The Theory of Natural Law

It was a wonderful group that came together at Trinity this past Sunday to study once again CS Lewis and his book Mere Christianity. I had many people ask me for the video links and I am only able to offer two. The first is the quotes link that I began the talk with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvJfk5mIi08 and the second is the single surviving talk of the BBC CS Lewis radio series found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHxs3gdtV8A  I am sorry to say that the discussion from session II is not available online.

I wanted to talk tonight about the theory of Natural Law that Lewis proposed as a central theme in the first five chapters of Mere Christianity. As a layperson with a specialty in science, I am not as well versed as I should be in matters of philosophy and theology; however, Reverend Jim Hammond spoke to me on Sunday about the reality of this theory, and I therefore became curious as to its origins. For those of you that missed the Sunday session, Natural Law is the idea that man, independent of culture or learned behavior, has a sense universally of right and wrong. Lewis maintains that the universe has a creator that allows all humans to sense the Natural Law (a moral authority), but that unlike other laws of nature, the humans also have an ability to go against or reject Natural Law.

I think that maybe all of this makes sense to those of us who are products of western culture. But I was thinking about this yesterday and today in terms of an eastern viewpoint. Is that sense of right and wrong the same, or is it different based on human cultural experience? Certainly, there are many times when I look at the human condition, and I myself wonder.

My only personal encounter with this question was a trip to China that I was privileged to take several years ago. I was a guest of educators in the Shandong Province and specifically spent time in Qufu, the home of Confucius. I think what really struck me about this life changing trip was the fact that I laughed and enjoyed the Chinese from Beijing to Qufu as much as any other cultural people that I have ever encountered in all of my travels around the world. Secondly, the beauty of China is simply unbelievable, the art simply breathtaking, and the sense of culture unsurpassed. Finally. I was completely enamored with Confucius; the school that he built, his home and his family, and the incredibly gorgeous woods that housed his family burial grounds. I could not get over that as a 'westerner' my knowledge of him was limited to an American Chinese fortune cookie mentality. I was humbled by his life work, and I was so honored to have visited his home and the campus of his school. I was honored to visit modern day Qufu, and to visit the schools and children and teachers that reside in that area of our world. They were so gracious and kind. Their good nature was spontaneous and self-evident. To me personally, forever, Natural Law is alive and well in Shandong.

I guess I want to end this blog tonight with uncertainty. The Westerner in me believes in fairy tales, and yet I understand that human culture in both the west and the east is riddled with anything but the Natural Law. I hear and read of not only historical accounts of human atrocities, but of current event accounts of unbelievable cruelties (sometimes in the name of God). Perhaps this is why I go to church and pray.  I have no answers...except for God.