2
'A law written on
the human heart1
I have claimed that one needs an
absolute standard in order to pro
nounce moral judgment, and as yet
no objections have been made which
Tkt e AF tar of
to apprehend truths about God, and
draw logical conclusions from what
he observes. Through arguments
and observations, we can gain intel
lectual knowledge of
God. The second source
of divine knowledge is
through supernatural ex
perience. Mystic en
counters such as those of
Moses, St. Paul, or Joan
of Arc, provide unique
knowledge of something
beyond human under
standing. They have gazed into
Deep Heaven, and returned to
tell the tale.
Yet neither of these
sources is infallible. Reason is
a powerful tool, but a person’s
logic may be flawed, or the result of
false premises. And the experience
of the mystic is not to be dismissed,
but such revelation often defies de
scription, and is quite subjective.
God works through different indi
viduals in different ways. Such
knowledge of the divine is not al
ways conclusive.
The third source contains a star
tling and controversial claim—that
the Eternal God has chosen through
out history to reveal Himself through
an inspired and written Word. The
debate over this Word’s authentic
ity is a deep and complex issue, but
if this claim is true, then there is con
crete knowledge of God’s attributes
which man can obtain. The moral
debate has moved beyond guess
work and opinion.
We now have a collection of
thoughts which we can test against
reality and determine if its principles
best describe the universe that rea
son and observation reveals to us.
The moral claims made by this
Word, the Bible, can be judged our
reason and our consciences for va
lidity.
This Book states in Paul’s letter
to the Galatians, for instance, that
the “fruit of the Spirit” (that is, the
qualitites produced in our behavior
by God’s Spirit dwelling in us) is
“love, joy, peace, gentleness, faith
fulness, goodness, and self-control.”
That these qualities are self-evi
dently good by the light of con
science is summed up beautifully by
Paul: “Against such there is no law.”
These are the absolutes of which I
have spoken.
/ show you a more excellent way.
OpMcc
TI-tE CkckAMAS P rìnt
an
U n I< nown Cod
JOEL P. SHEMPERT
Copy Editor
did not themselves
appeal to absolute
principles. But I have
said little of what that
absolute might be.
In the most basic
terms, the Absolute is that to which
we appeal whenever we call some
thing “good” or “bad.” It is what
“good” means.
So, the question is before us.
What is the Absolute? What is this
“good” that we refer to as we judge
the actions of dictators, presidents,
and even, one hopes, ourselves? Is
it like the Christian claim, or is there
some other standard? How can we
know what is right?
The most basic knowledge of
right and wrong we have is our con
science. That is, we feel we should
take certain actions, and that we
should not take others. Paul put sim
ply that we have “a law written on
the human heart.”
This “natural law” is a good start
toward determining morality, but it
is imperfect. We differ greatly on
moral views, and seem hardly ca
pable of obeying even our own con
sciences. C.S. Lewis wryly ob
served that the uniqueness of hu
manity is that we have a law by
which we feel we ought to behave,
yet so often we do not follow it.
There is, of course, a point of view
which suggests that a Being, a Per
sonality, an Ultimate Reality called
God, is the source from which hu
man understanding of right and
wrong flows. If this is the case, then
we come to the question, “How can
we discover this Absolute?” We
must determine the ways God, if He
exists, has revealed Himself to man
kind.
There are three ways by which we
can obtain knowledge of the super
natural. The first is through pure
reason. Our intelligent mind is able
We're getting off to a quick start
I would like to start off this
week by apologizing to Religion
Instructor, Bill Briare for the
mess we made of his letter to the
editor that we ran in issue No. 5
TI he S acrec I &
TI he P ro F ane
ROBERT
SCHOENBERG
(Nov. 4, 1998). We left
two words misspelled,
and in one sentence, left
out a word entirely.
Needless to say, mis
takes like these can
make a drastic change in
the meaning of the text.
Again, I am sorry for the
errors. The letter is repeated this
week on the next page, error free.
Please, everyone, read it again.
Also in the our previous issue
we had a commentary by Karl
Katzke on the purchase of a sculp
ture by Oregon artist Devin
Laurence Field. Nothing like tak
ing a stick to a hornet’s nest to see
what will happen when
the nest gets knocked
to the ground. We have
g
an excellent art depart
ment here at CCC and
they responded to
Karl’s argument with
enthusiasm. Some of
these letters are printed
today, too.
There have also
been other responses to
the commentary about
Paul of Tarsus that Mr.
Shempert wrote three
weeks ago. I’ve been
hearing rumors that in
structors and their students have
been discussing Mr. Shempert's
remarks in class. I then received
an e-mail from Diane Averill that
some of her students decided to
each write a response to the com
w T
.*» «LJ.fr
---
mentary. I am very glad to hear
that these discussions are going
on. The discussion, the responses,
the attention around campus to is
sues presented in the paper are
some of the effects a newspaper
is intended to have on its reader
ship. Some of the letters from the
students in Diane Averill's class
have been included in this week's
letters to the editor.
I also want everyone to know
that responding to our group of
commentators is not the only
chance to have a favorite issue
published. At any time, anyone,
student or faculty, administration
or classified staff, can bring in an
opinion on whatever issue they
feel needs to be brought to the at
tention of our readers. Keep it un
der 300words and we can see that
it gets in the paper. (As for those
whowrite more than 300 words,
and we know who you are, bring
it in anyway; we can always edit
the magnum opus to a mere mas
terpiece.
*5 IF*"
1^
-W
Editor in Chief:
Feature + A&E Editor:
Robert Schoenberg (x2576)
Jeremy Stallwood
Sports Editor:
The Clackamas Print aims to report the
news in an honest, unbiased, profes-
sional manner. The opinions expressed
in The Clackamas Print do not
neccesarily reflect those of the student
body, college administration, its faculty,
or The Clackamas Print advertisers.
Products and services advertised in The
Clackamas Print are not neccesarily en
dorsed by anyone associated with The
Clackamas Print. The advertising rate
is $4.75 per column inch. All signed let-
ters to the editor should be 300 words
or less and will be considered for publi-
cation if submitted by 1 pm the Friday
prior to publication. The Clackamas
Print is a weekly publication and is dis-
tributed every Wednesday except dur-
ing Finals week.
John Thorbum
Business Manager:
Kristina Brooks
(x2578)
Copy Editor:
Staff Writers:
Kara Alexis
Kevin Naumann
Angie Daschel
James Khosravi
Mandi Linstrom
Eric Eatherton
Staff Photographers:
Joel P. Shempert
Photo Editor:
Toni McMichael
Amy Parrish
Timothy A. Bell
Advisor:
Graphic Design:
Linda Vogt
(x2310)
Karl Katzke
Advertising Design:
Megan Oldenstadt
Secretary:
JoAnne Gale
Cartoonist:
Joel "Israel" Gunderson
Announcements:
Leah Chapin
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