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In this chaotic world of “your truth and my truth,” are you looking for an ANCHOR for you and your family?
Steven Covey said, “The internalization of correct PRINCIPLES is the foundation upon which enduring happiness and success are based.”
You’re probably familiar with the idea of principles but it may seem like an abstract or elusive concept. You may wonder not only what principles are but why they matter! Why do we need to live principle-centered lives and have principle-centered homes? Why are principles powerful and how do they work—especially in real life?
This three-part podcast series on the nature of principles is designed to answer these questions and more! Through them, you will gain a basic understanding of where principles derive their power, how to find them in the world around you, and how to apply them in your life to get the results you seek.
In this episode you will hear about Natural Law, or God’s Law of Human Nature. In order to truly understand principles, we first need an understanding of Natural Law, the law from which all principles flow and derive their power.
This first podcast in the series will help you see why Natural Law is the ultimate source of human power. Listen and begin to unleash this power in YOUR life today!
In this episode you’ll hear:
- Introduction to Natural Law
- What great leaders and thinkers have to say about Natural Law
- How Natural Law is connected with happiness
Listener Guide:
Use the time stamps below to skip to any part of the podcast.
1:00 Discovering Natural Law imbedded in Declaration of Independence
5:00 Examples of Natural Law in the Declaration
7:28 What are the differences between principles and applications?
10:33 Positive Law defined
15:30 C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on Natural Law
20:10 How our happiness is tied to Natural Law
27:09 More examples of Natural Law
27:35 Arguments for Natural Law
Elements of Natural law:
- We are different from everything else on earth
- We have consciousness: we are thinking beings
- We are self-aware
- We see ourselves as individuals
- We can choose our thoughts and behavior
- We can think about and correct our thoughts and behavior
Arguments for Law of Human Nature:
- Conscience- sense of right and wrong and oppressive force pushing us to the good
- Transposition- we have certain emotions that we can distinguish between but which are manifest physically in the same ways- cry when we’re happy, cry when we’re sad
- Value system in all cultures- very uniform throughout history
- Nature obeys laws but doesn’t explain causes
- Our desperate need for purpose, meanings and story
A few quotes from this episode:
“The reason that natural law and principles matter so much is because they are …the ultimate source of human power, and that power is drawn from obedience to them. A knowledge of [natural law and principles] and an obedience to them is what brings true liberty.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher
“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” ~Paul, 2 Corinthians 3:17
“…the truth shall make you free.” ~Jesus Christ, John 8:32
“It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break ourselves against the law.” ~Cecil B. DeMille
“There are …immutable natural laws that are always in existence…You can either work with them or you can work against them…They apply to every area of life.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher
“First principles have been written by the finger of God on the very hearts of men.” ~Thomas Reid
“Natural law is the link that connects everyone.” ~Audrey Rindlisbacher
“Now this Law or Rule about Right and Wrong used to be called the Law of Nature. Nowadays, when we talk of the ‘laws of nature’ we usually mean things like gravitation, or heredity, or the laws of chemistry. But when the older thinkers called the Law of Right and Wrong ‘the Law of Nature,’ they really meant the Law of Human Nature. The idea was that, just as all bodies are governed by the law of gravitation and organisms by biological laws, so the creature called man also had his law—with this great difference, that a body could not choose whether it obeyed the law of gravitation or not, but a man could choose either to obey the Law of Human Nature or to disobey it.” ~C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“For [God] has so intimately connected, so inseparably interwoven the laws of eternal justice with the happiness of each individual…[and] has graciously reduced the rule of obedience to this one paternal precept, ‘that man should pursue his own true and substantial happiness.’ This is the foundation of what we call ethics, or natural law.” ~William Blackstone, 1765 Commentaries on the Laws of England
Links from this episode:
The Declaration of Independence
Democracy in America by Alexis DeTocqueville
1828 American Dictionary of the English Language by Noah Webster
Commentaries on the Laws of England by William Blackstone
Books from this episode:
