Question: What is Revealed Law?

Question: What are "the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God?

Answer: From John Locke’s "Second Essay Concerning Civil Government" the Founders read "The law of Nature stands as an eternal rule to all men, legislators as well as others. The rules that they make for man’s actions must .... be conformable to the law of Nature – i.e., to the will of God." From Blackstone’s "Commentaries on the Laws of England" they read "The doctrines thus delivered we call the revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures. These precepts, when revealed, are found upon comparison to be really a part of the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man’s felicity." H. Verlan Anderson, in his book "The Moral Basis of a Free Society" – "The Reign of Law" – "natural laws constitute that entire body of laws which exist independently of man. Their operation is unrelated to the will of democratic majorities, the enactments of legislatures or the decrees of monarchs. They are beyond man. He [man] is powerless to alter or affect them in any way. His ignorance of them, his refusal to accept them or his mistaken beliefs regarding how they function have not the slightest effect upon their operation. The only way he can obtain the results which are predicated upon obedience is to learn and obey them."

Question: Do "The Revealed Laws" of Nature and Nature’s God have "unalienable Duties" attached to them?

Answer: Yes. Today’s universal emphasis on "unalienable rights" has seriously obscured the "unalienable duties" associated with divine law. There are two kinds of duties – public and private. Public duties relate to public morality and are usually supported by local or state ordinances which can be enforced by the police power of the state. Private duties are those which exist between the individual and his Creator. Unalienable duties are an inherent part of Natural Law. They constitute a responsibility imposed on each individual to respect the absolute rights or unalienable rights of others. In "The Five-Thousand Year Leap" Skousen named 20 "duties" or "responsibilities" which the Creator has imposed on every human being of normal mental capacity. These include the duty: to honor the supremacy of the Creator and his laws; to not take the life of another except in self-defense; to not to steal; to be honest in all transactions with others; for children to honor and obey their parents and elders; for parents and elder to protect, teach, feed, clothe, and provide shelter for children; to support law and order and keep the peace; to not, through a covetous heart, to despoil another; to provide insofar as possible for the needs of the helpless, the sick, the crippled, the injured, the poverty-stricken; to honorably perform contracts and covenants both with man and God; to be temperate; to become economically self-sufficient; to not to trespass on the property or privacy of another; to maintain the integrity of the family structure; to perpetuate the race; to not promote or participate in the vices which destroy personal and community life; to perform civic responsibilities – vote, assist public officials, serve in official capacities when called upon, stay informed, etc; to not to aid or abet criminal or anti-social behavior; to support personal and private standards of common decency; and, to follow rules and moral rectitude.

Question: Does God have a Law of Criminal Justice?

Answer: Yes. It is called the law of "reparation – repairing the damage." In addition, the criminal had to pay his victim punitive damages for all the trouble he had caused, a reminder not to do it again. The Founders found these laws in the writings of Moses, and were referred to by James (1:25) as the "perfect law of liberty."