?Moncada, Dominic Joey Jr. C. BS EE 3

Explain the fundamental message of the Sacred Scripture on the Human Person

The fundamental message is that the human person is a creature of God, and therefore possesses certain characteristics. Gen 1:27 explains that the human person was created in the image of God. Not necessarily physically in the image of God, but as a reflection of his traits and attributes. Since God has dignity, the human person also has dignity and thus is referred to as a someone, and not a something.
God has several creatures, but he puts man at the top of the hierarchy. Man is also the only creature that possesses the privilege to provide a response of faith and love to his Creator, as opposed to animals and plants which cannot do such a thing.

In what way is the existence of man constitutively related to God in the most profound manner?

The human persons exists, not only to feed and breed and learn. But the human person exists because God himself, the Creator, made the human person such that he will look for Him during his entire life. More properly said, the whole of man's life is a quest and search for God. The human person was created by God to be in a relationship with Him, whether now or later in our life. That is a natural tendency of man; to look for God. That is the reason why ancient people worshipped nature and why modern people practice institutionalized religion: because there is always a need to look for God in a man's life. Some people may ignore or refuse to have a relationship with God; to look for him. But such a longing for this relationship can never be eliminated.

Why is man a social being and not a solitary being?

-The answer stems from the cliché statement that no man is an island. The text given to us provides that man cannot live and develop his potential without the intervention of other human beings as well. The human person was naturally created by God to seek aid from other human beings as well. That was the same scenario in the garden of Eden, where in Genesis it was revealed that God saw Adam's need for a helper and complement. The text also talks about interpersonal dialogue, something very vital for human existence, and it can only be achieved by interaction with another human being.

- Another good reason is that again the human being was created by God to look for Him. But since each human being was made in the image of God, thus in order to fulfill a man's longing to look for God, he socializes with people around him, because he sees God in them.

Because God willed it that man may be a social being. This was explained in a concept of relational subjectivity, which means that humans recognize the necessity of integrating oneself in cooperation with others and is capable of communion with them in the level of knowledge and love.
Community life is a characteristic that differentiates man from all of God's other creatures. Social activity is a sign that determines man's interior traits and constitutes his very nature.

Why is it that man and woman have the same dignity and of equal value other than being created in the image of God?

This is because according to text God shows no partiality, since all people have the same dignity as creatures made in his likeness and image. Jesus once said that “There is neither Jew or Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.
The woman is a complement to the man, and man is the complement to the woman: they complete each other mutually, not just in a psychological and physical perspective but also from an ontological view. Both are then entrusted by God to procreate and pursue family life.
Through the recognition of human dignity the possibility of common and personal growth of everyone is achievable. One concrete example is ensuring equal opportunity for men and women, especially in the light of law and order

What is the specific vocation of man and woman to life?
- First, they are given by God the privilege to participate in creation, as explained in Genesis 1:28 when God said “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it”. So as to maintain their relationship with God, man and woman are also enjoined to consider life sacred and inviolable, in obedience to the fifth commandment “Thou shall not kill”. This is for the reason that the owner of all life is God, and He alone has the authority to provide and take it from someone. But such vocation is not only limited to avoid killing one another, but also to care for one another when the other is in need, in obedience to Jesus' command to “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

Why is man, a creature of God, a unity of body and soul?
- The spiritual and immortal soul is the principle of unity of the human being. It contains all of a human beings' characteristics and traits, but will cease to exist without the body. With the unity of the soul and body, a human person is brought forth. A man is a unity of body and soul because he possessses traits that describe so. One trait is that although man possesses a soul which is innately pure, he also possesses an imperfect body, and thus he must always be careful of the perverse inclinations of his heart and avoid becoming a victim of purely earthly vision of life.
-Man exists in dual characteristics: one as a material being linked to this world by his body, and as a spiritual being, and that involves his soul, which is open to transcendence and the discovery of more penetrating truths.

What does the Church teach on respect for human dignity?
- A just society can only become a reality only when it is based on the respect of the transcendent dignity of the human person. The person is deemed the ultimate end of society, and must be given utmost importance. The social order and its development must work for the benefit of the human person, since it must always be that the order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons.
- It is necessary to consider every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all his life, and the means necessary for living it with dignity.
- Every political, economic, social, scientific and cultural program must be inspired by the awareness of the primacy of each human being over society.
- In no case therefore is the human person to be manipulated for ends that are foreign to his own development.