Comments on: A Whole Lot More on Natural Law

By: Jeremiah John

Jeremiah John — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll have to look up what you have to say about natural law in general. I should say that what Jaffa has to say about the matter has always been a bit odd, in itself and because of his being a Straussian. While Jaffa has written a very good book _Aristotelianism and Thomism_ related to the matter, his self-styled Jewish natural law stands in stark contrast to the “natural right” of his teacher Leo Strauss. Strauss’s position, in my opinion, is closer to a Nietzschean view that natural law leads to nihilism. In Strauss’s book on the decline of natural right, the exact middle page is about Thomas Aquinas.

By: Aaron Shafovaloff

Aaron Shafovaloff — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I hope this isn’t merely annoying, but these NT quotes make for a good contribution:

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 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.” (Romans 1:19-21)

“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.” (Romans 2:14-16)

By: Jim F.

Jim F. — Mon, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Aaron: It isn’t merely annoying for you to respond to items with quotations from the New Testament, but it isn’t very helpful if you aren’t willing to say something about those quotations. Some who participate in this list may be unfamiliar with the New Testament or with the quotations you cite in this comment and others, but I doubt that many of us are. We know the scriptures that you quote and we accept them as scripture. So, we make our entries and comments with those things in mind. It is possible that someone will overlook a scripture and will need to be reminded, but that isn’t usually the case. So if your comments are to make a contribution to the discussion, you should not only refer to the verses you quote but say something about how those verses make a contribution to the discussion.