Exodus 20:13-15
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Rules. The seemingly
common outcry in our society is that organized religion has just too many
rules. The thought is that a handful of
men, who think they know better than anyone else, impose strict rules on human
beings, regulations imposed upon us that take away our freedom and squash the
authenticity of our individualism.
Really?
We are all human.
We have in common the essence of who we are as human beings. Yes, each of us is an individual with unique particular
characteristics – but, to other members of the animal world, I bet that we all
look alike. And that’s because,
essentially, we are alike. Not just in
basic physical needs and appearance, but even in our deepest yearnings and
inner needs. St. Thomas Aquinas, using
common sense and reason, laid out basic inclinations of Man, what the founders
of the United States of America might call “self-evident” truths about human
beings. First and foremost is the
natural inclination to seek the good – and the good is what is in accord with
the nature of humanity, that essence we share.
And, so, as a human being, I am inclined to preserve myself, to preserve
my species, to live in community, and to know and to choose. Without getting too much into philosophy for
this blog post, let me simply say that the rules of the 10 Commandments are
specifics of these basic human goals/needs.
So, if I steal from members of my community, I will
be jeopardizing my ability to continue living in that community. I mean, who wants to live next to an
unrepentant, perpetual thief? The act of
thievery, therefore, goes against the grain of human nature, contradicting the
natural inclination to live among others.
The act of killing other human beings is generally detrimental to preservation
of the species – but not always so. It
is, however, always detrimental to preservation of human life. So, we could say that it is my natural desire
to preserve my own life that instinctively tells me not to kill another unless
in self-defense. Because, I mean, if I
go around killing people, someone’s probably going to come along and kill me. We can take the act of adultery in the same
way – if I don’t want someone to take my husband, it is best for me not to take
someone else’s. In this way, I am best
able to keep my own husband and, therefore, in a committed and supporting
relationship with him, fulfill the inclination to preserve the species.
These are just basic concepts of right and wrong
and why they are right and wrong. What
is important is to remember that the concepts do not come out of nowhere,
imposed upon us from some foreign source.
No, they are organic, true to human nature. They are also not concepts decided upon in
committee, by a majority vote of individuals or their representatives. We did not make ourselves, we did not design
our natural inclinations and, so, we do not get to redesign them or reinvent
human beings into something else. The
good that we seek is an objective good – objective because it is innate to who
we are as humans. You could say that it’s
part of our DNA – in fact, I heard an agnostic put it precisely that way. But, let us not reduce ourselves to mere
particles and chemical combinations. Jesus
of Nazareth, when asked which of the 10 Commandments was the most important
answered, that the most important one was to love God and that the second was
in accord with the first – to love one’s neighbor. And, so, it is good, it is right and true,
that we should look upon the basic understanding of right and wrong in terms of
love: of what it is to be fully and truly human.
For we are created in the image and likeness of the
Creator. We are endowed by our Creator “with
certain inalienable rights”[1]
and with God given intellect, free will, and imagination. And we are meant to seek what is in accord
with our good. And, because our Creator
loves us, knowledge of this truth is practically “self-evident”, while ways of
achieving this quest are divinely revealed to us by the working of the Holy Spirit
– through prophets, Sacred Scripture, and most sublimely in, with, and through
Jesus Christ. This is our faith,
grounded in reason. For, as Pope John
Paul II said, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit
rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a
desire to know the truth—in a word, to know himself—so that, by knowing and
loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about
themselves.”
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