Shownotes Transcript
Life Matters is your program on the right to life, on the culture that has emanated from that singular and foundational premise: the idea that your life is actually a gift given by your creator and not given by the government.
And yet the government does have a specific role in your life. It has a responsibility, and that responsibility is to ensure your right to be alive. All of the rights that you have emanate from your existence. It is a very simple premise, but it is clear and straight-forward. And America's Founders put it in writing in the Declaration of Independence.
The American Founders in the Declaration of Independence told the whole world about these rights that emanate from every human life, endowed by their Creator. They felt an obligation to clarify that the laws they were claiming weren’t merely asserted because they had now 'seized power,' that they could somehow make new rules becausethey had taken over government. "A decent respect for the opinions of mankind compel us to give the reasons that we are breaking these bonds, these unjust bonds," that had previously held them to the Old World.
And they were very clear on why they were ethically, morally and legally justified. They gave objective facts that can be demonstrated and seen through natural law. They were invoking principals therefore, that were not personal or self-created, but could be objectively recognized by deliberative people throughout the world.
Today Life Matters is going in-depth into natural law - why you should know it and be familiar with it as a premise, why it's not something you should be afraid of. It's a very important foundational element for understanding the right to life, because the right to life is an assertion from natural law principles revealed in nature.
Commissioner Johnston spends extra time talking about that in order for you to understand why the ideas arrayed against natural law are so wrong. We're going to do what's known as a contrastive analysis, a comparative and contrastive analysis with, ‘the other way’ of looking at laws, ‘positivist law’.
This other way of looking at laws is where you can come up with your own ideas. “How 'bout I come up with a new idea for new laws, to address this ‘new age’ we now live in?” You see, laws are basically ideas that are enforced. And what America's Founders said, and what much of WesternCivilization reinforced, is that there are principles that can be seen in nature: a ‘higher law.’
WesternCivilization actually carries an ongoing assertion about mankind. This assertion is rather essential, and of course it is held to be ‘self-evident.’ The very fact that you can consider it, reveals a deeper reality - that is, that human beings are more than merely animals. Human beings are able to see and understand spiritual things, that human beings have a spirit as well as a soul and a body. This is an important principle of Western Civilization.
Judeo-Christian tradition asserts such in the “Imago Dei” - the premise that mankind is made in the image and likeness of God. The Greek and Roman traditions also viewed mankind as ‘a little lower than gods.’ And indeed, in the Greek and Roman worlds , humans were capable of making the transformation to godhood, an apotheosis, “becoming a god” should their life and ‘genius,’ or spirit, reach a destiny of fulfillment.
We will examine this natural or higher law now and in our next episode exploring the contrastive principles of relativism and in particular, some of the philosophy that your opponents routinely use to dismiss the notion of a higher law, or perhaps more pointedly, the assertion that their ‘relativistic view of laws’ should be higher still.
There are people who oppose your right to assert there even is a, “right to life.” They oppose the idea that all innocent lives should be protected. They oppose it and they have new ideas which they wish to substitute to govern you and all others.
Where did they get those ideas? We're going to talk about Hegel and the relativist philosophers that justify much of the opposition you're seeing right now. Right now there is virulent opposition to the premise of the right to life. Many of those advocates of killing human babies, of euthanizing your grandma, they've never heard of Hegel. And yet, they've adopted a world-view that emanates from his teachings. They've been imbued with ‘values’ that justify the government -sponsored killing of these babies, and those dependent and elderly, or sick - and maybe some of them aren't sick. They're simply seen as less than perfect, less than human. A Hegelian Progressive view of the world justifies this.
So this battle of ideas is very, very real. I'm going to give you some very tangible examples. Unless you understand that the right to life is a self-evident truth, as America's Founders said, you're not going to be equipped for this battle. But the right to life is based on objective facts, demonstrable facts, the fact that that baby's heart is beating as early as 18 days after conception. Or that it has unique DNA proclaiming their humanity in every cell of their dynamic body. This has nothing to do with my belief. That's an objective physical fact about a human child, about you. You were once that size. And science declares every cell in that child's body declares that that's unique human being. The DNA is a combination of the mother and father, and that unique signature is used by science to demonstrate individual lives. Science is confirming and echoing the objective reality of the God of nature.
