Where do laws come from?
The secular humanistic idea is that laws are conventions of man. That means that societies have created laws to the extent that they survive better with them than without them. Is that true? Are laws simply something society “made up” for survival?
If laws are based in human pragmatics, what would stop a society from rescinding them when it became inconvenient? That’s simple…nothing. If Positive Law (man-made) is all there is, then there is no law that reflects anything other than the whimsical disposition of the individual, or group, that is in power at the time — and that can change.
No one would deny that man can make law. But is Positive Law all there is? This brings us to a discussion of ethics and ultimately morals.
First let’s look at the difference between ethics and morals. An ethic is what we could consider to be a standard of what is right and good. In contrast to ethics, morals are the behavior a people display over against a given ethical standard. To quote R.C. Sproul loosely, “Morals are what are, ethics are what ought to be.” Often ethics and morals are seen to be synonymous but this distinction is worth mentioning.
Do our mores come from the laws that society gives us or do our laws actually reflect some other ethical standard we already have? Is it possible for objective morals to actually exist in a secular humanistic construct? If objective moral values do exist, whose morals are they?
Secular Humanism is expressly atheistic. Any atheistic worldview will find it impossible to account for anything that is a non-material reality because of its commitment to what is called materialism. Materialism, or the conviction that matter is all that exists, is a nonnegotiable component of any atheistic worldview. In contrast to a Christian worldview, which espouses a supernatural philosophy, humanism is committed to a natural one. This leaves the Secular Humanist relegated to natural explanations for the existence of logic, reason, information, and even ethics. For the humanist, ethics are simply the natural product of the inclinations of humans - the result of chemical processes in the brain. This means that law is ultimately something that people have brought forth from the natural inclinations of their collective will.
Is that the only explanation for the existence of morality and ultimately law itself? Has law come from random electrical impulses of the brain?
No. The Christian worldview has tremendous explanatory power when dealing in the arena of ethics, morals and ultimately law. Christians believe that our ethical standards reflect the very nature of God revealed in creation and the Bible. For the Christian the matter of good law versus bad law is resolved in how God created the world to function and what He revealed in Scripture to be right and wrong.
First let’s consider what is called Natural Law.
According to Dr. J. Budziszewski, Natural Law is, “that which we cannot, not know.” Man is given the ability to recognize what is right and wrong from God Himself. We have the innate ability to perceive that murder, torture, cruelty, thievery and such are immoral and ultimately wrong. This ability is affirmed in the words of Romans 2:15, “the work of the law written on their hearts.”
I remember a story that Greg Koukl tells regarding a college student who was being taught that objective morals don’t really exist. The student came to him for advice and Koukl recommended that the student “steal her stereo.” Of course, it is a funny story, but it illustrates a certain truth. Even those who do not “believe” in an objective moral standard will appeal to some standard when an injustice is dealt to them. The truth is, people really do believe in moral standards and this becomes evident when they are wronged themselves. Furthermore, a person who actually doesn’t believe in an objective moral standards and then acts in accord with his beliefs can be said to be a menace to society not being governed by an ethical standard beyond his own desires. This is the basis for sociopathic behavior.
The way we are made reflects the moral attributes of the nature of God. It is first Natural Law that gives us a basis for determining what is right and wrong.
Secondly we must consider what is called Biblical Law. This is the law that is revealed in the Scripture. God has revealed in His holy book a standard for living that goes beyond the innate understanding of the human heart. The Ten Commandments are clear enough for an average person to understand and they come from the very nature of God. God’s commands are not capricious and cannot change. They are rather a reflection of His eternal nature and His intention that people bear His image rightly.
So where do laws come from, God or man? Which claim is more reasonable given what we know about the world around us?
Of course, people create laws but laws that are based in Natural Law and Biblical Law can be said to be “good” while laws that are contrary to Natural Law and Biblical Law can be said to be “bad.” Who would think kindly of a law being passed that suggested all dark skinned people should serve light skinned people? What worldview has been responsible for the abolition of the slave trade in the west? What would make us assume that the enslavement of another person against his will was actually wrong? Some laws are trivial in nature but the essence of a law can always be traced to some moral definition of right and wrong. The real question is whose moral definition?
For the Secular Humanist, the only barometer for measuring the “good” of a law is found in how well it works. There is no objective moral standard for the atheist to look to when making law. There is no basis for an atheist to reject slavery of another human other than the law written on his heart and that which the Creator has revealed to us. The existence of objective moral standards reveals the existence of the God of those morals. Thus our ethical standards are not conventions of human ingenuity but the values derived from a Holy God.
We must finally conclude that the concept of law and the standard by which we judge law ultimately come from God Himself.
PR
