[K]eep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ … He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. (1 Timothy 6:14-15)
Yahweh’s exclusive sovereignty
All men not surrendered to Christ act as if they’re sovereign. Men identifying themselves as patriots often claim to be sovereign. No! There is only one sovereign.
To claim sovereignty is to not only claim autonomy1 from God, it’s to usurp Yahweh’s2 place as God.3 Human sovereignty, as expressed in the theory of natural and unalienable rights, is not a biblical concept. Rather, we can trace it back to the Age of Enlightenment. In fact, autonomous sovereignty can be traced all the way back to Adam and Eve’s rebellion in the Garden when they challenged Yahweh’s sovereignty and thereby attempted to establish their own.
The reality is: man is but a pot in the hands of the Potter:
But now, O Yahweh … we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand. (Isaiah 64:8)
[S]hall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? (Romans 9:20-21)
Sovereign rights
As Creator, the Potter has the authority to do with His pots whatever He chooses. As Sovereign, He has the right to do whatever He decides with His entire creation. In fact, He’s the only one with this right. As the Potter, all rights are exclusive to Him.
“Certainly, we have a right to life!”
Do we? Does man have a right to life? Or is even the right to life exclusive to God?
If man has a right to life, that right then dictates God was obligated to create us. If this is true, who’s really the prime cause: the Creator who was obliged to provide the right or the created who had the right to life?
Only Yahweh has a right to life. It’s inherent in who and what He is: I Am That I Am—the great and only self-existing I Am That I Am.
For us, life is not a right. It’s first a gift from the Life Giver and then a responsibility. We are obligated to use our lives as intended by the One who gave us life.4 To claim life as our right is to eliminate any requirement of responsibility to our Creator. In reality, it’s an attempt to usurp His exclusive claim to sovereignty.
The inherent problem in claiming even life as a right should be obvious. Is it any different with other rights—even those enshrined in the Bill of Rights, which are hallowed by most Americans, particularly Christians?
Most Americans view the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution as sacrosanct and inviolable. But this is the song of a siren.5
The First Amendment’s guaranteed “rights”
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Are these rights enumerated in the First Amendment biblical? If they’re biblical, they’re guaranteed by Yahweh. If guaranteed by Yahweh, they should be found in the Bible. If they’re not biblical, they’re “guaranteed” by someone else who can and has incrementally taken them away:
In Understanding the Constitution: Ten Things Every Christian Should Know About the Supreme Law of the Land, David Gibbs, Jr., and David Gibbs III argue for unalienable rights:
Our rights come from God, not from the state. Therefore, the state cannot take them away. What Uncle Sam gives, Uncle Sam can take away. But our nation’s birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence makes clear that our rights are unalienable because they come from God.
This sounds wonderful, but is it true? The State has certainly taken away an unwanted infant’s right to life. The State has incrementally taken away gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.6 The State has taken away the right to happiness, in particular the right to own property. Because rights come from the State, the State can take them away at its pleasure.7
The right to religion
What about the First Amendment’s right to religion as provided in the Free Exercise Clause? Does man have a right to whatever religion and god he chooses? If so, how does this comport with the First Commandment?
I am Yahweh thy God…. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:2-3)
For thou shalt worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. (Exodus 34:14)
Man may choose to follow a god other than Yahweh, but he does not have the right to do so. It logically follows: Should government then provide such a right? If it does, what’s this say about such a government?8
If it’s your right to choose any god you prefer, you cannot be judged for doing so. And if you can’t be judged for choosing another god, who’s really sovereign?
It’s not our sovereign right to choose our god but God’s sovereign right to choose us. Consequently, the alleged right to choose one’s god is itself a claim to divinity, tantamount to what was offered Adam and Eve in the Garden, “Ye shall be as gods!”
Christians need to rethink their love affair with First Amendment’s seditious “right” to religion. It was provided not by Yahweh, but by a group of Theistic Rationalists and Enlightenment Freemasons, whose ideological paradigm is polytheistic to its core.
