Natural Law "the law that is written on the heart of Man"

[CradleCath]

Some alternate views about what is written on our hearts.

In Luke 10:25-37 when asked the important question Who is my neighbor? Jesus doesn’t provide a set of rules or even a methodology. Instead He teaches us by telling a story where the good guy works it out for himself.

Paul is likewise flexible - as in all of 1 Cor 13. (Romans 2:14-15 is then about instinctive morality supplemented by individual conscience, while 2:16 is about God judging how well we did.)

Scripture is likewise not static. See for example the last paragraph of the section True God vs. false gods in Cardinal Ratzinger’s commentary on Genesis 1-3 - “In the Bible itself the images are free and they correct themselves ongoingly. In this way they show, by means of a gradual and interactive process, that they are only images, which reveal something deeper and greater.”

Sorry, but I don’t think that Scripture will “correct itself” to the point where the Words of Christ: " At the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one.** Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." are meaningless. ** Divorce happens, it’s the remarriage that constitutes the problem. Though the couple no longer lives together & one spouse receives financial help from the other, the marriage still exists according to Christ.

 

[CradleCath]

One alternative view to explain moral intuitions is that they are rooted in (though far from exhaustibly accounted for by) evolution rather than a supernatural extra-added ingredient called a conscience.

Mice have been shown to demonstrate a greater distress at the suffering of familiar mice than unfamiliar ones. Monkeys will starve themselves to prevent their cage-mates from receiving painful shocks. Chimpanzees have a demonstrable sense of fairness when receiving food rewards. These are precisely the sorts of repeatable scientific facts about the world one would expect if our morality were the product of evolution. This must be what is meant by “written on our hearts” if that expression has any basis in what we now know about how the world works.

You’re so right & your knowledge of animal studies is very informing. While I’m not nearly as enamored re. the Theory of Evolution, as I was 30 yrs. ago…Evolution doesn’t negate Natural Law.

If this theory proves true, there has to be that “missing link”, the first human being capable of rational thought. I believe, that the first man, whether he evolved…or was named Adam & set down whole in the Garden of Eden…possessed the Law that is written on the heart of man.

Perhaps the innate knowledge of right or wrong, evolved as we evolved???

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

The point is that everyone values wellbeing though we don’t completely understand what wellbeing is and how to increase wellbeing.

Ah, so it is possible to rationally come to different conclusions about what constitutes well being. Therefore it is also possible to rationally deduce different rules in an attempt to maximize well being. Natural law does not therefore arise exclusively from reason, but rather from personal beliefs about well being. I propose that cultures imbue a majority of their members with a shared conception of well being, and thereby construct their own natural laws which are agreed upon by the majority of its people. It is understandable that someone from the culture could say: “look our natural law is clearly the best, by any rational measure” but that statement would likely be made out of ignorance. If this person were to learn about other cultures, he would likely be forced to admit their natural laws are better at maximizing their concept of well being.

 

[grannymh]

What needs to be learned first is what constitutes human nature.

There are many threads/posts on morality which are based on the obvious practice of relativism, sometimes disguised as rational thinking. The use of relativism along with subjective thinking runs across the board. Usually, non-theists win because they are allowed to skip the idea of
a non-material soul.

However, once one looks at the actual nature of a human person which is basically material/non-material, one finds the dignity of the human person. The human person occupies a distinct place in the universe because in her or his own nature there is the unique unification of the spiritual and material worlds. The dignity of the human person is the given which exists universally without the need for anyone’s affirmation.

Morality is seen as the application of respect for the human person.
Immorality occurs when respect for the dignity of the human person is denied.

 

[Benadam]

Human nature is egoless. There is law written on the heart that is put there by God alone,law put there by man alone, and law put there by God using a human hand.

Before the wound of original sin, it was natural for man to be disinterested in the self in relation to others. To be a disinterested gift of self. This state of being was preserved by refusal to grieve a heart.

When we talk of natural law we are talking about what grieved or pleased the heart before human nature was wounded. Before man’s ego cast it’s long shadow over the landscape of human history. All other law written on the heart since has been engraved by human hands. Some ordered toward man’s true nature some not. Good moral law imo has been engraved by prophet and sage and maternal love guarded by the bonds of holy matrimony.:twocents:

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Human nature is egoless. There is law written on the heart that is put there by God alone,law put there by man alone, and law put there by God using a human hand.

Before the wound of original sin, it was natural for man to be disinterested in the self in relation to others. To be a disinterested gift of self. This state of being was preserved by refusal to grieve a heart.

When we talk of natural law we are talking about what grieved or pleased the heart before human nature was wounded. Before man’s ego cast it’s long shadow over the landscape of human history. All other law written on the heart since has been engraved by human hands. Some ordered toward man’s true nature some not. Good moral law imo has been engraved by prophet and sage and maternal love guarded by the bonds of holy matrimony.:twocents:

So what about psychopaths? They clearly lack any sense of “Natural Law” yet are very definitely people. Did God mess up the engraving of their hearts?

