Immanuel Kant's What Would Jesus Do?

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“What Would Jesus Do?” (WWJD) is a pop culture phrase that some Christians - and even some non-Christians - employ to direct their moral compass. As illustrated by many tales in the bible, Jesus is selfless and always does what is right, even when it seems more beneficial for him to do what is wrong. So by asking yourself WWJD, you really ask yourself what is the right thing to do in any given situation, using Jesus as the model for morality that guides your actions. Your professor miscalculates your midterm score and gives you a grade higher than you deserve. Do you inform them of the mistake? The classmate who left you to do all the work on a group presentation drops some money. Do you return the money to them? A sick friend asks you to buy …show more content…
16). If an action is done out of a sense of duty - selfless good will - then it is a moral action (Kent p. 16). An action done for any other reason is immoral, even if it results in the same outcome as the moral action (Kent p. 16). Duty is determined by a combination nature and reasoning; the wisdom of nature gives us our “innate instinct” (free will) and reason “produce[s] a will good in itself” that is universal and independent of our happiness (Kent p. 12). Thus our “ideals of moral perfection” are created by ourselves since we, as human beings, apply reason to …show more content…
In his work “Confessions,” he recounts his struggles to wholeheartedly accept Catholic Christianity as his faith despite his belief in God and Jesus. Augustine initially misunderstood that Catholic Christianity required one to be perfect like Jesus and God, a daunting and impossible task as Augustine’s continuous praises throughout the book illustrate. In the very first line he states: “You are great Lord, and highly to be praised: great is your power and your wisdom is immeasurable” (Augustine p. 3). Already he establishes that the Lord possesses a power and wisdom beyond our own, power and wisdom that we can not possess because we are merely a part of God’s creation, not His equal. Augustine then goes on to say that the Lord is “utterly good” and the “creator of all nature,” two more qualities that we are incapable of possessing because we commit sin and we are, once again, creations rather than creators (Augustine p. 4 and p. 32). Augustine eventually converts to Catholic Christianity after realizing that he does not have the power to save himself and be perfect like God and Jesus but he could give himself to Their will in order to be put on the path of salvation and perfection (Augustine p.

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