Theology 1: Christian Vision of the Human Person PDF

 THEOLOGY 1: CHRISTIAN VISION OF THE HUMAN PERSON LAW: ABIDING IN TRUTH Ms. Mariel Blanza  WHAT SHOULD BE OUR PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF LAW? I. Essence and Nature of Law Law is not limited to: A legislative or judicial domain Commands,...

 THEOLOGY 1: CHRISTIAN VISION OF THE HUMAN PERSON LAW: ABIDING IN TRUTH Ms. Mariel Blanza  WHAT SHOULD BE OUR PROPER UNDERSTANDING OF LAW? I. Essence and Nature of Law Law is not limited to: A legislative or judicial domain Commands, obligations, moral imperatives Controlling what other people are free to do. Law is a Teacher It is about a rational or reasonable principle of order by which things are directed to their ends. In this way, law is a teacher. Law is a Ruler A measure of human acts A guide in drawing straight lines. The straightness and length of the ruler is also the measure of the line you’ve drawn. The law guides us in our actions to make sure that they are upright and ordered to the common good. It also gives us a way to judge our actions. It measures them, whether we have conformed our actions to the standard of the law. A. Definition “Is an ordinance of reason, properly promulgated and decreed by competent authority for the sake of the common good.”  B. Elements For the sake of the Ordinance of reason Common Good Competent Authority Promulgated (formal cause) (efficient cause) (final cause) this means the law It must have as its only those that is, the law must be based on goal the value lying ordinances have the must be known or the insight of in the good of the force of law which promulgated. reason into the community upon are imposed by value. It must be which it is imposed. competent or reasonable. legitimate authority (single human being or a group formed to act as a governing power.  Ordinance of Reason Contains a decisive command It should not be to perform (Ordinance). a good law is a based merely on Latin: ordinare; ordinantia which means to put order. product of careful whim, emotions or and serious sentiments of an deliberation. individual or group.  Properly Promulgated It must be clearly communicated to Ignorantia juris neminem excusat: all people concerned. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse.  Decreed by Competent Authority Only persons with legitimate authority have the power to create and implement laws for their respective communities.  For the Sake of the Common Good Common good – Sum total of benefits by individuals from government and from the nation as whole. “Universal Happiness of All Men” It should also foster the well- It presupposes the promotion of being and authentic and respect for the dignity and development of the community true freedom of each person. itself. The common good is the explanation of why a law exists and what it is doing: law is an ordering based on reason for the sake of and directing the community towards the common good. Common good can be found in the right ordering to God as the common good and final end of all that is.  II. Purpose of Law True law tends to make men good, and The man who accepts the tends to liberate direc1on of true law is the them from the man who is free to a5ain perverse and his goal. He who refuses, mistaken judgments as he thinks, in the name that would lead them astray in the quest of freedom, is enslaved by for their ultimate his own liability of error. end.  The purpose of law, therefore, is to protect and promote true freedom among members of a society in common, by insuring the unhampered and unthwarted exercises of free acts which will carry man to his proper end.  III. Effects of Law Moral the proper effect of law is to lead it Goodness subjects to their proper virtue; and since virtue is that which makes its subject good, it follows that the proper effect of law is to make those to whom it is given good.  Moral Obligation the precepts of law are concerned with human acts in which the law directs. These acts are either good generally, as for example, acts of virtue, and in respect of the acts of the law is a precept of command, for the law commands all acts of virtue. Some are evil generically, as for example, acts of vice and in respect of these, the law forbids. All acts that are either distinctively good or not distinctively bad may be called indifferent. And it is in the fear of punishment that law makes use of in order to ensure obedience in which respect punishment is an effect of law.  IV. Classification of Laws According to their Immediate Author, laws are distinguished as Divine Laws which come directly from God, and Human Laws, which are the enactments of Church and State. Human Laws enacted by the Church are called Ecclesiastical Laws, while human laws enacted by the State are called Civil Laws. The Six Commandments of the Church: To hear mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation. To fast and abstain on the days appointed. To confess at least once a year. To receive the Holy Eucharist during Easter Time. To contribute to the support of the Church. To never violate laws concerning marriage. According to their The Eternal Law is God’s plan and Duration, providence for the universe. All laws are human laws are in themselves Eternal or temporal, although some of them give Temporal. expression to requirements of the Eternal Law. According to the Manner of their Promulgation, laws are distinguished as the Natural and Positive laws. The Natural Law, in widest sense, is that which directs creatures to their end in accordance with their nature, and, so understood, it