Questions of Morality

QUESTIONS OF MORALITY: Every year I enjoy teaching the sections on morality during the R.C.I.A.  I begin the class by writing down some words on a white board:

            Right verses Wrong

            Legal verses Illegal

            Sinful verses Non-sinful

            Guilty verses Not Guilty

            Good verses Bad.

I ask the students if these equations are all the same? Can something be wrong but not illegal? Can something that is illegal be not sinful?  Can something that is bad be legal?  It can get very confusing.

We learn right from wrong and good and bad primarily from our parents.  Good table manners and bad table manners are an example of good and bad. I remember my grandmother asking me to pass the salt to her when I was a little boy.  I picked up the shaker and held it out to her.  She just looked at it and refused to take it.  Finally she told me, “Larry when a lady asks you to pass her something at the table, a gentleman places it before her so that their hands do not touch.”  Lesson learned.  I remember one dinner when I was 7 and my brother was 16.  He had been working outside and washed up before dinner but did not put on a shirt.  My father glared at him and then said, “If you were at your grandmother’s house you would not come to the table without a coat and tie.”  My brother went to his room and came back wearing a coat and tie – no shirt, just a coat and tie.  It was funny but the lesson was learned.  These might appear silly but the hint at where we learn our basic morality.  Where these acts sinful or illegal or bad? Probably not.  Were they wrong? In my family, yes.

Society teaches us what is legal and illegal.  I remember my canon law professor tell us, “For the good order of society, society enacts laws.  Once enacted, society bends to the laws.”  There was an article recently in the Oakland Press about speeding on Dixie Hwy.  Chief Macaw of the Waterford Police Department stated that the speed limit had been reduced to 35 mph. during construction. He said that it remains in effect even on those sections of the construction zone that appears to have been finished, like in front of Lakes.  He said that it was needed to protect the workers who were working up ahead.  It was the law.  If you speed on Dixie Hwy. is it illegal? Yes.  Is it wrong? Yes. Is it bad? Yes. Is it sinful? Maybe.  If you speed during the day and endanger workers or other drivers it just might be a sin.  If it is at 3:00 in the morning, and you are only going 5 over and no one else is around, while still being illegal it would not be sinful.

Is abortion sinful? Yes. Is it illegal? No. Is it bad? Yes.

Can someone be found not guilty and still not innocent? Yes. In the recent George Zimmerman trial, his attorney argued that very point in his closing arguments.  He told the jury that they didn’t need to find him innocent, just not guilty if they had a reasonable doubt.

Are all sins the same? No? The Hebrew Scriptures teach that some sins are hatta (missing the mark) while others are pasha (rebellion). We call them mortal and venial. Hatta would be a venial sin.  Pasha would be mortal.

It can all be very confusing especially when we are trying to live a moral life.  The Church teaches us that we must follow our conscience.  It also tells us that we have an obligation to form a correct conscience.  We cannot just act on our feelings.  We need to look at all those things listed above, good verses bad, right verses wrong and so on.  We need to listen to what the church teaches.  We need know what Jesus has said.  We need to look at the consequences to our actions.  We need to make sure that what we are doing is loving.  It is not always easy.

If we constantly try to do the best in living a good life, making the correct decisions will come easy and when faced with the difficult ones we will be confident that what we choose what is best.

Salt shakers and coats and ties are not big things, but they have helped formed my life.