ted to animal-like
behavioral weaknesses when we react impulsively rather than with
thought and planning, and we are more likely to act impulsively when
our physical safety or food and shelter needs are threatened.

When we do act like animals, we often are ashamed because we
momentarily set aside our conscience. Fear overpowers our desire to be
loving because it engages lower brain centers that are not controlled
by abstract thought centers in the higher levels of our brain.

How then can we act like we are created in the image of God instead of
selfish, impulsive animals? We can begin by analyzing what characters
in literature and drama do. We can recognize when fear, arrogance,
laziness, or loneliness drives the hero's actions, and imagine how the
hero might overcome his weaknesses. We can project a responsible
resolution to the hero's internal conflicts. This exercise of
recognizing the source of another's actions is merely an intermediate
step in the learning process, however.[7] The final step is when we
face our own trails, and face the need to analyze our own reactions to
stress, as we have looked at those in dramas. Finally, we can plan our
own future and make it happen, just as we did with alternative endings
to conflicts in dramas.

Occasionally, people face moral choices that seem to confusing to be
solved, and the thinking brain tries to step down a notch. It either
takes a passive emotional position with MacLean's limbic system, or an
impulsive aggressive position with the reptilian system. At these
times, a checklist for moral decision making can provide a framework
for keeping our actions in the realm of planned activity rather than
impulse.

The Steps of Moral Decision Making.

Moral decision making involves several growth steps in reaching
maturity.

Stanley Kohlberg[8] provided us with a framework for making moral
decisions:

Age Test Question

6 Punishment Will I get caught?

10 Golden Rule How would I like to treated?

13 Everyone Rule What would the world be like if everyone
made this same decision?

15 Greater Good Rule Will this decision produce the greatest
good for the greatest number?

Adult Higher Authority Rule Is this what God wants me to do?

Religious people often experience great internal conflict when faced
Many religions a