 

[grannymh]

So what about psychopaths? They clearly lack any sense of “Natural Law” yet are very definitely people. Did God mess up the engraving of their hearts?

Of course not.

Natural Law is an objective principle and not a subjective principle.

This means that Natural Law exists independently of any person in any physical or mental condition, living, dead, or yet to be born. Natural Law does not depend on anyone’s affirmation. Before you and I were born, Natural Law existed as an objective principle and it will continue to exist as an objective principle long after our anatomies have decomposed.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

Of course not.

Natural Law is an objective principle and not a subjective principle.

This means that Natural Law exists independently of any person in any physical or mental condition, living, dead, or yet to be born. Natural Law does not depend on anyone’s affirmation. Before you and I were born, Natural Law existed as an objective principle and it will continue to exist as an objective principle long after our anatomies have decomposed.

So how do you know that your version of natural law is that timeless one? You could be a psychopath and not know it.

 

[Benadam]

So what about psychopaths? They clearly lack any sense of “Natural Law” yet are very definitely people. Did God mess up the engraving of their hearts?

We all lack a sense of our true nature in various degrees in various ways. It wasn’t God who messed up our hearts. The preternatural gifts that would make a psychopath an impossibility require that the higher faculties govern the body. As it is, the involuntary movements of the body obstruct the order required to preserve our physiological intergrity.

 

[Benadam]

So how do you know that your version of natural law is that timeless one? You could be a psychopath and not know it.

Well, since it is a timeless reality, time will have to be waited on. In the end it will be something unhidden, and for most of us, since it is our nature we are talking about, it will be as if it was always there to be dis-covered if we had loved the truth of it.

 

[grannymh]

So how do you know that your version of natural law is that timeless one? You could be a psychopath and not know it.

Does a tad crazy count.

From granny’s post 27. Natural Law is an objective principle and not a subjective principle.

This means that Natural Law exists independently of any person in any physical or mental condition, living, dead, or yet to be born. Natural Law does not depend on anyone’s affirmation. Before you and I were born, Natural Law existed as an objective principle and it will continue to exist as an objective principle long after our anatomies have decomposed.

As you can read, Natural Law as an objective truth does exist before and after you and me. Calling it timeless is what it is. It just so happens that my version/explanation is what it is.

Something which is not timeless would most likely fit in the subjective or relativism category.

 

[TheTrueCentrist]

It just so happens that my version/explanation is what it is.

Its true you can define the concept however you like, and claim that it has existed forever, but that alone does not give your concept any special significance.

 

[grannymh]

Its true you can define the concept however you like, and claim that it has existed forever, but that alone does not give your concept any special significance.

Tiny confession.

Actually, I prefer to present the basis for Natural Law or morality, because it is too easy for people to shift to subjective based concepts like the example above.
The base or foundation for Natural Law/morality is this: The human person is worthy of profound respect.

From reading many CAF posts, in my humble opinion, the simple universal truth that the human person is worthy of profound respect gets tangled with subjective reasoning and relativism and ends up in the circular file.

In other words, the OP is absolutely right –

From post 1. Natural law is law whose content derives naturally from human nature or physical nature, and therefore has universal validity. Whether one is Catholic or Atheist or Morman the Natural Law is universally binding.

 

[CradleCath]

Of course not.

Natural Law is an objective principle and not a subjective principle.

This means that Natural Law exists independently of any person in any physical or mental condition, living, dead, or yet to be born. Natural Law does not depend on anyone’s affirmation. Before you and I were born, Natural Law existed as an objective principle and it will continue to exist as an objective principle long after our anatomies have decomposed.

Thank God. Sanity still exists.

 

[Benadam]

Its true you can define the concept however you like, and claim that it has existed forever, but that alone does not give your concept any special significance.

I have noticed something significant about it. Once we have recieved a truth about our true nature, whether or not it is accepted consciously, we are forever changed. It is timeless human life and can have an obvious or sublime dynamic in the human life that has recieved it. Either it will be assimilated or driven down to the floor of our minds and buried. Either way, It’s a living reality and we are forever changed because it is the human image and likeness that God created. We can believe a lie about it but we can never coompletely sever it once known because it is our self.

 

[grannymh]

I have noticed something significant about it. Once we have recieved a truth about our true nature, whether or not it is accepted consciously, we are forever changed. It is timeless human life and can have an obvious or sublime dynamic in the human life that has recieved it. Either it will be assimilated or driven down to the floor of our minds and buried. Either way, It’s a living reality and we are forever changed because it is the human image and likeness that God created. We can believe a lie about it but we can never coompletely sever it once known because it is our self.

I agree because I have had that happen to me – recently – regarding my soul..

 

[Benadam]

I agree because I have had that happen to me – recently – regarding my soul..

May the day of your birth be blessed.