And we're going to spend time today going into depth, into natural law and why you should understand it. And especially if you're a Christian, I want you to understand it, because if you're a Christian, you say that you know this God that made nature. And I do have frustration at times with Christians I know who don't want to deal with the world of ideas. They say they don't want to deal with science or they're intimidated by science, when in fact, it should be Christians who are most interested and most committed to understanding what is objectively true. And that's what science tries to figure out.
Now some people falsely assert a 'false science.' They have madeconclusions and are simply trying to create evidence to support a conclusion already in hand. Wrongo. This is not uncommon, and particularly in our era of 'talking heads' and forced public-policy isbased on who talks loudest and longest.
But if you claim to be a Christian, you should be the best equipped to demonstrate why a falsehood is false. If you haven't spent time in learning how to observe what God has made and realize, as it says in the Book of Romans: Chapter 1 - Verse 20, that ‘God has revealed His invisible nature through His visible creation, so they're all without excuse.’ If you don’t understand that God has proclaimed truth objectively, and that truth is objectively proveable, you will simply fall back on your feelings and opinions, and that worst of all possible assertions for making laws to rule others… “because I believe it.”
All of us have no excuse to dismiss self-evident truths, and especially Christians who believe in the Creator. He has demonstrated that in natural law, in the laws of nature and of nature's God. You should really be the best at understanding and promoting natural law and the laws of nature and nature's God. And if you're not a Christian, listen in to these scriptures anyways. They're not scary. They are self-evident truths. And you'll be amazed that it's actually those who oppose the right to life, it's actually those who oppose the laws of nature and nature's God, those who oppose self-evident truth; they're the religiousones. They have a belief system that they've adopted. They've made it their own and they're committed to it. And it is not founded in objective facts, but the conjectures of their “belief.’
Founded in assertions, and conjectures, Hegelian Progressives are seeking to prop up a sweeping and ‘spiritualized’ world view in order to justify their undying passion to move forward. To ‘progress’ to new truths and to a truly ‘just’ brave new world.
Well, as pro-lifers, we're asserting that killing an innocent baby in the womb actually violates natural law. The laws of nature and of nature's God is that it's a self evident truth that that is a human baby that can't defend his or herself. Before our times that was demonstrated in the English Common Law. The child was legally protected from the moment that objective evidence existed that he or she was alive. As soon as there was 'quickening' (that movement of the child in the womb could be detected),that the baby could kick, then it was obviously a unique human being and was now protected under the English Common Law. That was a demonstration of physical evidence and it demonstrated a 'self-evident truth,' that there was a human being present and alive.
And then later, Dr. Horatio's Storer, who is the Founder of ModernGynecology, started a legal crusade to protect these children in the late 1860s. He insisted that in the United States abortion be clearly outlawed because it was so obvious wrong from his study of childbirth in the UK. (In the UK they were protected in the Crimes Against the Person Act.)
Dr. Storer, through his medical exposition, demonstrated this is a unique human being. As he said, “This child is my patient.’ So these are assertions of natural law. Self-evident truths in the appeal to natural law are very important when we seek to enforce civil laws in our society.
And it goes way back. It goes back to the time of Aristotle, who was an observer of nature and a natural philosopher. He asserted that there was a prime mover, a great designer who designed all things. And that's why truths and objective facts could be validly observed, and you could make sense out of your observations. He referred to the moral qualities revealed in nature as natural law. Aristotle was a Greek, but when the Romans came along, Cicero was probably the best known of the legal advocates in Roman law to assert natural law. Certain facts had to be followed because they were self-evident and revealed to be morally justified or morally wrong based on what others could observe in nature. So he wasn't asserting that law should be made up by tyrants. Those with power can make up whatever law they want. He was appealing to a higher law.
Cicero was an eloquent advocate for natural law and really one of those who greatly influenced Roman law. And then, throughout the Middle Ages, the laws that various European nations adopted emanated from the Roman law. Thomas Aquinas, in the Middle Ages, took these principles and he elucidated them. He underscored the fact that natural law, the laws of nature and nature's God are evident, and should be followed in a just society.
These are self-evident facts, objective truths that can be seen. So I want to take just a second as we're talking at this stage that there is a contrast between objective truths and conjectured truths.
When we talk about relativism, ideas that are conjectured to be “true and asserted to be true, and sometimes ‘temporarily true,’ for me, or for you. But everyone can have their ‘own truth.’ Sometimes, those who make such assertions and conjectures feel a need to justify their conjectured truths and they'll claim scientific evidence to validate it, but remember, by invoking science, they are suggesting that nature is proclaiming it, and that it can be seen in nature! (A silent salute to natural law!). In the very process of fighting nature’s dicta, they invoke natural law principles!
