....faith and life....life and faces

Living as Christian

Our conscience is  uncertain in many cases and for this reason,  it is understandable  that the pope, the bishops and  lay  organizations  have  something  to  say about questions of  ethics or politics and economy.

This does not mean the Church has ready-made recipes available for all of  life's  questions. Together  with  all  her  members,  non-Christians and even  unbelieving experts, she has to struggle constantly to understand the will of God. Therefore it cannot be excluded that in the future, based on new knowledge, better possibilities will be found for realizing good.

Consequently, the laws and regulations of the Church are not on the same level as the commandments of God,  even  if they have been issued expressly as commandments of the Church; they can be altered. Nevertheless, they have an obliging power, as even changeable  and improvable matters may require obligatory decisions.  Often,  we have to be  satisfied  with  preliminary answers  and  it takes courage to accept them in this non-final form. However, even Church regulations and laws can never replace the personal decision of the conscience, which requires increased personal responsibility.

The "new commandment" of Christ

Christian life is not slavish obedience to the letter of the law; there is always danger in observing  the  law  for  law's sake. Christ objected to this. He emphasized that the intention is important,  not following the letter of the law. Not only is man- slaughter a sin,  the hatred and even unkindness that precede it are already sins. The person who  thinks  in terms of the law asks himself: how far can I go, where does my obligation  begin and where does it end?  Where  do I find a loophole to slip through?

In this way,  Christians  sometimes  try  to  do a balancing act on the dividing line between good and evil. Although they do not want to sin, they would like to enjoy everything that is not prohibited. This type of thinking is adherence to the letter of the law, which Christ rejects. It is the attitude of an underling, a slave, who obeys for fear of  punishment. An administrator would think in different terms; not "what do I absolutely have to do?", but "what can I do?"

Love,  however, goes even further, asking  "what else?"  over and above what is permitted  or demanded. Love distinguishes  between good and better, is always looking for a nicer solution,  for a really Christian answer.  Not  only  is doing evil considered failure;  so is the omission of doing good.  Therefore,  the "new commandment"  of  Christ  is  Love.  Love requires  far  more of people than law and commandments  since  it  knows  no limits. It is the end and fulfillment of the law, because love renders the law superfluous (see Romans 13,10).              
 

Living as Christian

Psychology  has  also  alerted  us  to the ill-developed conscience, which may be characterized  by  feelings  of  guilt and fear of committing sin.  This is often the result of poor upbringing and a sign of a deformed personality rather than the reaction of the conscience to guilt.

The "examination of  conscience"  becomes  all  the  more important. The  instruments we use to take measurements have to be checked continuously. Similarly, our conscience continually has to be adjusted to the valid norms: the  word  of  God  and  the  order  of creation, both of which are essentially contained in the Ten Commandments.

Norms, commandments, laws

Are the  Ten  Commandments outdated?  As soon as some people hear the word "commandment", they fear that their freedom is threatened. It is understandable that an education based only on an authoritarian "you shall, you have to" could provoke  such  an  inner  defense. In reality, however, God's commandments are rules  of  life  intended  to  bring man to happiness.

Nobody  would  claim  that  humanity's  well-being  is  improved  by  the  reckless use of power, lies and theft,  exploitation and defamation, homicide and oppression.  The commandments protect  values  which make our life bearable and put into words the unwritten basic laws of human behavior.

But they do not offer precise rules of conduct for any given situation and indicate only the required minimum.  They cannot make personal human decisions. Questions of overpopulation, manipulation of genes, the use of new drugs etc. cannot be framed into commandments. The situation and requirements of a changed and modern society are so varied and complex that we would drown in a swamp of laws, paragraphs and regulations. Therefore, their application in very concrete cases always remains a matter of conscience.

But the commandments give valuable help in making decisions. So it would be wrong to set commandments and conscience against each other. Basically, our conscience  is identical with the laws of ethics  implanted in  human nature.  Both of these aim at what is good and  have  obtained  their  compelling  character from the author of all order, namely from God, not from the behavior of most men. Thus, nothing evil can become good just because everyone does it.

Human regulations and laws

Apart from God's commandments, there are statutes and requirements given by human authorities like the  State, the Church, etc. Their purpose is to make plain the  values  and  orders protected in God's commandments and to interpret them for each  time  period  and culture.