Natural Law: God Commands What Is Good

Natural law is summarized in a few words: God commands what is good.

Luther emphasized natural law in his writings. For those of us who survived the 1960's, natural law is the medicine to cure many ills of society.

The Sixties began the Long March of radicalism through society. God's Law was viewed and taught as oppressive, evil, and traumatic for free souls yearning to express themselves.

People do not use their brains well under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Suddenly those who operated in a haze became cool. Self-destruction was not enough. Taking over institutions was the real goal.

Now we live in an illegal drug culture. The price of crossing over from Mexico to Arizona includes carrying a large bag of drugs to sell. Human mules carry contrabrand for American consumption. But that is OK for people in their free time.

Natural law means that the government is formed to reflect what God has commanded. The U.S. Constitution is not a theocratic document, mandating religion, but it does assume religion. The Declaration of Independence names freedom as a God-given right, self-evident.

When Judge Bork was being borked (a verb created to show how Ted Kennedy and others treated him), he rested his hand on the Constitution. Bork sinned against the radicals. When he was teaching at Yale Law School, he opposed a move to deny recruiting rights to any law firm that discrminated against homosexuals. The radicals never forgave him for this; they could not let a distinguished legal scholar help turn the nation back to natural law.

Some implications of natural law:
1. Marriage between men and women is good, and the complete family is the backbone of society.
2. Children need both parents when growing up, because God created the family as the best way to nurture the young.
3. Self-destructive behavior (like drug abuse) is bad enough to be punished by society, and even more to be punished and restricted when it affects others.
4. There will always be deviations from the norms of natural law, but there is no hope when deviations become the norm and traditional ethics are punished.

Bishop Opposes Hetero Marriage Law in Puerto Rico

This priest, Gene Robinson, left his wife to live with his partner. When he was elected bishop, requiring the votes of other bishops, the Episcopal Church finally became unglued. The Puerto Rican bishop supported Robinson.

PUERTO RICO: Episcopal Bishop Opposes Legislation Establishing Heterosexual Marriage

Alvarez Accuses Opposition Christian Leaders of "Fundamentalism"

By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
1/14/2008

The Episcopal Bishop of Puerto Rico, David A. Alvarez, has started a campaign on the island opposing Joint Resolution 99, approved by the Senate and being considered by the House of the Puerto Rican legislature, establishing marriage as solely between one man and one woman.

A referendum will be held later this year, on Election Day, allowing the people to vote on a constitutional amendment establishing marriage as a heterosexual union between a man and a woman only. The bill was already approved in the Senate, by a two thirds majority, and has strong support in the House.

A huge Evangelical sector also backs the bill, according to Dr. Dennis Paris an Anglican priest, Psychologist and Professor at the University of Puerto Rico.

"Alvarez believes the Civil Cod, and not the churches, should decide the social order and he has branded evangelicals and other groups who oppose his position as fundamentalists", Paris told VirtueOnline.

An article in El Nuevo Dia, the largest Spanish language newspaper in Puerto Rico, reports that Alvarez wrote to the president of the joint commission dealing with the project in the House, opposing the amendment saying it would discriminate against the rights of certain groups. Alvarez also stated that the Episcopal Church was in favor of including civil unions between homosexual couples in the proposed Civil Code that has not been approved.

Opposition to the draft of a new Civil Code, that would include same sex unions, has been so strong on the island that the Senate has decided against approving it for now, Dennis told VirtueOnline.

Bishop Alvarez was the only bishop in ECUSA's Province IX who voted in favor of V. Gene Robinson's consecration and confirmation as the first openly homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church.