God’s law and human law

WE need to understand this point very well. And more

importantly, we also need to understand the many intricate and

practical implications involved in relating our human law with God’s

law.

            With the way today’s legal and juridical systems worldwide

are drifting toward extreme positivism that simply bases itself on our

perceptual experiences and people’s consensus and systematically

shutting out any input from faith and divine revelation, we need to

remind ourselves that God’s law is in fact the foundation, the

inspiration and the perfection of our human law.

            In other words, without any reference to God’s law, our

human law cannot help but be out on a limb. For all the brilliance,

wisdom and success a Godless human law can have and accomplish, it can

only go so far. It cannot go the distance required by our human

dignity. Sooner or later, it will fail and fall into forms of

injustice, many of them so subtle that injustice can be committed

under cover of our human law.

            A clear example of this latter case is the law on

abortion. It is a lot worse than the so-called extrajudicial killing

we are hearing about these days. Abortion is clear murder of the most

defenceless member of our human society—the infant while inside the

mother’s womb.

            Of course, rationalizations can come aplenty. It’s not yet

a baby, they say. It’s just a bundle of tissues. It does not have life

on its own. But no one can contest the fact that that so-called clump

of tissues has the DNA of the parents, and that it cannot but be a

living baby if it is allowed to develop to its full course and no

problems and complications come along the way.

            The Bible has many passages that the unborn is already a

child, a person, chosen by God, etc. The Book of Jeremiah, for

example, says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before

you were born I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the

nations.” (1,5)

            And to be more blunt about it, precisely Christ before he

was born was already the Son of God who became man to redeem us! Could

Mary and Joseph have thought of aborting the unborn Christ because

they thought he was just a bunch of tissues while still in the womb?

            Of course, we have to understand that to make God’s law

the foundation, inspiration and perfection of our human law is not

going to be easy. It would require effort to plunge deep in our

understanding of God’s law which is full of mysteries, which will

always have something new to say even if we would already know its

essential part.

            This will require constant study and reflection, a lot of

prayer and consultation, the habit of reading the changing signs of

the times in the context of our faith, and also that basic attitude of

always deferring to the authority of the Church magisterium who has

been given the divine authority to teach and interpret God’s

revelation.

            There will always be a need to update, purify, amend,

revise our human laws from time to time to make it more in synch with

God’s law that is mainly characterized by mercy more than justice,

forgiveness more than vindictiveness.

            There certainly is a need for us, and especially our

lawmakers and public officials, to be truly skilful in relating our

human law with God’s law. Let us hope and pray that we can achieve

this ideal.