God, Natural Law and the AI Challenge

Today we very often hear the words that everything in this world is invented by man or depends on man. Many phenomena of this world are considered subjective and dependent on our personal interpretation. What is more, it is claimed that even the very concept of nature is wrong and that, in fact, there is no nature! Everything, such people say, is 'a social and cultural construction.' Nature as such is dismissed. The natural order, the order in the world, is denied. All this leads to its logical result - faith in God is rejected because where there is no order, there cannot be God. The world is simply a collection of our human fabrications and conventions. Our world is a 'social construction.' All we need is to live according to our desires; to choose the gender we want; to practice relationships that are unnatural and immoral, and so forth. Therefore, the constructivist approach has its implications in practice, and we see them nowadays.  As a counterpoint to this conception, we will turn to the theological doctrine of natural law. According to the latter, the world is regulated by a law established by God. This regulation is intended to help us and the world not fall into a state of chaos. Furthermore, every single thing in this world has its nature, its essence. Although both things are not the same, we can perceive them as demonstrating that there are stable and fixed entities in this world. Man’s nature is permanent, at least on earth; genders are permanent; ethnicity and nationality are less permanent and more fluid, but they still can be defined according to objective criteria.  To prove that there is order in the world, we will turn to three central concepts: Logos, or the Word; the Liturgy as a reflection and participation in the divine order and life; and the relation between science and religion as reflecting the essence of the Logos. The Logos refers to the Greek term 'word' and represents the general principle of divine reason and creative order in the world. Natural law, on the other hand, is the moral law that is accessible to all people through reason. Liturgy refers to the ritual and ceremonial practices of the Church. The thesis expressed in the current work will defend the reality of God by means of establishing natural law, the dignity of the human person, God’s beauty manifested in nature, and the fact that faith goes hand in hand with science. By knowing the world, we will know that God is real- although we can never know His nature perfectly.