1. The good is the source of unity in and among all persons. It is sought for its own sake.
2. There is one good for all: good is based on human nature and there is one human nature.
3. One's view of the good and of human nature is based on one's view of what is eternal.
4. It is clear that only some is eternal: matter is not eternal and the soul is not eternal.
5. God as creator of human nature is the determiner of good and evil for human beings.
6. Theism is opposed to all forms of nontheism: atheism, pantheism, polytheism, material monism, spiritual monism, dualism, shamanism.
7. Clarity is opposed to all forms of skepticism and fideism and to the separation of feeling and will from thought.
8. Theonomy is opposed to all forms of autonomy: ethical egoism, utilitarianism, deontology, existentialism, naturalism, tradition, humanism, stoicism, mysticism.
9. Moral evil is the denial of one's rational nature to avoid what is objectively clear. Reason is natural, ontological, transcendental and fundamental.
10. Denial of one's reason leads to meaninglessness, boredom and guilt
which are inherent and present, not imposed and future.
MORAL LAW 2: THINKING AND PRESUPPOSITION
1. Thinking is the use of reason to form concepts, judgments and arguments, which are the forms of all thought.
2. Thinking is presuppositional: we are to think of the less basic in light of the more basic: truth/meaning; experience/basic belief; conclusion/premises; finite/infinite.
3. The finite (man) is to be understood in light of the infinite (God), not the infinite (God) in light of the finite (man), nor the finite (man) in light of the finite (nature).
4. Presuppositionalism is opposed to rationalism and empiricism.
5. Presuppositionalism in theism is opposed to deism which denies infinite justice in its conception of moral and natural evil.
6. It is opposed to continuing divisions within theism, between Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which distort infinite justice by thinking of the infinite in light of the finite.
7. It is opposed to divisions within Christianity, between Catholicism, Protestantism and Orthodoxy, which are based on distortions of infinite justice.
8. It is opposed to the views of popular theism which distort the divine nature.
9. It is opposed to autonomous worship which misrepresents the divine nature.
10. Continuing divisions bring cultural collapse; presuppositional thinking
brings unity.
MORAL LAW 3: INTEGRITY AND KNOWLEDGE
1. Integrity is a concern for consistency within our beliefs and between what we say and do.
2. Integrity is necessary and sufficient for knowledge.
3. Our most implicit profession is a concern to know: If there is integrity a person will know what is clear. If a person does not know what is clear there is a lack of integrity.
4. Our most explicit profession is a vow. If there is integrity a person will keep a vow. If a person does not keep a vow there is a lack of integrity.
5. Self-examination is necessary for integrity, to know one's actual belief and if that belief has logical coherence.
6. Discipline is necessary for integrity.
7. Lack of integrity is immediately experienced as guilt.
8. Guilt without change causes hypocrisy through self-deception and self-justification.
9. Integrity places the concern to know above psychological and practical concerns.
10. As integrity decreases stupor increases; as integrity increases
clarity increases.
MORAL LAW 4: WORK AND HOPE
1. Work is necessary and universal; it is not an end in itself but it is a means to the end.
2. Work is necessary and sufficient for the good.
3. The good is continuing, inexhaustible, comprehensive, inalienable, corporate, cumulative, communal, fulfilling, ultimate and transformative.
4. The good is knowledge of the nature of things. Since the nature of things created reveal the nature of God, the good is the knowledge of God.
5. Knowledge is through dominion. All lives reveal human nature. Some lives reveal human nature by natural rule. Some lives reveal human nature by moral rule.
6. It is certain that the good will be attained: the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God. This can be seen from the nature of man, the good, God, the past and the present.
7. This is opposed to no hope, that the good cannot be achieved by the work of dominion.
8. This is opposed to false hope, that we can achieve the good without the work of dominion.
9. As God worked and completed the work of creation, so man must work and complete the work of dominion. As creation is revelation so dominion brings knowledge of revelation.
10. Work separated from the good becomes meaningless and distorts the
nature of both.
MORAL LAW 5: AUTHORITY AND INSIGHT
1. Authority in teaching assumes ignorance, in which all men are born.
2. Authority is based on insight into the good and the means to the good.
3. Authority is rational, not personal; it is based on insight, not on might; insight is historically cumulative, not individual.
