The term ‘ethics’ deals with what is morally ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Christian ethics therefore, deals with what is morally right or wrong for a Christian. There are several distinguishing characteristics of Christian ethics, each of which play a vital role to its analysis. Christian ethics is based on God’s will and is a form of divine command position. However, God never wills anything contrary to his unchanging moral character. The ethical imperatives that God gives are in accord with his unchangeable moral character. That is, God wills what is right in accordance with his own morals – ‘Be Holy because I am Holy’ (Leviticus 11:45).

Christian ethics is absolute, since God’s character does not change; it follows that moral duties from his nature are absolute (always binding everywhere, on everyone). For example, God’s command not to murder applied before the law was given to Moses (within the 10 Commandments), under the law of Moses and also since the time of Moses. In brief, murder is wrong at all times and all places for all people. This is true because humans were created in the ‘image of God’ (Genesis1:27, 9:6) and a moral likeness to Go

The moral teaching of the Catholic Church is based upon a sound theory of natural law. There are two foundational points upon which the Church bases its natural law theory - God has created the natural law and that natural law is manifested in the human person. Magisterium, or The Church's divinely appointed authority to teach the truths of religion, is argued to have placed too much emphasis on human nature itself; or, more pointedly, on the biology or inclinations of the human person.

Oral tradition is another key issue in Christian ethics. Oral tradition, as the name implies, is tradition passed on by speech through generations. People have

Natural Law, a vast area of Christian ethics, is the belief that the world has a natural rhythm. The theory dates back to Aristotle, stating that we are all part of a natural order and assumes that God created the World. As it is God’s creation, it contains something of God’s purpose for the World. Every event comes with both an efficient and final cause, and every individual thing is created with a final purpose or design. Aquinas, a Christian philosopher, took Aristotelian Philosophy and applied it to Christian Theology, linking the idea of purpose, design and final cause to the idea of a Creator God. Aquinas believed that one does what one is ‘naturally inclined to do’ and that the ability to reason was to be human. Aquinas believed that we were ‘all born good’ and ‘by using your reason, you will always come to the correct, morally right answer’. He also believed that natural law was a natural capacity through conscience, therefore natural l

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