In a recent article in THE GEM STATE PATRIOT, the Rev. Phil DiGregorio presented an excellent discussion about “Natural Law” and its fundamental relationship to our founding principles. Early theological discussions about “Natural Law” can be found not only in the ancient Judeo Christian papyrus-for Christians most notably the New and Old Testaments, but concepts of the Natural Law were discussed by the ancient Greeks. For humanists and agnostics or atheists the Natural Law as defined by different writers generally refers to a moral order inscribed in the world that especially applies to human nature and is made known to all people through faculties of reason.
For those who are Christians a definition provided by St. Thomas Aquinas though similar is very different for self-evident reasons. St. Thomas defined THE NATURAL as a code imprinted in the hearts of all men made known through the faculties of reason, revelation, conscience and faith. The NATURAL LAW according to St. Thomas was constant, never changing and applied to the physical and spiritual world as well as to the world of human social experience.
A recently published book called STRANGE RITES by Tara Isabella Burton hypothesizes-and I think rightly so, that the world we are living in today is becoming progressively more secularized. But just as importantly many of the formerly religious replace institutional religious dogma with intuitional spirituality. What feels good must be right. Concepts of “freewill”, accountability and responsibility for ourselves and others is missing. A smorgasbord approach to faith and the ability to mix and match moral options leads to “ersatz piety and self-veneration”.
Think of Nancy Pelosi taking Biblical verses out of context while consistently voting for the killing of innocent baby boys and girl’s abortion, and then calling herself Catholic. I am not certainly one to judge but I can opine! What about a BLM activist ordering a young women to get on her knees and renounce her “whiteness”? I kneel only to God how about you? Or what about a US Congresswomen demanding collective reparations for the collective sins of slavery? The transaction for forgiveness of sins is personal and is only between God and the sinner. Does that Congresswomen think she is God?
Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses. Think of a piano. It has not got two kinds of notes on it, the ‘right’ notes and the ‘wrong’ ones. Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another. The Moral Law is not any one instinct or set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
It was St. Thomas who made the connection between Natural Law and manmade law. Any mora argument had to be grounded in “1st instances” underlying principles. If not appropriately grounded, the subsequent application of law would be invalid. Rev. DiGregorio made this very point in his article.
Our Founding was grounded in the Principles of Natural Law and it is recognized in or funding documents “The Laws of Nature and Natures God” is a direct reference by Jefferson in our Declaration of St. Thomas’s concept of THE NATURAL LAW.
Customized spirituality and ritual, replacing God as the lawgiver for oneself is a direct refutation of the 1st Commandment—”No other Gods (including yourself) before me”. And what 1st principles are the ANTIFA and BLM activists following? Rage, hate, and envy are emotions not moral principles. These are what define and motivate these types of anarchical movements. The difference between the American Revolution and subsequent Founding based on moral Christian, Natural Law 1st principles, and the French and Bolshevik Revolutions and what is going on in our streets today is exactly the same. There is no liberty without morality. There is no civilization, no road to economic prosperity, no opportunity for upward advancement and mobility without moral underpinnings.
How many innocent people died in the years after the French Revolution millions? After the Russian Revolution? 80 million after the 1st World War then 200 million after the second Stalin. And what about Mao’s Great Leap Forward? 50million or more. And what about Hitler? 80 million or Polpott-10 million. All Godless totalitarian regimes based on personality and emotions exploiting and leveraging the imaginations of the marginalized with the promise of utopia. Sound familiar?
What makes our country “Exceptional” is the fact that we were founded by a Godly people, whose leaders understood the necessary relationship between THE NATURAL LAW and a civil society and civil law. If we ever forget to understand that simple fact, and we fail to embrace our unique great Christian American heritage, we are doomed.
2 replies on “Exceptionalism and “THE NATURAL LAW””
“There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.”
― Ayn Rand
Protect our “freewill” for individual ownership of private property rights, defend liberty, and be held accountability for declarations of reasons and actions to uphold the natural law and share these principles and values that are imprinted in each person’s life.
I make decisions based on the following operational theory.
I choose with other citizens to move criminal justice policies towards liberty for a Constitutional based Civil Society as the most effective means of returning government to its proper role of servant for the people through the Supreme Eternal law which consists of the following three laws. These three laws are the natural law which is the God of nature and humanity that grants us our Bill of Rights through inheritance, law of nature (Universal law – biological cycle) and unnatural law or the law of humanity-probated political regulation (social justice). Where principles trump opportunism and government respects the rights of every citizen. I choose with other citizens to move criminal justice policies toward liberty for a constitutional restorative future.
We demand integrity, accountability, and a solemn commitment from our elected representatives(Peace Officers) to restore our Republic to its founding values as expressed in the Constitution they swear to uphold in their oaths of office.
It is time for all elected officials (Peace Officers) to honor those oaths in word and deed. I champion the principles of individual liberty, limited government and free enterprise within the Civil Society and throughout America.
We work to return the Civil Society to its original Constitutional values as the most effective means of returning government to its proper role of servant of the people through the understanding of Eternal law which consist of the following three laws.
These three laws are the natural law which is the God of nature and humanity that grants you your bill of rights through inheritance, law of nature (Universal law=birth and death), and unnatural law called law of humanity or the political law for civil contract between bodies of primary interest(social justice).
The natural law holds both the law of nature and law of humanity accountable for abuse and misuse for stealing your divine inheritance created by the natural law.
Your sworn oath to the Constitution is the authority granted to you to uphold the supreme law of the land discovered as the natural law.
What is natural law?
“The political significance of grounding values of natural law in fact is immense. For one thing, it allows people to use Natural Law as a standard by which to judge the justice of the law of the land (positive law), or of the ruler, or of a God.
In short, Natural Law theory allows you to weigh whether or not the law is proper, or just.
When the question arises, ‘why should I obey the law of the land? Some people answer, ‘because the law is the law,’ or ‘because you will be punished if you don’t.’
Classical liberal (Pre 19th century) answer instead ‘you should only obey the law if it is in accord with nature.
Is there a better understanding or definition? Please share….
The declaration of independence is the embodiment of the codified natural law for the existence of our living free will that forces the government to recognize “Free Will”.
Our fore fathers provided the ability for each individual to share the expression of a living “free will” that is imprinted in each human heart created through our Eternal law as we each discover hope, faith, and renewed restoration of the soul for life with the freewill to respect and accept the natural law.
This was recorded by our fore fathers as a will and testament which they authored in the U.S. Constitution that provides our inheritance for liberty and described to us in the Bill of Rights that is probated in our daily lives.
We can choose to misuse this inheritance for our next election’s debt or use this for our liberty to keep free the next generation to restore the word and practice the oath for self to be an individual to take action when necessary.
This oath leads creation to a civil society seeking the realm of freedom with a promise that each citizen must volunteer to protect the individual ownership of private property rights and defend liberty.
Therefore, the legitimate purpose of the state, is the protection of man’s natural right to liberty, is procedural in nature and is the promotion for the common good in any political community.
This involves the protection of each man’s natural right to liberty through which he can self-actualize and freely pursue further actions.
In other words, the common good of the political community involves a set of social and legal conditions based on a man’s natural rights derived from the natural law with the authority released through the Eternal law.
This is what the great experiment the founding fathers wrote in their last will and testament for our inheritance found today in the Bill of Rights. We are here to probate the inheritance for the preservation for individual liberty and free will to prepare for tomorrow and live today discovered yesterday.
Defensor fortis