coincides with the Eternal Law. Usually, however, the laws that govern irrational creatures in their being and activities are called physical laws, while the moral law which is apprehended by sound and matured human reason is called natural law. Hence, in Ethics, we understand natural law as the Eternal Law apprehended by human reason while Positive laws are laws enacted by positive act of a legislator. This falls in the classification already made as divine and human. Properties of the Natural Law 1.Universal Binds all men at all times and in all places, for it is the very nature of men. Common to all people. Eg. Gravity, Sunrise, Sunsets, Evaporation, Conception, growing old, dying, etc. 2.Indispensable Man has no authority over natural law. God is the source of natural law. Dispensation from natural laws are violations of the divinely willed order. God may allow exception from natural law, as long as this does not contradict God’s own nature. For example the miracles. Properties of the Natural Law 3. Immutable Unchangeable It will exist as long as human nature exists. 4. Dynamic Changes in the condition of man results in modified or new demands of the Natural Law. Fact: Man himself and his conditions of existence change. According as Nega2ve laws are also called they prescribe prohibitory laws. Affirma2ve laws an act or bind always, but not at every forbid it, laws are moment. On the other hand, Affirmative or Nega2ve laws of the natural order Negative. bind always and at every moment.  According to the effect of their violation laws are distinguished as moral penal mixed violation of which renders the violator violation of which violation of which is liable to an involves both fault fault or sin established penalty, and penalty. but does not infect him with sin Immediate Manner of Prescribe an Act Effect of Duration Author Promulgation or Forbid it Violation Natural Law Divine Law Eternal Law Physical Law Affirmative Laws Moral Laws Natural Law Human Law Ecclesiastical Laws Temporal Law Negative Laws Penal Laws Posi.ve Law Civil Laws Posi2ve Divine Law Posi2ve Human Law Mixed Laws  Four Types of Law Eternal Law, Natural Law Divine Positive Law Human Law These are arranged as a hierarchy where the lower law types of law participate in and make more specific the higher types. Eternal Law The order of creation as it preexists in the divine mind. Ultimately, that creation would reflect and share in the glory and splendor of God. Aquinas begins with the Highest possible level: God himself, who not only is the creator of the universe but also its end, the source of its order, and who governs it by his providential plan. This plan of order emerges from God’s divine reason as an idea in God’s mind and like God himself this plan is eternal. Thus, eternal law. Eternal law is not only in God’s mind but is in the things that God makes. Natural Law The rational creature’s participation in the eternal law. The way that rational creatures, like human beings, participate in God’s plan, i.e., in the eternal law. This eternal law, this plan of God is implanted in rational creatures in a special way, Aquinas calls this the natural law. Thus, we are capable of understanding the world around us, grasping with our minds, what is good for us to do and moving ourselves to do it according to this rational desire called, will. Five Principles of Natural Inclinations: To good (to what perfects us) To self-preservation To sexual union To knowing the truth To Living in society (justice, truth, fairness towards others) Natural law does not impose on us, it is rather the very design of our being. As we come to know this with our minds, we are able to participate intentionally and freely in this plan. We order ourselves, our actions according to this plan by the use of our freedom. This is the purpose of our freedom, that we be the creatures that order ourselves freely and knowingly to God according to his plan. Relation between Human Law and Natural Law Human law is only just in accord with the natural law and that laws that conflict with the natural law are not morally binding. ✔ The natural law is most clear with respect to certain general and negative precepts, e.g. decalogue: theft, murder, adultery…these are wrong always and everywhere because they are contrary to what the natural law teaches us is the good for human beings, e.g., self- preservation, sexual union, and the raising of children. The important job of lawmakers is to specify and apply the general precepts of the natural law in a particular context and for a particular community. Then, always respecting what the natural law demands in its negative precepts, human lawmakers should make laws that order their communities towards its common good. Divine Positive Law What God has revealed through divine revelation in the OT and NT about how human beings should live in order to come to the supernatural good of heaven. Human Laws Application or determination of the natural law on various levels in particular community. Also, an ordination of reason for the common good, in this case the common good of a nation, of the state, of the city. More particular and specific than the natural law. It does not apply everywhere like the natural law does but only in this jurisdiction and it aims to direct this particular community and its members to their proper common good.  ‘Do unto others as ‘Do good avoid evil.’ you want others do unto you.’ Fundamental Principle of the Natural Law and Ethics DISCUSSION BOARD What new insights did you get from the lessons? Why is it necessary to understand Law?