So I think that one should be as good as possible. But the problem occurs when you try to use sight as good as possible.In order to use sight morally, you have to make sure it sees only a good thing. But you don’t know the goodness of everything nor do you know about everything anyways. So here I guess you could defer to common opinion to guide the eyes or you could endeavor to know everything or both. What would you say?
to use sight morally does not lie in seeing only good(if i am understanding you right), because it only takes stepping outside (sometimes) to witness something immoral,
morality lies in how you handle any given situation, and you can even turn something bad or immoral into something good by how you react to it, such as saying a prayer in reparation for the sin, or making an act of love to God for the hate that He has been shown through the sin,
a human act is either good or bad according as it leads to or detracts a person from their heavenly goal, but we can never do anything good by ourselves, doing good always depends on Gods grace, which we must will in ourselves, we must accept His graces, and many times we must ask for His graces, especially in times of temptation.
but to know everything? that is neither possible nor necessary, we learn and grow during our entire life on earth, you will never stop learning, and you should never become slothful in learning or trying your best,
all God expects from you is to try your best based on what you do know, and He also expects you to make an effort to learn, which He will help and guide you in,
especially after Confirmation, Catholics have a greater obligation to learn their faith, and if you want my advice, the best place to learn about morality and doing good, is in the writings of the saints, such as Saint Alphonsus de Liguori.
“None is good but God alone.” - Luke 18:19, so we rely on God alone to do good…and then what is there to be afraid of except our own selves? we are really our greatest stumbling block, because no matter what happens outside of us, we can be perfectly moral by Gods grace, if only we would will it,
we accept Gods grace in our actions, not in our thoughts(not in them alone anyways)
of course God doesn’t demand that we be perfect right now, He knows and understands more than we do how weak we are, and He is more patient with our sins than our own sinful brother is, so what do we have to fear? all we must do is try our best according to Gods law, which we must do our best to learn His laws and teachings through the church, and then try our best to act according to them.
There are a host of similar moral problems where because of ignorance, it is difficult to use one’s powers in favor of the good.
if someone knows they are ignorant of something, then they must seek to learn what they are ignorant of(to the best of their ability, which is a moral obligation), but if they are oblivious to their own ignorance, then there is nothing they can do about that, although we can pray that God will instruct us in what we are ignorant of, which is why the 2 corporal works of mercy, admonishing the sinner and instructing the ignorant, are so important.
but as i said, we are not capable of good in and of ourselves, and we have no real power of our own, only God is good and all powerful, and whatever good or power that is in us is from God, so the answer is simply to ask God for His help,
although i know it’s not an easy task, we must work on ourselves diligently every day, by learning our faith, praying, practicing all the virtues, detaching ourselves from the world, creatures, creature comforts, sin, and ourselves, which we do by mortification, and all of that is likewise accomplished by Gods grace.
Should one give these scenarios up to God? Or another option, a person is not obliged by the impossible and so these being impossible, one wouldn’t be morally responsible for them.
we are responsible for our own sins, and the sins we may have prevented in others, but outside of that we are not responsible,
but you might ask, in what way can we prevent the sins in others? well…it’s never a sure thing, we are only responsible for that in what we do, not in what they do, we must only try, which may consist in admonishing or instructing them(which is why we are obligated to learn our faith), or setting a good example for them(as best as we can), or most of all, in praying for them, since neither you nor they can do good except by God, so as much as we must remember to pray for ourselves in doing good, we must pray for others as well…so basically, you do what you can, and that’s all that’s expected of you.
But then, what does impossible mean? Does it mean absolutely impossible -like an object so heavy God couldn’t lift it, or does it mean something possible but right now, beyond the power of the moral actor?
there is no point in worrying over what’s not possible, even if it’s only for you for a short time, the only thing we should worry about is pleasing God, and to act according to what we do know…but why worry over what we cannot do or do not know what to do with? God would not hold you accountable for something like that, provided you are not deceiving yourself with excuses over something you know you could have done.
anyways, if you have more question, or if i’m misunderstanding this completely, i’d be happy to discuss it further…although i’m just curious, is there any particular reason you are asking these things?
