Natural Law

[BayCityRickL]

I did a search and the search engine threw out ‘natural law.’ But, it is an important issue in the Church that is involved in many questions. Maybe we should bring the topic out in the forefront.

The Holy Father said recently “It has always been the Church’s belief that God gave man, with the light of reason, the capacity to be able to know the fundamental truths on life and his destiny and, specifically, the norms of moral behavior.”

One way this has been applied is to marriage. It is considered to be natural law that marriage is between one man and one woman. Now, this is also indicated early in the Bible as well.

If that’s not so clear a case of natural law, consider that the Church goes on to say that the use of contraceptives violates the intent or law of nature by frustrating the possibility of conception.

I hear the Magisterium, all right, but I’m sort of unsettled about how natural law just pops up in the discussion. The enunciation of natural law seems to be bounded by the prejudices, purposes, and intellect of the person making the argument.

How do we know, for example, that all of natural law has been discovered? Some say, only the fittest survive. but, an alternate view is, the adequate survive. So, which is the better statement of natural law?

Does anybody out there have a clear understanding of natural law?

 

[diarmait]

Your question is a little difficult to answer since it calls for someone with a clear understanding of natural law to reply. I thought I’d reply anyway.

Natural law (not the law of nature, like survival of the fittest) is a rule of reason, promulgated by God in man’s nature, whereby man can discern how he should act.

Some basic precepts of natural law are to do good and avoid evil, to shun ignorance, to avoid offending those among whom one has to live, etc.

Of course, we see that not everyone has the same application of natural law when it comes to particular matters, i.e., some people steal from others, which is a clear violation of natural law.

Why does this occur, if God’s law is unchanging and his law is written on our hearts? Although the principles themselves are immutable, they may fail when applied to particular matters. For instance, a sacrifice may need to made on behalf of the nation while natural law tells the individual that self preservation is one of the first principles.

Additionally, the principles of natural law fail due to a defect in the person. For instance, if a person has formed a habt of vice, he will not act in accordance with natural law in certain circumstances.

For more info on natural law, you could read St. Thomas Aquinas:

newadvent.org/summa/209400.htm

 

[Fidelis]

The best place to start is Romans Chapters 1:15 to 2:16. Then you can tackle Aquinas.

usccb.org/nab/bible/romans/romans1.htm

 

[Charity]

BayCityRickL:

…Does anybody out there have a clear understanding of natural law?

Yes, the Catholic Church!

Yes, you and I can clearly understand the natural law. It is written in our hearts. You have been living with its goodness your whole life. What a joy to have an “owner’s manual” of directions inside of us to guide the personal choices made in our conscience: to adore God, to treat ouselves and our neighbor respectfully, and to live according to our redeemed human nature.

CCC
I. The Natural Moral Law
1954 …The natural law is written and engraved in the soul of each and every man, because it is human reason ordaining him to do good and forbidding him to sin . . . But this command of human reason would not have the force of law if it were not the voice and interpreter of a higher reason to which our spirit and our freedom must be submitted.5
1955 …Where then are these rules written, if not in the book of that light we call the truth? In it is written every just law; from it the law passes into the heart of the man who does justice, not that it migrates into it, but that it places its imprint on it, like a seal on a ring that passes onto wax, without leaving the ring.7

I recommend the book 50 Questions on the Natural law: What It Is & Why We Need It, by Charles Rice, pub. Ignatius Press, 1993.

 

[enanneman]

I think that’s why our society is having such a problem with gay marriages, divorce, abortion, and the like. Our society has been steeped in sin for so long that it is difficult for it as a whole to determine right from wrong.

 

[Charity]

enanneman:

I think that’s why our society is having such a problem with gay marriages, divorce, abortion, and the like. Our society has been steeped in sin for so long that it is difficult for it as a whole to determine right from wrong.

“The natural law provides an objective standard of right and wrong. But it is essential to distinguish the objective wrongness of an act from the subjective culpability, if any, of the person who does it.” from 50 Questions on the Natural Law, by C. Rice, p. 29.

Due to the Fall and the resultant consequences of original sin, we are subject to disorderly inclinations and illnesses. Moreover, some individuals exist with intrinsic disorders and specific diseases with a behaviorally compulsive effect, which render it more difficult or at times overwhelming for them to adhere to the natural law, therefore bearing upon their culpability.

For example, according to the natural law, marriage is between one man and one woman. However, some people experience an intrinsically disordered condition of same -sex attraction. They still have the natural law written in their hearts that sex is only good between man and woman in marriage.

CCC Chastity and homosexuality

2357 Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex… Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity,140 tradition has always declared that "homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered."141 **They are contrary to the natural law. **They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

But they have an unchosen DISORDER in which the wrong sexual passions compulsively well up within them…

2358 The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. They do not choose their homosexual condition; for most of them it is a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God’s will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord’s Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.

Due to this internal state of conflict, they may erroneously attempt to approximate the goodness of m-w marriage by seeking the “hybridized” resolution of the oxymoronic " gay marriage". But, happiness cannot be achieved in opposition to the natural law. There is a MUCH better solution to their conflict:

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.

 

[HagiaSophia]

BayCityRickL:

I did a search and the search engine threw out ‘natural law.’ But, it is an important issue in the Church that is involved in many questions. Maybe we should bring the topic out in the forefront…Does anybody out there have a clear understanding of natural law?

The Vatican is apparently preparing to issue something in the not too distant future from this Zenit blurb:

Natural Law a Basis for Dialogue With the World, Says Pope
Asks Theological Commission to Reflect Further on Its Meaning

VATICAN
CITY, OCT. 7, 2004 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II called
for deeper understanding of the natural moral law as the
indispensable condition for dialogue between the Church and the modern world.

The Pope entrusted this task in particular to the International
Theological Commission, when he met with its close to 30
members, who are holding their annual meeting this week in
the Vatican.

Natural law has been a key theme of John
Paul II’s pontificate. He dedicated passages to it in two
of his encyclicals, “Veritatis Splendor” and “Fides et Ratio.”

Explaining the meaning of the natural moral law during the audience, the Pope said: “It has always been the Church’s belief that God gave man, with the light of reason, the capacity
to be able to know the fundamental truths on life and his destiny and, specifically, the norms of moral behavior.”

“Making our peers aware of this possibility is very important for
dialogue with men of good will and for coexistence in
all levels on a common ethical foundation,” the Holy Father
added.

“Christian revelation does not render this search useless,” he said.“On the contrary, it pushes us to search, lighting up
the path with the light of Christ, in whom everything
is consistent.”

John Paul II considered it especially appropriate to entrust
this challenge to the members of the International Theological Commission,as he counts on their “experience in the different countriesof the world” and their “knowledge of the theological problems.”

The commission’s members are appointed by the Pope for a period of five years. To guarantee its international character, in general no two theologians come from the same country. An effort
is also made to have diverse theological schools represented."