We'll spend some time talking about such false science. And in our next episode, we'll go into great depth about a philosophy known as Hegelian progressivism that has its own, 'pseudo science' to justify incredible moral turpitude by governments. Hegel is a very important philosopher. Most of us haven't spent a lot of time with Hegel. And yet, as you will see in our next episode, Hegelian philosophy has imbued our current era, and is in direct war with natural law.
So the reason you need to know that the right to life is rooted in natural law is because that's the foundation of your assertions. You need to assert what is objectively true about a human child or about an elderly patient that's vulnerable. Maybe they're in physical pain, but you can deal with the physical pain. That doesn't mean you need to kill them. And yet, false thinking and false science is being used to justify wanton killing under the law. Ultimately, these are debates about what is a ‘just law.’
So I told my Christian friends I would spend some time in the scriptures. And if you're not a Christian, that's OK. These scriptures won't hurt you. But you need to know as a Christian that you should understand natural law.
Throughout the scripture, the God of Scripture is asserting that His presence is demonstrated in nature. Psalm 19 says,the heavens are declaring the glory of God that night unto night is being proclaimed and there's no country in the world, there's no language where the language of the heavens are not understood. It is proclaimed and known to everyone that there is a God who made all things, and therefore a God to whom we are responsible. This may seem very simplistic, but it is it's actually straightforward. It's not complicated. In order to avoid the evidence of God’s presence, it is we who must complicate and distract from its self-evident proclamation.
Acts 17:22-29. Paul was learned in the Hebrew scriptures, but he was a Hellenic Greek. And in Tarsus, where he grew up, he learned Greek and he learned Greek poetry, obviously, because he quoted Greek poets when he went to Athens at Mars Hill. He told the Greeks there again, he wanted to speak in their language, not just verbally, but culturally. He wanted to relate to them, where they lived emotionally and intellectually. He pointed out that, “You have an altar here on Mars Hill to the unknown God. Well, that's great, because I want to tell you about this God you don't know, that He has made himself physically evident. In fact, “in Him we live and move and have our being.”
Paul is explaining to others that God is here, now. God is not far away. Everything that has been made is made by God. And all of creation exists in God because you can't go anywhere to escape from Him. He existed before anything else existed. And therefore, wherever you go, there He is. David said that in the Psalms. (Psalm 139:7-12) He said, “If I took the wings of the dawn, you'd still find me. Where can I go to run and hide from you? I can't. If I descended into the deepest hell, you would still be there.”
So of all people, Christians SHOULD know, God is here. And that's a very important principle in natural law. Truth can be known right now, right where you are. It's not a far-away thing. And you have heard the phrase ‘Just be here now?’ You should also know that refers also tothe kingdom of God. The more you read in scriptures about God's kingdom, you'll learn - it's right now. Listen to the verb tenses that God uses. It's right now. And very often we may misunderstand when it is said that the kingdom of God is at hand or the kingdom of God is nigh. It's actually saying “it's right here, right next to you. Just turn around.” (Matthew 6:33; Mark1:15; Luke 17:20-21) It should be crystal clear to committed Christians: The kingdom of God is in the present. And we have to understand that about truth. God has made known His truth. Right now. And it's revealed in nature right now. So being in the present is an important part of understanding God's kingdom rather than adhering toconjectures about who God is.
Conjectures and misplaced preconceptions are what bring us problems. And I think you'll recall some of the stories, the parables Jesus told. In the parable of the talents, it was that last servant he gave a talent to who got things wrong. The misinformed and worthless servant had conjectured about who God is. He didn't really know his Master. (Matthew25:20-30) He wasn’t watching and observing his master, didn't spend time right now understanding the nature of God. And that's what we are called to do - spend time in the PRESENT, observing and noting the things of God, physically and then spiritually. He has most immediately manifestedHimself in His physical creation.
Remember, whenever God identifies himself, He uses the present tense verb- constantly. Literally “I am who am.” God is in the present. And you're in the present too, right now. You're invited right now into His presence. So if you're not a Christian, you should know that God is inviting you. He is present and He's inviting you through Jesus to have forgiveness for your errors because that's what sin means. You made a mistake. It's an error. You missed it. You simply don’t get what He has already shown you in nature.
