In the 1960s it was common to hear American civil rights leaders appeal to natural justice and natural law in defense of the extension of civil rights to oppressed peoples, namely African Americans. Those arguments were compelling to Americans because they are . . . Continue reading →
Natural Law
So What? How Does Homosexual Marriage Affect Me?
Last Friday KFI (AM 640 Los Angeles) afternoon talker John Kobylt made the argument that one reason prop 8 was overturned is that proponents of prop 8 could not show that homosexual marriage actually creates any adverse effects or bad outcomes. I . . . Continue reading →
Truth and Consequences: The Politics of Abortion
URCNA Pastor, the Rev Dr Brian Lee, a WSC grad, has another stimulating OpEd piece in today’s Daily Caller. “The course of my life roughly coincides with the post-Roe v. Wade abortion debate in America. The Supreme Court decision was issued on . . . Continue reading →
Natural Law and Light in the Reformed Confessions (Updated)
Originally posted Oct 29, 2008. Revised April 4, 2011. In the modern period, particularly in the 20th century, many Reformed folk became uneasy with the traditional Reformed language concerning “natural law.” As one who began to enter the Reformed world circa 1980 . . . Continue reading →
Malthus or Althusius? An Introduction To A Pioneering Reformed Social Theorist
We seem to live in a Malthusian age, i.e., an age of increasing scarcity or perhaps fear of scarcity, where concern over how to divide an economic (and environmental) pie of limited size (called a “zero sum game”) has replaced the idea . . . Continue reading →
The Law Written on Their Hearts
Paul Bloom, in the NY Times Magazine (May 5, 2010), writes: A growing body of evidence, though, suggests that humans do have a rudimentary moral sense from the very start of life. With the help of well-designed experiments, you can see glimmers . . . Continue reading →
Do the Canons of Dort Reject Natural Law?
Jeremy writes to ask whether the Canons of Dort 3/4.4 require Reformed Christians to reject the civil use of natural law. In the Canons we confess: There remain, however, in man since the fall, the glimmerings of natural light, whereby he retains . . . Continue reading →
Francis Turretin On Natural Law
XV. …it is even most absurd that the rational creature as rational should not be subject to him [God] in the genus of morals and not be governed by him suitably to his nature (i.e., by moral means) by the establishment of . . . Continue reading →
If It’s News Is it Still A Slippery Slope?
Given that, under the American constitution, we do not have a state religion, the types of arguments Christians can realistically expect to make in the civil sphere as it actually exists are limited. We have American history, our Constitution, the Declaration, Supreme Court . . . Continue reading →
Of Hotels and 2 Kingdoms
An HB Classic
In view of the Oregon case in which a baker faces prosecution for refusing to make a wedding cake for a homosexual couple, it seemed like a good idea to re-post this. The original context was the challenge that there’s no good . . . Continue reading →
Paul Cites Homosexual Behavior As Proof Of Natural Law
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of . . . Continue reading →
Why Equality is the Wrong Category By Which to Analyze Homosexual Marriage
One of the most most rhetorically successful and popular ways to defend homosexual (gay) marriage is the appeal to “marriage equality.” The argument is, in short: if heterosexuals may marry and enjoy the social and civil benefits of the institution then homosexuals, . . . Continue reading →
In Order for Leviathan to Flourish He Must First Kill Natural Law
An HB Classic
Stanley Fish proposes to go back to Thomas Hobbes. The Leviathan (Whale)-like civil authority is precisely why our founders said: “We hold these truths to be self-evident…” and appealed to “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” and to the “the . . . Continue reading →
Heidelcast 24: Give It A Rest—What Christians Can Learn From Chick-Fil-A
Your Creator wants you to take a break. I’m a Chick-Fil-A fan. Love the peach shakes. It’s one of the few places in this area where I can find real sweet tea. There’s another reason to like Chick-Fil-A. They love their employees . . . Continue reading →
The Abiding Validity of the Creational Law in Exhaustive Detail
A correspondent to the HB writes: People can gloss over the term all they want, but secularism is still what it is, a rival religion and ethos to Christianity. The real divide between the FV and anti-FV crowd began with Van Til . . . Continue reading →
Beza’s Role In Developing Resistance Theory
Beza believed that this natural law of sovereignty had been evident in the Jewish monarchies of the Old Testament and was borne out in contemporary European politics. He placed several caveats on this principle, however: first, the king must be guilty of . . . Continue reading →
Owen On The Law In The Garden And On Horeb
Q. 1. Which is the law that God gave man at first to fulfill? A. The same which was afterwards written with the finger of God in two tables of stone Mount Horeb, called the Ten Commandments. John Owen | Greater Catechism . . . Continue reading →
My Favorite Atheist Lesbian Author: A Case Study In Providence
I first encountered Camille Paglia in 1991, just after she had published the essay, “The Joy of Presbyterian Sex.” Blame Bob Godfrey. I was pastoring a church in Kansas City and happened to be visiting Escondido and stopped by Bob’s office. He . . . Continue reading →
Rational Responses To Attacks From Advocates Of Homosexual Marriage
Attack 1: You’re intolerant–you reject me just because I’m different from you. Reply: Let’s be honest with each other. We both know you’re the one who rejects what is different from yourself. You reject the challenge of the other sex. Attack 2: . . . Continue reading →
Office Hours: Divine Covenants And Moral Order
In the 16th and 17th centuries, indeed, from the 2nd century until the 20th century there was little question among Christians whether God has revealed his moral law in nature and in the conscience. In the 20th century, however, that verity came to . . . Continue reading →