The Natural Law Part IV

So what is a law? Aquinas says a law is a rule made through reason for the common good by one who has care of the community. There are basically four types of law: 1) Eternal Law—which is God’s concept of things (and if you don’t believe in God go back to Part I). 2) Divine Law—what God has told us about Himself/us through the Old and New Testaments as well as through Tradition (the Church has custody of that law, especially of interpretation). 3) Natural Law which is the participation of the Eternal Law by rational human beings, people of rational nature. 4) Human Law, which is self explanatory.

Everything in existence has a nature and the ‘nature’ of the thing is built into it by the maker. A car made by GM tells you that in order for that automobile to run properly you should put gas in it not pomegranate juice. Same with a flat. You pull out the manual to find out how to change that flat tire. Now suppose that one, after looking at the manual, decides that GM is full of it. The owner can either ignore the directions or not. If he ignores those directions the car will probably not work correctly or at all for that matter especially if he puts pomegranate juice in the gas tank. But on top of that why would someone ‘resent’ GM for explaining how to maintain and run that car properly? The analogy is the same for human beings. When the remark is made “…this is my body. I can do with it what I want. There are no rules because I make the rules. And I resent anyone who tells me differently, tells me that I can’t do what I want to do. I will.” The breakdown of society begins with the breakdown of the individual and then the family. When one decides that he does not have to adhere to the natural law, he can do whatever he wills what ever and whenever as long as it’s not hurting anyone else, he is creating a situation that is not only going to lead him down the road of misery, but eventually that misery will overflow. And it will overflow first into the family and then society.

Natural law is the story of how things work. It is the cradle of reason given to us by God so that we will know how we should act to achieve our proper end. And the end? To live in perfect happiness for eternity with our Creator.

The Ten Commandments are specifications of the Natural Law. Christ said, “If you love me keep my commandments.” This is rooted in our nature. Aquinas through and with the Church has incorporated the teaching of the Natural Law into the teaching of Christ.

What can we know? And eventually how do we “know” what is wrong? St. Thomas says that you have two aspects of reason a) the speculative and b) the practical.

The object of speculative reasoning is “being”. And the first principle of the speculative reasoning is self-evident. ‘Being’ cannot be ‘non-being’. This involves the principle of contradiction. A thing cannot be and be at the same time under the same aspect. If I hold up a rock and someone says to me “that’s a pen”. No, it’s not. It’s a rock. It doesn’t write nor have any of the attributes of a pen. And no matter how many times that individual tells me or himself, at times over and over again, that the rock is a pen—does not matter. It is not a pen. Chaos does not come out of order.

Practical reasoning involves the good of something. The good is that which all things seek after. True good is that which is in accord with the nature of thing. Driving to England with that car in Part I would not be a good thing—for you or the car.

The first principle of the natural law, which is the imprint of the eternal law on rational beings, is ‘good’ is to be sought after and ‘evil’ avoided. ‘Evil’ is the absence of ‘good’. John Paul II stated many times, “Do good and avoid evil.”

We know ‘naturally’, espoused by Aquinas, that there are five basic inclinations of human nature which we know to be good: 1) seek the good and the highest good is God. 2) preserve yourself 3) preserve the species 4) live in community 5) to know and to choose.

By making ‘deductions’ from those inclinations we decide good or bad on any action. How do we know stealing is wrong? The very concept goes against community. Abortion, permanent marriage between two people other than a man and a woman, adultery, contraception all involve ‘preserving the species’. John Paul II said that same sex marriage is inherently evil. Why? Because it contradicts the Natural Law. Every January, I believe it’s the 22nd, two completely different sets of groups get together and pray for diametrically opposed reasons or beliefs. One group prays for the end of abortion. The second group prays, thanking God for the ‘right’ to abortion. Reason dictates that the two beliefs cannot be morally correct. They are in conflict. Again, diametrically opposed stances. Both cannot be right.

What is needed to be kept in mind, about the Natural Law, is between the subjective and the objective view. In stealing, is one culpable in that did he know it was wrong to steal and chose to do it anyway. Aquinas says that a specific action can be both morally right and wrong. Was the individual stealing a loaf of bread to keep from starvation? Was there no other way this person could feed himself. Stealing is in and of itself morally wrong. The action is condemned but we are never free to condemn the individual. Not our job.

Subjective culpability is rampant through our culture. Why? Because a major portion of society has either had an incorrect formation of conscience, and ignoring of conscience or a lack of will, laziness, in regards to finding truth and how it should, could and does affect conscience. Why is the Natural Law so important? It is the essential ingredient for the recovery of reason. Moral decisions should not be a question of ‘feeling’. One of the problems of society today is that individuals are ‘feeling’ that some action is correct because it doesn’t hurt anyone else and it ‘feels’ right. Conscience is not an expression of ‘feeling’ or ‘will’ but of judgment.

Do good which is the nature of the thing. A friend wouldn’t tell me to put pomegranate juice in my car in place of gasoline. It is the nature of the car to have gasoline put in it in order for it to run properly. If you are a friend then you want the best advice going to your friend. Gas vs. pomegranate juice. The same applies to abortion. Even though an individual may react by stating that it’s my body and I can do what I want with it, does not preclude the element of stating the reasons and consequences of why abortion is evil and why it should not be committed.

Freedom involves being committed to the “Truth”. If you are not committed to the “Truth” you will end up being a slave in one form or another.