Sin means to miss a target. It’s from old English archery. You miss it. And once you realize you're missing it, it is a great opportunity to adjust, and take a better shot with that new understanding. Nature is still proclaiming, “God is still here,” and because He is eternal and unchanging, He still loves you and wants to hang out with you. You can have that opportunity through Jesus, through the Christ.
One of the most compelling truths about natural law, and understanding truth through looking closely at nature is said in, 'He who made the eyecan see and you can see me,” a very straight forward deduction from natural law in the present. The God who made the eye can see. You have the ability to see. Therefore, it is only logical that your Maker also is able to see. (Ps 94:9)
And of course, throughout the Old Testament when God and the Jews rebuke heathens for their ignorance, for their misconceptions; they point to the obvious: made idols. The idols can't see or do anything. They're phony, carved of wood or stone. They were made up. They are arbitrary. They were conjectures. They're made up out of the futility of the mind of the misled individual. But what those individuals needed to do is simply look closely at what God had actually made: (Jeremiah51:17-19)
God is. He always was. He always will be. He always remains the same. He's here and He wants to show Himself to you. He has demonstrated that and He is demonstrating it through nature. And once you recognize His existence, then you can start seeking Him. You have to, as it says in Hebrews (Heb. 11:6), “Those who come to God must first believe that He is”. This is the starting point. He Is - right now. And then it says they must also believe, “He is a reward for those who diligently seek Him”. So in all these statements of scripture, as we talk about natural law, we can talked about it in depth, both with Christians and those who aren't! All of us live surrounded by the natural world, which is imbued with ‘demonstrating truth.’
We're talking about coming to an understanding of what really is, what is really true, and that's God. God made all things. And He's trying to tell you that.
That's what natural law is. That's what America's founders were appealing to - the laws of nature and of nature's God, to knowable and ‘self-evident truth'.
There's so many other scriptures I want to share with you. The scriptures are replete with demonstrating that God is in the present. And if you want to follow God, you must also live in the present. And you must also take the time to consider deeply.
I know there are a lot of people who look at the stars, but they don't consider the deeper significance of the vastness of creation and the designer of creation, so in our next episode we'll spend a little time contrasting the ‘natural law’ with arbitrary ‘synthetic law’. We are doing a comparative and a contrasting analysis of relativism and natural law. You should be an advocate of natural law and you should be able to disprove those relativists, those who are asserting their own conjectures about laws they think should be there. But you, if you believe God made all things and especially if you claim a relationship with Him, you should be able to demonstrate what the good and just principles of God's nature are that He's revealed in nature.
Again, if you're a Christian, you should be a master of natural law.
Progressivism is the passionate religion of cultural‘progress’. It's actually a faith in conjectured principles, in things that the particular branch of that religion may deeply believe. So there's a lot of feelings, a lot of strong feelings in the religion of progressivism. And I do want to remind you, if you're a Christian, you know that you're not supposed to build your faith on feelings. That's one of your problems. It's true. And Christians who think religion and feelings are the same thing only get in trouble. You need to build your faith on who God is, on the principles He has laid out for you to consider - not on how you feel about Him or His principles. You will make big mistakes if feelings are your guide. Remember the unworthy servant and the talents.
Following and empowering feelings is a big error of those who follow Hegelian progressivism and in our next episode I'm going to spend time again with Hegel, because you may not know his name, but the philosophy of Hegel has infected our culture and seduced it to make conjectures, unsubstantiated and emotional conjectures, to be honored as ‘new truth’. They are the “new truths” for this very-secular religion, this belief system that is at war with sound thinking.
They say that US Treasury agents are taught to recognize counterfeit money by spending lots of time with real currency, feeling and examining and understanding its qualities. The real thing is their basis of knowledge. Then, they can readily recognize counterfeits. So it is with the principles of natural law
When you truly are rooted in an understanding and appreciation of natural law as the premise for just laws and “self-evident truth,” you will have a clearer ability to see the seductive deceitfulness of progressivism’s ways and influence on every aspect of our culture. You will be able to detect and reveal it for what it is: counterfeit ‘truth’.
Hegelian progressivism is compellingly seductive. You will see why. These are dangerous ideas. Remember, you're in a battle of ideas. So sharpen your intellectual tools, “Gird up the loins of your mind.’ Be ready for this battle, because life is at stake.