Here is an example to demonstrate that natural law accomplishes the exact opposite of what Christians intend. Consider a child who tells his father: "Father, sir, I understand that you have given me explicit rules on how to relate to you and mother and my siblings; however, I have to tell you that I will be discerning what is right for myself. I will use my logic and what I can discern from nature, and I will tell you and my siblings what is 'natural' and right." It really doesn't matter whether the child accidentally hits upon rules that agree with those of his father; he has already set himself up as equal to the chief human authority of his life, an act of rebellious defiance.
Much of the following I have learned and deduced from reading Gary North's explanation of Cornelius Van Til's understanding of the bible's teaching as to the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man. See also the writings of R.J. Rushdoony.
First, natural law is an act of rebellious defiance against the God of the bible. It sets up man as equal to God, like the serpent told Eve in the Garden: that by defying God's command, they would become "as gods, knowing good and evil" for themselves. Genesis 3:5. By the way, just how natural was that law - to not eat of one of the trees of the Garden of Eden? Would we have come to the conclusion that one tree was off limits as food, if God had not specially commanded them not to? Not very natural was it?
Natural law relies on the natural man, who cannot submit to God, to decide how one is to submit to God. "[T]he natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." I Corinthians 2:14, KJV. Such is the mind of the "natural man" that he not only will not but cannot receive God's law; it is what he hates more than anything, for it convicts him as deserving of hell.
There is no greater condemnation or insult to the man who thinks he is wise enough to determine what the law should be universally not only for himself but for all men. And that is what is at heart so utterly impossible for the natural man to accept - that he is not only wrong in his assessment as to what is real or "natural," but that his great wisdom as to that "reality" is what condemns him. It's a double insult, so to speak. Therefore, in addition to his hard, sinful heart toward God, he is psychologically incapable of admitting that which means he is not wise and that his so-called wisdom means his eternal damnation.
Second, natural law isn't even "natural," as I mentioned above about the law against eating from one of the trees in the Garden of Eden. Here's how unnatural God's law is. Consider the First Commandment. Throughout the history of the world and until Moses, the world invented religions and gods galore, countless in number and so varied in their respective moral and theological systems that they could go to war with one another and claim their gods can beat the other nation's gods.
Then after the Exodus, the God of the Hebrews claimed that He had picked the Hebrews to be His representatives on earth, that His law is the highest law and wiser than any other law.
"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deuteronomy 4:6, KJV.
This God claimed that He had specially revealed Himself to the people and in such a unique way that no other nation could even pretend to imitate that nation. In fact, the key to another nation submitting to that God was by submitting to the Hebrews, as in the case of Jonah's prophesying to Nineveh, a rival nation of pagan beliefs which submitted to Jonah and avoided disastrous judgment by the Hebrews' God.
How natural is all this? First, the very knowledge of this God was given by divine revelation, not naturally occurring reason. Second, this divine revelation was uniquely given to the Hebrews, not any other people. Third, all people were expected to comply with this law, even though they were not given that law specially, as the Hebrews were. Fourth, the Hebrews were forbidden from having any other god; therefore, they were prohibited from forming alliances with other nations by adopting their gods to place on an equal status with Yahweh. In other words, the "natural" wisdom of those other nations was utterly rejected. Fifth, this God demanded capital punishment for anyone claiming a different god. Sixth, the civil government was expected to enforce the law against any other gods being worshipped within the borders of Israel. Lastly, nature, as a source of idolatry, was itself a rival god, something not normative for determining who the true God is or what His requirements are.
The above concepts were considered anything but natural in the ancient world in which the Hebrews lived. In fact, they were an affront to the "natural" order then existing.
Consider the Third Commandment, which promises God's divine punishment for those who take God's name in vain. It's not a natural thing for special punishment to occur because of someone speaking words in a disrespectful way about an invisible deity. Consider the Fourth Commandment, which commands an inefficient use of an entire day once a week based on some "mythical" idea that the world was created in six days of mornings and evenings. The Tenth Commandment tells us to not even desire that which belongs to another. All very unnatural.
Therefore, in addition to the fact that natural law is in principle a rebellious defiance of the God of the bible, it also can't even support the law of God as something natural, reasonable, and deducible by sinful man.
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