The Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Virtues, and the Attitudes are the sets of laws that people base their lives around in becoming good Christians. Each set of the laws affect a Christian individual, more than any other because of the laws are rooted to the bible and Christian beliefs. So, a Christian individuals knowingly or unknowingly bases what they do in life around these sets of law. The Ten Commandments and seven deadly sins tell an individual on what they are not supposed to do. The Seven Virtues and the attitudes tell an individual on what they must do and how they can combat the deadly sins. However, even though some of the laws are outdated they still play a role in how we act. Each set of laws has its own distinct characteristic, for example some tell people what not to do in their lives and some tell people what to do in their lives and how to live their lives.
The Seven Virtues are separated into two different types of virtues. They are Theological and Cardinal Virtues, and they can be defined as the heart of our moral life. Virtues are healthy, good habits that help us to do well and empower us to become what God wants us to be. These personal qualities emphasize that who we are affects what we do. There are two types of virtues, Theological and Cardinal virtues. Theological Virtues: The theological virtues can be defined as gifts from God that empower us to be good so that we may do good. The three theological virtues are love, hope and faith. These are the three virtues that will combat the three of the deadly sins pride, envy and wrath. Also the reaming four out of the seven deadly sins being lust, greed, sloth and gluttony are combated by four Cardinal Virtues justice, prudence, temperance, and fortitude. While one set of laws tells a person what things to avoid in their lives to live a good Christian life, the other sets tells us how a person may combat these desire and what they can do to live a good Christian life.
These sets of laws even effect individual who are not of Christian background. Over time these laws have been translated and absorbed into many other religions and affect many others in a different way.
In his article “Applying the Old Testament Law Today”, J. Daniel Hays brings out many positive and negative reasons why some believers tend to ignore many Old Testament Laws and embrace others. Hays emphasize how different evangelical scholars use moral, civil and ceremonial laws to help believers know whether a particular Mosaic Law applies to them. (Hays, 22) Ironically, we were taught in church and Bible study different ways to apply Matthew 25:39, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, to our daily living. Once an individual put this into action, they will begin to understand the true meaning of giving and how to love the way Jesus directed us to in the Bible.
The Seven Deadly Sins, is a classification of sins (sometimes referred to as vices), that were used to describe the sources of all sins. The Seven Deadly Sins is a Christian idea and was most widespread in the Catholic Church. These sins are thought to have possibly gotten their origins from two places in the Bible, Proverbs 6:16-19, and Galatians 5:19-21. The first idea for The Seven Deadly Sins was from the writings of the monk, Evagrius Ponticus, who lived in the fourth-century. The Seven Deadly Sins were edited and modeled into their modern form in A.D. 590 by Pope Gregory 1. These sins are as
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
The Old Testament law is seen as irrelevant by most modern Christians today. Christians are now under the blood of Jesus Christ which is said to abrogate the Law. Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.” The law of Christ is to love God and your neighbor as yourself. This does not mean, however, that the Old Testament Law does not apply to Christians today. Author J. Daniel Hays expounds on this topic in his article, “Applying the Old Testament Law Today,” and focuses on the hermeneutical approach of Principlism. This approach allows the Old Testament Law to be viewed in light of the New Testament.
Foremost, the word virtue itself means needing to do good and avoid evil in its two
Virtue ethics is currently one of three major approaches in normative ethics. It may, initially, be identified as the one that emphasizes the virtues, or moral character, in contrast to the approach which emphasizes duties or rules (deontology) or that which emphasizes the consequences of actions (consequentialism). Suppose it is obvious that someone in need should be helped. A utilitarian will point to the fact that the consequences of doing so will maximize well-being, a deontologist to the fact that, in doing so the agent will be acting in accordance with a moral rule such as “Do unto others as you would be done by” and a virtue ethicist to the fact that helping the person would be charitable or benevolent. A modern day virtue ethicist virtue Alastair Macintyre points out that different virtues have been prized by different societies, and at different points in history. Virtue Ethics is therefore a morally relativist, non-cognitive theory.
