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Sevilla
Raphael Sevilla

Reverend Paul A. Holmes

Contemporary Moral Issues

29 April 2017

The Habit
A young boy walks alongside his mother into a Marshalls. The mom is primarily focused

on getting rugs for some house decorations. However, the boy came along just for fun. As he

walked inside he started to glance at the shelves for any toy he could get his hands on. The boy

saw a limited edition Buzz Lightyear figurine. He looked at it, and he thought this was the toy.

The mom is got her hands on a few rugs. They head up to the cashier and there was a very long

line. The mom, held her rugs in hand and went to the back of the line. The boy waited. Later on,

an altercation occurs up at front and a cashier starts arguing with a customer. The customer

caused the boy and the mom to wait an extra 20 minutes. The mom stands there, her hands and

arms are getting tired, yet did not display any outward emotion. The boy started to cry and is

increasingly bothered by this wait both internally and externally. He really wanted to go home

and play with his new toy. Eventually, they get to the cashier. "Sorry for the wait guys."

"No worries, patience is a virtue" The kid, visibly wondering, asks his mom, hey mom, what is a

virtue?

Various people have varying answers about what a virtue is or what should it constitute

as. Medieval philosopher, theologian St. Thomas Aquinas had a scientific and very

comprehensive view on what virtue was. There are people that believe that a virtue is a

characteristic, yet Aquinas believes that virtue in essence is a habit. Brushing your hair or eating
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junk food for lunch every day are examples of habits. Each of them go towards a specific

purpose, if one were to eat junk food each day, he or she would then have an unhealthy diet. On

the other side, if one was to brush their teeth every day, they would have good dental hygiene.

Each event is repetitive and part of a process. Habits could be considered good or bad. Aquinas

believed that the good habits were virtues and bad habits were vices and sins. He firmly states

that virtue "implies some perfection of power" (ST I-II, Q 55, A 1,) to a sort of a "potential

being". There are four cardinal virtues, which are those that are acquired by habits and

theological, which are those that are acquired from the grace of God. Aquinas denotes that on

Earth, there is a proper way to live. Some believe that they are destined to their journeys and are

unable change who they are, yet Aquinas approaches life as an open book. A story where we are

able to choose our paths through our choices and these habits that we can perform. Aquinas

believes that all our actions should help us get closer to God. This path that we are making for

ourselves is only to get closer to God. Healy denotes the goal of this path is "true happiness".

Happiness is something which everyone wants. Most people want their actions to help them

achieve their vision of happiness. Yet true happiness is when we view the "eternally wondrous

God, who is infinite beauty." (Healy 237). On Earth, Aquinas states that although we can choose

our paths and lifestyles, they are eventually linked towards an afterlife which constitutes the goal

of true happiness.

If every action leads to our happiness, what is there to say about war? War happens all

around us. It happens within nations and between nations. It is seen on the televisions, heard on

the radio. Our nation is involved in various conflicts around the world. There are many reasons

why people are killed and nations destroy opposing enemy states. What justifies the act of war?
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Can killing others bring us closer to our true happiness? Can a Christian soldier participate in

war and would it be a sin to kill?

Aquinas, believes that it can be just to enter war and we should go into war because it is

just. There is a reason as to why we can enter war. Through deliberation it is how everyone acts

to lead closer to God, Aquinas will develop a framework in order for war and God to be

connected. Just war theory is the ability and reason as to why we go into war and how people

should act while in the act of war. As such, Aquinas played a role into constituting what makes

going into war just and how we should act in war.

To understand why Aquinas believes in a just reason to undergo why going to war can be

just, we must look towards how the Bible treats the aspect of violence. According to Aquinas,

our acts imitate God in that we have free will and the ability to choose our actions (Pinches 140).

Obedience towards God helps us become strong. In the story of Abraham and his son Isaac. God

had asked Abraham to take his only son, Isaac to the land of Moriah and offer his son as a

sacrifice. Abraham was intent on offering his son up to the Lord. He believed in his faith and the

God has blessed him since he was very close Abraham was able to fulfill the command. The

Lord intercepted him by stopping him from killing Isaac and blessing his offspring. The story

demonstrates how through obeying God is how we should live our lives. Abraham could have

chosen not to obey the Lord and other things could have happened. In the book of Exodus, the

Israelites are able to leave the wrath of evil Pharaoh and are guided in the wilderness under

Moses. God tells Moses to show the face of both the Israelites and camp outside near the lands of

Pharaoh. Pharaoh looks back at the Israelites and they are willing to go after to the Israelites. The

Israelites came across the Red Sea and God tells Moses to stretch out his hand and the Lord is

able to part the sea and traverse without any harm. The Egyptians had to suffer the wrath of the
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Lord from the sea after Moses and the Israelites had walked through it. The Lord had saved the

Israelites. The Egyptians now knew who their God was. In this story, the plan that God has for

his people will always be there and if there is anyone to hinder that plan, in this case, the

Egyptians, then they shall know of the power of God. Similarly, God had given the town of

Jericho to Joshua and the Israelites. God had ordered them to encircle the town and follow his

explicit directions. He instructed them to destroy the devoted things and take the silver and gold

for the Lord. However, Achan had taken some of the things that were meant to be devoted. As a

result, the Lord had to punish all the Israelites because the act of one is the act of all. God is

everywhere and is omnipotent, God will only be with those who obey him. In these instances of

stories in the Old Testament, God is present and a source of strength for those that choose to

obey him. He helps those who are on his side. If He sees that you are hindering from the plan,

the Lord will show his strength and violence. The path of the Lord is something that could not be

interfered with. Even against the Israelites, God had seen that one transgression was enough to

no longer be with them. Through the stories of the Old Testament, the importance of obeying

God was stressed and how the Lord will help you onto the path to justice.

