Here, at last, we reach something fundamental for moral theology. Is the moral order a creature of divine providence, or does divine governance have to be added on to an already complete and autonomous human jurisdiction over morals? Here we are not worrying about the morality of gambling or contraception. Rather, the problem is the condition(s) of the possibility of moral theology. If God provides only the "natural" conditions for human practical reason, giving the human mind a kind of plenary authority over all the material norms, then God does not govern—except perhaps in the metaphorical fashion suggested by some of the deists. The Pope goes on to say:

veritatis splendor: "Were this autonomy to imply a denial of the participation of the practical reason in the wisdom of the divine Creator and Lawgiver, or were it to suggest a freedom which creates moral norms, on the basis of historical contingencies or the diversity of societies and cultures, this sort of alleged autonomy would contradict the Church's teaching on the truth about man. It would be the death of true freedom: "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen 2:17)"

Natural Law and Catholic Moral Theology, p. 20