“The Ten Commandments are different in that they don 't list consequences. The commandment doesn 't read, "Don 't steal, but if you do, here 's what happens." That kind of formulation is reserved for the legal sections of the Hebrew Bible, which are cast in the “if ... then ...” framework (technically called “casuistic”) typical both of ancient Near Eastern law collections such as Hammurabi’s Laws, as well as our own modern laws. By contrast, the Ten Commandments are a list of norms that have moral import” (Hoffman, n.d., para. 8). The Decalogue were given to Moses from God, who then passed them on to his people. Moses repeatedly warns against forgetting them, and disobeying them (Arnold & Beyer, 2008, p. 14). The Ten Commandments are absolutely applicable to modern day Christians, and we should beware the thought and practice of not following them in our
According to Morrison and Furlong, normative ethics discovers what is right and wrong and guides decision making for all situations in many areas including health care. A normative ethical theory that this research will discuss is virtue ethics in the American health care system. The purpose of this research is to develop potential for excellence and to find the highest good for humans by doing what is right short-term, long-term, and to compete globally (Morrison & Furlong, 2013). Giving certain situations each theory can provide tools to assist in decision-making but virtue ethics concentrates on excellence and perfection.
Secondly, the possibility of the right to lie is refuted on the basis of virtue ethics, which maintains that lying is morally wrong though the argument or claim is less strict as compared to Kant’s statement. Virtue ethics generally provides a different approach to ethics by focusing on character development of individuals. As a result, virtue ethicists tend to look at what people should be with regards to their character rather than determining the right or wrong of a behavior simply on the basis of reason and desired and undesired behavior (Mazur par, 5). In this case, virtues are desirable characteristics of individuals that make them act in a specific way. According to virtue ethicists, being virtuous is regarded as being ethical because it is a reflection of the individual traits of fairness and striving towards accomplishment of human potential.
The spreading of belief allows the prophet to gain followers and eventually establish traditions which surround religion, whether it be holidays, ceremonies, or even the manner of death in some extreme cases. Based off the traditions established by these religions, societies soon formed and grew while strictly following the word of god, which, in modern days, has been collected into a single collective book. Three books exist between the religions. The Torah for Judaism, the Bible for Christianity, and the Qur’an for Islam. These books detail a certain creed or code through the use of anecdotes and parables, but are generally boiled down to a list which can vary in size from Christianity’s Ten Commandments to Judaism’s 613 laws, regardless of the rhetoric displayed in the enormous amount of pages written throughout the three texts. These laws are generally simplistic and followable without much thought, unless of course if one is a philosopher, in which case there is always room for questioning. However, Judaism in particular, having 613 separate laws, becomes very specific in their laws which range from what to eat when all the way up to what kind of punishment a man should receive if he has been caught committing a crime. Some of the harsher laws have been repealed or amended, but ascetic courts still exist in closed Jewish society, with some places still following Jewish law to a T (however this practice is rare outside of middle eastern communities where Judaism rules.) And since the topic of Judaism is fresh on the mind, it shall be the first detailed separately from the others.
The virtue ethics approach is a theory that suggests that people are judged via their character, not specific actions. An individual who has developed good character traits (virtues) is judged as a morally good person. An individual who has developed bad character traits (vices) is judged as a morally bad person. Most of us have a mixture or virtues and vices. There are many pros and cons linked to this approach. The pros include
But they let the pigs to violate them. If their dreamy utopian world was a tree, the commandments are like roots. But, they are not fully aware whether they are functioned properly or, they are miss-interpreted. That also causes the downfall of their dream world of happiness.
In a country where Christianity is the prevailing religion, it is demoralizing to know that Americans are more familiar with the ingredients of the McDonald’s Big Mac than of the most important biblical principals ever written. The Ten Commandments are much more than a few biblical guidelines; they are the basis of our nation’s legal system. Our Founding Fathers went out of their way, time and time again, to acknowledge God four times in the Declaration of Independence, and yet people of this day and age believe that Christ’s words simply do not apply anymore. The Ten Commandments have not only made a lasting impact on the Christian faith, but also lay as the foundation for the legal system we all follow as a nation.
Virtue Ethics Virtue ethics is a theory used to make moral decisions. It does not rely on religion, society or culture; it only depends on the individuals themselves. The main philosopher of Virtue Ethics is Aristotle. The. His theory was originally introduced in ancient Greek.
The first section was an introduction to the concept of ethics and morals. Morals and ethics were defined and the difference between them was established.