Pope John Paul II and Jesus' Message on Law

The selections from the New Testament and Pope John Paul's Encyclical Letter, Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason), demonstrate that one of man's fundamental searches is for the truth or law, something that will provided meaning and fulfillment and represent an absolute and inviolable answer. We see in the selections from Matthew, Luke, and Mark that Jesus was often called upon to answer questions from those seeking truth or the law. As Pope John Paul II writes in Fides et Ratio, it is a natural human impulse to "ask why things are as they are" (1998). Pope John Paul II further contends that people "seek an absolute which might give to all their searching a meaning and an answer something ultimate, which might serve as the ground of all things" (1998). The final explanation or supreme value searched for by human beings is demonstrated in the writings of Matthew, Luke and Mark, in which the answers of how to be one with God and welcomed in Heaven are provided.

In his Encyclical Letter, Pope John Paul II maintains that both human reason and faith are required to achieve a life in accordance with God's law. Pope John Paul II maintains that the rich philosophical tradition helps to deepen understanding of the faith necessary to exhibit "critical discernment" (1998). Calling for reason as a means of helping arrive at the truth of God and God's law, Pope John Paul II argues that philosophical reasoning aims at such

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it of the law of God. The law of God is represented by the Ten Commandments, and anyone disobeying even the "least of these commandments" will be "called least" in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5: 19). Jesus also instructs the people that their "righteousness" must surpass that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law (Matthew 5: 20). This is because the law of the Pharisees and teachers is human law; similar to Pope John Paul II's explanation that human reason is still the product of flawed human existence. God's law supercedes any other law produced by humans, despite their contentions to the contrary. In Matthew 19: 16-26, we see that Jesus informs his followers that obeying the Ten Commandments is not the only requisite for gaining admittance to the kingdom of God. In addition to obeying God's law, one must devote their life to helping the needy and dispossessed. As Jesus maintains, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19: 21). We can see in this advice and Jesus' warning that it is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" that God's law demands compassionate and merciful a

Category: Philosophy - P