The Warm Brownies of Natural Law

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“A couple of young brothers go home after school, accompanied by a couple of unbelieving friends. When they get to the house, they find it clean and in good order. There are some beautiful paintings on the wall, the work of the boys’ mother. On the counter is a tray of brownies, still warm. This is natural law. On the fridge is a note from mom, telling the boys to help themselves to the brownies and, after they have done so, would they please help her out by carrying a desk upstairs, a desk she scored that morning in a yard sale. After that, they can do whatever—study, go play ball, whatever they want to do. That is special revelation. There are three basic ways to screw this up. One way is to separate the two forms of communication and focus your attention on only one of them. The second way is to focus on the other one. The third way is to accept both forms of revelation, but to treat them as the work of two different mothers. The normal way to respond, the way her sons do, is by accepting all of it as coming from her, each according to its nature and all part of a well-integrated home life” (Empires of Dirt, pp. 179-180).