Heaven, Hell, and Natural Law

Watching the foundational truths of so many great civilizations being dismantled, brick by brick, one can't help but wonder how we found ourselves here? Is it not enough to point to our ancestors and say we live this way because they lived this way? For that matter, why has wanting a world similar to the one I grew up in for my kids become a scandalous ambition? And why, in the course of the past ten years, do we suddenly believe we are somehow more clever than every generation preceding us? Surely there was a time where these ideas were taken for granted as how one goes about living the good life, but not today. Thomas Aquinas once wrote, "We can't have full knowledge all at once. We must start by believing; then afterwards we may be led on to master the evidence for ourselves." This seems to be the plight of the Catholic today. We are living in a world that has become increasingly hostile, and ignorant, to religious belief. So why is this the case?

Church Fathers and a Life on Autopilot

There is an unquestionable advantage to growing up learning the truths of the Catholic faith. It's the genius of the Church Fathers. Civilizations were previously built and thrived on the teachings of these great minds long before any of us were using a teething ring. But living on the coattails of this sort of greatness has its pitfalls. One of the main being when society at large no longer accepts these truths, how do we go about evangelizing when we ourselves do not really understand why we accept it? How does a Christian share the Gospel when she has lived her religious beliefs on Autopilot? One only has to peripherally be on the internet to see beliefs like eternal life being relentlessly mocked.

A good place to begin discussions of the faith with people who know little, but purport to know a lot is life long before death. A major fallacy I regularly encounter is the idea that Christians are sitting around waiting for heaven. That somehow all the time and energy we invest in being Christlike has no benefit until we go to our grave. It's very understandable how this sort of misunderstanding takes root in a society that teaches as it's greatest good the reward that comes from the objective. And therefore the Christian is often treated with hostility simply on those grounds. "For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected that is received in thanksgiving. 1 Tim 4:4" "Love one another as I have loved you. John 13:34" These are powerful teachings who's very reward manifests in the ability to self empty and open hearts. The Christian is called to love as God loves, undoubtedly an impossible task without Grace, and it is a reward unto itself. But how does one go about opening up for this Grace? As any great venture, it begins with rules. A man will not run a triathlon without training and direction, nor will a man learn to live Christian virtue without guidance.

Natural Law

Natural Law provides the Catholic with exactly the blueprint to live according to the Will of our Creator. This law may seem complex in nature, but is constructed on a very simple idea. That God is good and we want to be good. We believe that natural law is written in our very soul and to deny it is akin to taking a clock, removing a gear, then wondering why it no longer keeps time. One great example of the application of natural law (and one that is in hot contention), is a properly ordered marriage offers an environment ideal for the creation of new life and then for the stability of it's offspring to thrive. One must look no further than the prevalence of fatherless homes, and it consequences, that has been a side effect of the sexual revolution. And on the other side of this coin is nothing will teach a person how to self empty and love for love's sake faster than becoming a parent. Through this example it's easy to understand the Catholic Church, as our spiritual mother, invests herself into helping her children live well. The good life, in this natural order very often means sacrifice. To deny the importance of self surrender is to set oneself up for failure. Therefore, as a follower of Christ, eternal life is indeed important but we do not need to wait until death for its experience. Or as John Milton wrote, "The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.."