The viewpoint of violence within New Testament changes. It looks toward a more

pacifist approach and although it approaches God as powerful, God does not display as much

brute force strength throughout the New Testament. In several instances, the message pervasive

throughout is to help those who are in need. In the story of the Good Samaritan, a man was

robbed and beat on a road from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest and a Levite had seen the man, yet

they had continued on their way without helping him. However, once a Samaritan traveler came

across him, he approached him, helped him and took care of him. God had asked the man to

emulate the Samaritan, to love those who we do not even know. In addition, in the New
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Testament, through faith alone and belief in God are what has allowed people to do extraordinary

things such as crossing the Red Sea, they "did what was righteous" (New International Version,

Heb. 11.33). The difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament can be seen

through the viewpoint on violence. God does not use brute force onto his enemies. In these

stories, the message pervading throughout is one where we love our neighbor. Our neighbor can

even be those who we consider our enemies. From the Old Testament and the New Testament,

there is a change that occurs. The one thing that brings the two messages together is the

consistency in faith. Both the stories from the New Testament and the Old Testament deal with

how following God and accepting his plan is similar to how Aquinas will account for war.

Aquinas develops a criteria for going into war which has an outlook which is seen in how

the Old Testament and the New Testament handled violence. Aquinas believes that three things

must be applicable if one is to go into war. He states that, a just authority should command that

war should be waged. He believes that since the authority are those in charge of the common

people, they should be the ones to call the war. This cause is similar to the beatitudes in that the

people with authority are those who help the poor and are unable to help. They are defending

them from future evil and helping their neighbor similar to how the Good Samaritan helped the

man. Secondly, Aquinas states that there is to be a just cause. The attackers should attack because

the others have taken away the peace. The people who are attacked should be deserving on their

fault for a reason. Thirdly, Aquinas says that those who authorize the war should have a just

intention. This is very similar to how in the Old Testament, God was fervent on his plan going

through. Similar to the take on violence of the Old Testament, those who intend to act on the

wrong path will be punished, and those who advance the good will be blessed. Christians in the

early era, had an excuse to go out and sacrifice their life if it was due to stand up to "protect his
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loved ones in the face of injustice " (Taslaman 4). It was right to go into war knowing that it was

the just thing to do. The right thing to do, which was war was supported by religious values and

to keep justice in society.

The belief in loving one another and this aspect of how we love is seen in the virtue of

justice. When the thought of justice comes up, thoughts of superheroes rescuing people and

saving the city pervade the mind. However, Aquinas takes that further into war. That war is a step

reasonable to keep the peace only if it meant to maintain and keep Father Pattee believes that if

Thomas were here today, he would say that justice is what would be defined as a "constant habit"

to provide everyone his or her due from their actions (Pattee 101). To keep a persistent effort is

similar to how St Thomas Aquinas saw a just war which is reasonable for going against the

pacifism of the New Testament. The call to arms was just because war would ensue the goal of

keeping the path of the Lord a habit.

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Works Cited
Healy, Nicholas M. "The Christian Life: In Addition to Augustine and Aquinas." New

Blackfriars, vol. 95, no. 1056, Mar. 2014, pp. 234-246. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1111/nbfr.12065.

New International Version. Biblica, 2011. BibleGateway.com,

www.biblegateway.com/versions/New-International-Version-NIV-Bible/#booklist.

Pattee, Dan. "Social Justice and Catholic Social Thought." Catholic Social Science Review, vol.

21, Oct. 2016, pp. 99-115. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,sso&db=a9h&AN=118270046&site=eds-live.

Pinches, Charles. "Human Action and the Meaning of Morality: A Critique of Jean Porter on

Action and Aquinas." Pro Ecclesia, vol. 12, no. 2, 2003, pp. 133-158. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,sso&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001513336&site=eds-live.

Thomas, Aquinas, Saint. Summa Theologica. New York : Benziger Bros., 1947-48., 1947.

EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,sso&db=cat00991a& AN=sth.ocm03884061&site=eds-

live.

Taslaman, Caner and Feryal TASLAMAN. "Contemporary Just War Theory: Paul Ramsey and

Michael Walzer." ["MODERN HAKLI SAVA TEORS: PAUL RAMSEY VE

MICHAEL WALZER"]. Journal of Academic Studies, vol. 15, no. 59, Nov2013-Jan2014,

pp. 1-20. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,sso&db=a9h&AN=93459182&site=eds-live.
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