Correct. We know absolute Truths about the 5th Command. One of those truths, an absolute, unalterable one, is that the just use of the Death Penalty is not a violation of the 5th Commandment, rather it is an act that is obedience to that Commandment.
This is a universal, unalterable fact. An absolute truth about the 5th Commandment.
“You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment.” --Matthew 5:21-22
The Apostolic teaching is that not to forgive is murder and not that obedience to the Fifth Commandmenf requires the execution of a prisoner.
What CAN be discussed is what constitutes a ‘just use’. Of that we also know absolute, universal truths.
“Whoever hateth his brother, is a murderer. And you know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in himself.” --1John 3:15
In this verse of 1John, hate is murder, an attitude of unforgiveness. This is the apostolic preaching, and I would not accept that Trent could alter it in any fashion but could provide only an understanding of what was correct at that point in time. Why then the exclusive focus on Trent?
First of which is Justice is not a ‘what’ but a ‘who’. God IS Justice. It is not something that He posseses, it is not even a PART of His existence. The two realities, God and Justice, are inseperable. This too, is an absolute, universal truth.
What is closer to true is that God’s ‘justice’ is both justice and mercy. Yes, God IS, and it becomes an ontological question of whether man can, by the intellect, now and understand the nature of God, the essence that IS. That this is possible for man is a rather grand assumption. My experience is this is not a thing that can be known by reading a document but is open to mysticism. In the instance of capital punishment, intuition could suffice.
So what that means, then an act of Justice can only be determined by what is, or is not offensive to God.
God, being unchanging, is
And man is capable of fully understanding what IS? Is man’s understanding equal to God’s, the understanding of he who knows everything? The topic is capital punishment, and this is straying far, far afield.
It does not require fullness of truth to know absolutes truths. Absolute Truths are facts that are, as you correctly stated, universal and unchanging.
Of course it requires fullness of truth to fully understand that truth. It is beginning to seem it is futile to continue, and in that respect it is noted that Catholic teaching rejects fundamentalism.
It requires no additional revelation to know that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. That is an absolute truth that was given to the Church in revelation. And, as an absolute truth, it is unchanging. Every Eucharistic Host is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. That is true at the Last Supper, and every Mass today, and every Mass until the end of the world. It is an absolute Truth.
Was this universally thought in early Christianity before there was an ordained priesthood? Or did the earliest Christians not yet have a concept of how transubstantiation might be accomplished? * Was what was revealed at the Last Supper at that moment universally understood?* Do you see? This is the point. It is
not that what was revealed at the Last Supper is not true. The point is that not all has yet been revealed, man does not yet know what God has not revealed and what has been revealed is not necessary fully understood in the moment of its revelation.
This is what you are disputing by maintaining Trent knew the full revelation that is known only to God and only revealed at the end of time.
We can also known absolute, unchanging truths about the Trinity, Mary, the human soul. Does it mean that we will not unravel new truths, no. But the absolute thruths will remain unchanged. The Trinity will always be 3 Divine Persons in 1 Godhead. Will we, through enlightend reason and greater insights, learn new truths about the Trinity, most assuredly. But the truths that we DO know will remain unchanged, there will be no 4th Person, there will be no multiple Godheads,
Multiple Godheads? Multiple Godheads! We were once discussing capital punishment. What might be a ‘new truth’ with respect to Apostolic teaching? Did not these things become more fully understood as time went on and a fuller understanding developed? Why Catholic theology? Is the Trinity three ‘persons’, or is it that the Personhood concept is exegesis? What of the trefoil, the three-leaf clover? Is it three ‘persons’? Man seeks spirtual truth, but I believe this involves a process both in the world and of a person. Does a child understand what there is to know or does an understanding develop only as time passes? We are not equal to Christ, and I don’t know how to make it any clearer.
But it can articulate, as absolute truths, certain facts about Faith and Morals. Those too are absolute
There can be an approach to understanding what is absolute. There is Zeno’s Paradox. Think of a distance of 100 feet, a finish line. A person travels 50 feet, half the distance or 25 feet. He then travels half the remaining distance, and then does so again for half of the remaining distance, and then does so again and again…infinitely. This requires time and the absolute goal is never reached. Without going into great complexity concerning the nature of God, I don’t see how this could be further explained, especially when the topic is capital punishment.
