Jersey Shore - Objective Truth

I think it’s time to head back to the Jersey Shore for another golden nugget. This past Thursday we saw two and a half seasons worth of frustration between Sammy and Ronny finally blow up. Ronny’s anger literally exploded as he trashed all of Sammy’s stuff, throwing most of it (including her bed) out onto the porch. I can’t even describe how ridiculous this fight was. The one thing I can say though is that watching the epicness of this fight probably either had you laughing your butt off, or feeling really bad that Sammy and Ronny are simply incapable of love, or even respect. I’m also willing to bet that if you watched this episode you got so caught up in the ridiculousness of the fight that you missed an incredibly profound quote by Mike…yes Mike the Situation…while he was commenting on everything that was going on. If you don’t believe me, you can watch the episode again on mtv.com, it happens around the 32^nd minute.

“Ironically Ron called Sam every curse under the sun and destroyed all of her stuff. Ron had been pissed at me for…guy code…it’s like, you know, where’s general human code?”

General human code…so what Mike’s saying here is that what Ronny is doing to Sam is completely unjustifiable. There is something about the way he is treating her that is inherently wrong. Mike cites no biblical or philosophical evidence for his statement, just that he’s going against “General Human Code.”

The Catholic Church would call Mike’s “General Human Code” the NATURAL LAW. It is because of the Natural Law that we believe in the principle called objective moral truth. In short, this means just what Mike said: that some things are just wrong no matter what the situation, no matter your personal opinion, etc. In this instance, Mike said that treating a human being like Ron treated Sam would be wrong no matter what. The Church would add things like abortion, murder, premarital sex, etc. to this list. However, the important thing is that we must acknowledge that such a thing as objective morality exists!

Throughout the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI, he has continually stressed that the greatest danger plaguing the world is Moral Relativism: the idea that objective morality doesn’t exist, that each person must decide for himself/herself what is right and wrong. The thing is moral relativism repeats the same sin that Adam and Eve committed way back in the beginning of Genesis. They refused to accept that God is greater and smarter than they could ever be, and disobeyed the one law God gave them (eating the fruit). Through moral relativism we humans also try to make ourselves gods, thinking that we know better than the infinitely perfect God that created the universe. Rather than try to make ourselves gods, we humans should embrace what God made us to be, his beloved sons and daughters. We have the most perfect father in heaven looking after us that we could ever imagine…should we not trust that when he asks us not to do something it must be for our benefit?

“Thank you God for being a father to me, for loving me as your own beloved son/daughter. Help be to trust in your greatness, to trust that you know what’s best for me. Help me to see and obey the moral law, the natural law that you placed in my heart. Through my humble obedience, allow me to grow in holiness that I may one day live in your eternal paradise.”