Thursday, July 2, 2015

Youcat commented through CCC. Question n. 45.



YOUCAT Question n. 45 - Do natural laws and natural systems come from God also?


(Youcat answer) Yes. The laws of nature and natural systems are also part of God’s creation.     

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 339) Each creature possesses its own particular goodness and perfection. For each one of the works of the "six days" it is said: "and God saw that it was good." "By the very nature of creation, material being is endowed with its own stability, truth and excellence, its own order and laws" (GS 36 § 1). Each of the various creatures, willed in its own being, reflects in its own way a ray of God's infinite wisdom and goodness. Man must therefore respect the particular goodness of every creature, to avoid any disordered use of things which would be in contempt of the Creator and would bring disastrous consequences for human beings and their environment.

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) Man is not a blank slate. He is shaped by the order and the natural laws that God has inscribed in his creation. A Christian does not simply do “whatever he wants”. He knows that he harms himself and damages his environment when he denies natural laws, uses things in ways contrary to their intrinsic order, and tries to be wiser than God, who created hem. It demands too much of a person when he tries to design himself from start to finish.

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 354) Respect for laws inscribed in creation and the relations which derive from the nature of things is a principle of wisdom and a foundation for morality. (CCC 346) In creation God laid a foundation and established laws that remain firm, on which the believer can rely with confidence, for they are the sign and pledge of the unshakeable faithfulness of God's covenant (Cf. Heb 4:3-4; Jer 31:35-37; 33:19-26). For his part man must remain faithful to this foundation, and respect the laws which the Creator has written into it.  

(The next question is: Why does the Book of Genesis depict creation as “the work of six days”?)

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