
whether the proposed action is
consistent with who you are as
God’s creation made in his image.
 An essential part of making this
decision is to pray.
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
3. Execute
 This involves responsibility.
 You must do what your conscience
tells you is right or you sin.
 Be an actor, not a reactor. Take
control of your own actions and
own them.
How Conscience Works
Study, Elect, Execute, Review
4. Review
 Evaluate and reflect on the actions already
performed.
 If we have taken the steps to form a good
conscience, then our conscience will be
clear.
 If we have gone against what we know we
should have done and sinned, then our
conscience can help us repent and reform.
Peer Pressure and Conscience
fortitude
“The moral virtue
that ensures
firmness in
difficulties, and
constancy in the
pursuit of the good”
(CCC1808).
Peer Pressure and Conscience
martyr
A witness ready to
suffer and even die
for truth and virtue;
martyrdom is the
ultimate act of
fortitude.
Peer Pressure and Conscience
Fortitude
 How to resist negative peer pressure:
 Resolve to be your own person.
 Know your own standards.
 Use humor and grace to say “no.”
 Stay away from situations that might
tempt you.
Vocabulary
Conscience
Virtue
Vice
Seer
Fortitude
Martyr