4. Authority based on insight must be honored; authority without insight must be changed where possible.
5. There is a natural order of authority in each person: intellect, emotion and will.
6. There is an order of authority in each institution: the philosophical must lead the psychological and the practical.
7. Among institutions, no institution is total; each is equally under the moral law according to its form and function.
8. The church and state are equally under the moral law. This is opposed to a theonomous church and an autonomous state.
9. The state and the family are equally under the moral law. This is opposed to public education as religiously neutral and to the welfare state.
10. The state and business are equally under the moral law. This is
opposed to unrestrained market and to bureaucratically controlled market.
MORAL LAW 6: HUMAN DIGNITY AND RATIONALITY
1. Human dignity distinguishes man from animal.
2. Human dignity is rooted in the capacity to understand.
3. Freedom in human society is a function of the exercise of one's capacity to understand.
4. Human dignity is affirmed when one is held responsible for the use of reason.
5. Use of reason in self-control is opposed to the use of force in murder and war.
6. It is opposed to racism which places ethnicity above human rationality.
7. It is opposed to sexism which places gender above human rationality.
8. It is opposed to abortion, euthanasia, suicide and intervention which disregard the capacity to understand.
9. It is opposed to non-disciplinary processes which excuse human responsibility.
10. It is opposed to the view that temporal or final separation from
human society denies human dignity.
MORAL LAW 7: FRIENDSHIP AND MARRIAGE
1. Friendship is reciprocal, lasting and shares the deepest concerns.
2. Friendship is not love or romantic love or natural affection, or utilitarian relation.
3. Mutual commitment to the good is necessary and sufficient for friendship.
4. Marriage is to be based on friendship in which the deepest concerns are shared.
5. Union in marriage is the immediate origin of being and the good.
6. Sex is the sign and seal of marriage in which the two become one.
7. Sex without love is desecrated.
8. Sex is a physical union. What is not mutual and simultaneous is not natural.
9. There is an order for marriage which protects it.
10. Ordinary infidelity is rooted in spiritual infidelity.
MORAL LAW 8: VALUE AND TALENT
1. Valuing is necessary and universal; no society values all things equally.
2. Value is a function of supply and demand.
3. Demand is a function of one's view of the good.
4. Supply is a function of talent.
5. Talent is: an aspect of one's being; an ability to achieve some aspect of the good; in each for all; known by interest and ability; unique in personality; for three functions.
6. The origin of talent is not from self or others; it is from the origin of one's being
7. The development of talent is through others and by self, in the vision of the good. Talent, when developed, forms its function.
8. The source of value is God: man's stewardship is opposed to capitalism and communism.
9. Lasting value is from the use of talent in pursuit of the good. Stealing is the failure to create what is of lasting value.
10. The moral order of value in prices and wages is to be protected
by the civil order.
MORAL LAW 9: JUSTICE AND TRUTH
1. In justice equals are to be treated equally. Ultimate justice is ontologically inherent.
2. Justice in society is first distributive, then contractual and lastly retributive.
3. Truth is necessary and sufficient for justice.
4. The whole truth is necessary for full justice, preventive and corrective.
5. Knowing the whole truth is a function of the whole of life.
6. To prevent injustice one must know what justice is and what is the cause of injustice.
7. To speak the truth one must know the truth and communicate the truth.
8. Privacy is not warranted for public decisions.
9. Freedom of speech is a right to rational discourse.
10. Not to speak the truth is to share in injustice and its consequences.
MORAL LAW 10: SUFFERING AND THE GOOD
1. Failure to understand the good is the source of discontent in envy and in excess.
2. Virtue, whether moral, natural or instrumental is not the good but the means to the good.
3. Happiness or pleasure is not the good but the effect of possessing the good.
4. Suffering arises when we believe we cannot have the good.
5. Suffering is a function of one's basic belief and sensibility. It is not self-certifying.
6. The inherent consequence of moral evil is spiritual death, not physical death.
7. Natural evil is not necessary so it is not original. It is not inherent to moral evil so it is not punishment. Natural evil is imposed because of moral evil.
8. Natural evil is imposed to restrain, remove and recall from moral evil and its effects.
9. Suffering when understood serves the good. When misunderstood it is avoided as useless or as a hindrance to the good.
10. All things are seen to work together for the good to those who seek the good.
© Surrendra Gangadean