1st Principle of Freedom

“The Only Reliable Basis for Sound Government and Just Human Relations is Natural Law.”

I will not be reiterating or saying in my own words the points Skousen makes because his words can be easily found and read in your very own copy of ‘The 5000 Year Leap’, instead I will be sharing my own thoughts and feelings and at times those may drift from exactly what is being said in the book. That said, the only way most of this will make sense is if you’re reading the principles in the book along with these pitiful blogs of mine.

If we know there is a Supreme Creator, then it naturally follows that the only wise thing to do would be to align our laws with the Creator’s laws, or Natural Law. Skousen gives a list of examples of Natural Law, or concepts and rights that are based in Natural Law, they are:

The concept of UNALIENABLE RIGHTS

The concept of UNALIENABLE DUTIES

The concept of HABEAS CORPUS

The concept of LIMITED GOVERNMENT

The concept of SEPARATION OF POWERS

The concept of CHECKS AND BALANCES to correct abuses by peaceful means

The right of SELF-PRESERVATION

The right to CONTRACT

Laws protecting the FAMILY and the institution of MARRIAGE

The concept of JUSTICE BY REPARATION or paying for damages

The right to BEAR ARMS

The principle of NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

After reading these concepts, rights, laws and principles that are all based in Natural Law, I had to consider what was meant by Natural Law. I couldn’t think of a clear example in scripture concerning several of these concepts such as “No taxation without representation” or the concept of “Limited Government” (perhaps because of my lack of scriptural literacy.) So what is Natural Law and how do I know Natural Law when I see it? I believe that Natural Law is simply… NATURAL, meaning that it is a part of all of us, it is ‘self-evident’. When I think of the examples above, I see that they are self-evident. I naturally believe I have a right to ‘self-preservation’, to protect myself, to keep myself alive and well. I naturally believe that when someone destroys something of mine, they should pay for it…”Justice by Reparation”. I feel inside that if someone comes at me with a baseball bat to injure me, I have a right to wield a baseball bat or a greater weapon in defense of myself or others…”Right to Bear Arms”. I believe it’s wrong for my neighbor to walk in my house and take my food, but I might get together with my neighborhood and agree to help this neighbor by donating 10% of my food to him…’No Taxation without Representation’. When I really sit down and think about this list, I know that they are based in Natural Law.

Now there is a small problem, or opportunity for confusion, in calling it Natural Law and claiming it naturally comes from within, at least there was for me. That problem is that the Lord says, “…the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth…” (Genesis 8:21) and the Book of Mormon says, “…the natural man is an enemy to God…” (Mosiah 3:19) so our “natural” tendencies are evil according to these verses. The problem is calling it “Natural” Law; I might actually call it “Spiritual” Law because it is discerned by our spirits from the Spirit of God. The Apostle Paul says, “…the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God…But the 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. (1 Cor 2:11, 14) And Peter describes the “natural man” as “…chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness…these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not…” (2 Peter 2:10, 12) Natural Law IS natural in us as seen in the gentiles as explained by Paul “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves.” (Romans 2:14) But though it is “natural” in us, it is because “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit…” (Romans 8:16) And when we go against this “Natural” law which is given to us by the Spirit of God, and “…walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness…” (2 Peter 2:10) then we become ‘natural man’ and “…shall utterly perish in [our] own corruption; and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness…” (2 Peter 2:12-13) Thus, the Spirit of God gives Natural Law to our spirits and we can discern it spiritually. Those of us who have not utterly corrupted ourselves can discern between desires of the flesh and spiritual desires, thus, without any textbook whatsoever, simply by looking within ourselves, we know what Natural Law is, the same way we know right and wrong, good and bad. It helps us clarify and prove what we know inside when we find outside evidence, like when we have a book that lays out the 28 principles of freedom, but it is already within us as the Lord says, “I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts…” (Jeremiah 31:33)