Human Rights
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Updated: October 11, 2010

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For a Sister in Christ, I prepared this short summary on the topic of human rights, their source, and the American concept of RIGHTS.    It will just take you a few minutes to read this.


DO HUMANS HAVE RIGHTS?  DO CHRISTIANS HAVE RIGHTS?

 

When the song writer wrote, “Our Father God to thee, author of Liberty…” what concept of liberty was he referring to?  Patrick Henry spoke in his famous “give me Liberty” speech, “three million people, armed in the holy cause of liberty….”  Were these people right to believe and proclaim that Liberty is a Holy gift from God?

 

In times past, even through most of my own lifetime, when a Christian Patriot referred to Liberty, he meant the freedom to do what God in His Word commanded us to do.  They never believed that Liberty was the freedom to do anything we wanted to do.  The word “rights” came from the very concept that some things are RIGHT, and some are wrong. 

 

Do we actually have any rights?  Government gets its authority, and its limitations from God, and Jesus specifically told Pilate that the only authority he had was what he got “from above.”  The concept of limited government “under God” is a biblical concept.  (John 19:10,11)

 

Modern secular humanistic education and media have greatly distorted what our founding fathers meant when they spoke of being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights.”

 

When people talk about rights today, they may be talking about new concepts which neither the Bible nor our founding documents supported.  Our founders did endeavor to lay a biblical foundation for their concept of human rights. Most of them believed the Bible was right, and tried to weave its principles into our government, laws, institutions, and even our courts.

 

Sister, you have stated that as Christians we have given up our rights, and asked me if I agree with that.  No, I do not!  By birth, I am created in the image of God, I am a living soul, I differ from all the animals, and God has stated in His Word that I have certain rights.  By rebirth, I am a child of the King of kings, and as a member of the family, I have certain rights.  God has never called upon me to relinquish these rights. 

 

I have surrendered my will to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Having been in church for over 60 years, I had never heard this doctrine that we give up our rights until recently. Many new doctrines have infiltrated the Church since most pastors, educators, news commentators, law makers, and judges, have come through the school system after God was kicked out, and they simply do not know they truth!

 

The concept of rights that I believe in was actually taught in the pulpits and public schools not too many decades ago.

 

I have not given up my rights just because I am a Christian, and neither have you!  Let me give you some brief examples:

 

If you have a job outside of the home, do you expect to be paid, according to some agreement you have with the employer or customers?  If you have given up your rights, you would not even have that concept.  You expect to be paid, because God has placed a certain “natural law” in you that tells you it is RIGHT.

 

Did God take away your right to choose a certain education and job?  I think you have confused the surrender of your will with the relinquishing of your rights.  Do you think the government should tell you where you must live, how you must worship, what education is acceptable, and what profession you must pursue?  Do we just say, “Oh well. We are Christians. That’s OK.  We have no rights.”  Absolutely not! You would not say that. You do believe you have rights, and you do not what somebody else tramping on your rights – whatever your concept of “rights” may be.

 

When you take your money and buy a car, do you believe you have a right to own it, and drive it?  If you looked out the window and saw some guys trying to steal it, would you call the police or intervene in any way to stop this crime?  Is it God’s will for somebody to steal your car?

 

According to Bible, do you have property rights?

 

If somebody broke into your house and was obviously intent on molesting you, should your husband defend you?  Should he just say, “Honey, we are Christians, we have no rights.”?  OUTRAGEOUS!  According to God’s Word, we have a right to dwell safely under our own vine and our fig tree. (1 Kings 4:25)  Also consider: Hosea 4:7, Micah 4:4, and Zechariah 3:10

 

The very fact that you get on Facebook and express your opinions, proves that you do believe that you have a right to do so.  Do you believe that a totalitarian dictator should be allowed to force you to be quiet, or to imprison you because you disagree with his concept of religion?  What would happen to such outspoken people in a communist country?  A Muslim-controlled country?

 

The fact is, the American concept of God-given rights has given you the freedom to express yourself much more openly than you would be allowed almost anywhere else in the world.

 

A few decades ago my cousin and her husband barely escaped from Saudi Arabia with their lives after he made some remark or joke about the government.  He was thrown out immediately and didn’t know for some time if his wife would get out or not. Do we want the government controlling our thought processes, our speech, and telling us what is “politically correct.”

 

The Bible defines what our rights are. The Bible is the final authority.  The problem comes up when we do not recognize the authority of God’s Word.  Law-makers and judges begin hatching up new rights – abortion rights, sexual perversion rights, welfare rights, the right of the government to micro-manage every area of our lives. 

 

You do not want that control over you, because you enjoy the American concept of rights.  The desire to breathe free is not sinful.  As Christians we surrender our will to that of the Father like Jesus did.  He can mold us into whatever He wants us to be, and even put our lives on the line for the Gospel.  That concept is NOT the same as denying that we have rights given to us by our Creator.

 

Jesus said “all authority is given unto me… Go therefore…” (Matthew 28:18)  We have a right to do what God’s Word says we should do.  We have that authority from the highest Authority.  It would be very foolish to believe that God gave us certain commands, but them requires us to give up our right to obey Him. 

 

Love in Christ Jesus,

David

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