The First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause is responsible for transforming America from what was a predominantly monotheistic Christian nation (a united nation under one God) into one of the most polytheistic nations ever (a divided nation under many gods). It is arguably the most clever cover devised by man for sedition against Yahweh. It certainly has duped the majority of Christians into promoting the First Amendment as if some grand Christian ideal is found therein.
Only the Sovereign has a right to religion.
The right to free speech and a free press
How about the First Amendment’s right to free speech and a free press? If these rights (and the others enshrined in the Bill of Rights) are biblical like many Christians believe they are, they must originate in the Bible.
There are two inherent problems with the oft-parroted concept of God-given Constitutional rights:
1) Except perhaps as the Paper’s Timekeeper in Article 7, the Constitution knows nothing of God.
2) God and His Word know nothing of optional rights. Instead, the Bible is replete with God-expected responsibilities.
Is there anything in the Bible that provides for or even allows for people to gather for any reason whatsoever or to freely say anything they choose? No, there is not. Instead, the Bible puts limitations on both these activities.
Under the Constitution, the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press are used to provide protection for those who promote false religions, infanticide, sodomy, violence, obscenities, and other atrocities condemned by Yahweh.
Are these rights provided by your Sovereign? Indeed, they are! That is, if you look to the Constitution’s Bill of Rights as unalienable, established and secured by We the People in the Preamble.
What about what’s said about God? Do we have a right to say anything we wish about Yahweh or does the Bible put limitations on what can be said about Him?
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his sin. And he that blasphemeth the name of Yahweh, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of Yahweh, shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:15-16)
Exodus 23:13 commands us to not even mention the names of other gods. The Bible condemns any favorable or casual promotion of other gods, whereas the First Amendment protects the “right” of those who do so.
The right to free assembly
The provision in Amendment 1 for U.S. citizens to assemble peaceably appears innocuous. But is it harmless to provide sodomites, infanticide advocates, and Satanists the right to peaceably assemble? If you’re a proponent of the Constitution and a defender of Amendment 1, you must defend the rights of such criminals and anti-Christians to assemble and promote their wicked agendas, thereby becoming complicit in their sins.
The Second Amendment “Right”
A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
“Certainly, we have the right to defend ourselves and our families!”
No, we do not! We have the responsibility to do so:
But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house [beginning with spiritual and physical protection], he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel. (1 Timothy 5:8)
The Second Amendment is one of the very few components in the Constitution and Bill of Rights that’s close to being biblical. However, the late 18th-century founders robbed bearing arms of its potency when they replaced the non-optional, God-expected biblical responsibility to bear arms in defense of ourselves and our families with the optional Enlightenment right to do so.
An optional right is much easier for government to control, manipulate, and even divest. Think about it: The Amendment with the wording “shall not be infringed” is the most infringed, licensed, and limited Amendment of the entire twenty-seven. Furthermore, a future generation of our posterity is likely to see the Second Amendment whittled away entirely or repealed altoghether.9 This is the inherent nature and danger of alleged God-given rights as opposed to God-expected responsibilities.
Even when it comes to the Second Amendment, it’s not our optional right to bear arms in protection of ourselves, our families, and others. It’s our responsibility to do so, not because of some undefined, indistinct natural law, but because the one and only Sovereign dictates it in His revealed Word.
Only One with rights
There is only one Sovereign, and, as such, rights are exclusive to Him. The rest of us are endowed with responsibilities to Him. To claim otherwise is to usurp His jurisdiction as God, which is what the Enlightenment founders did. This insidious, age-old battle is found time and again throughout the Bible.
When the late 18th-century founders replaced immutable biblical responsibilities with capricious human rights, they replaced Yahweh as Sovereign with We the People. Their government guarantees seditious unbiblical rights, which non-Christians and Christians alike have been more than happy to claim.
Americans have been spellbound by the song of a siren. In the process, they have traded Yahweh’s righteousness for their own alleged rights. Claiming rights to ourselves rather than responsibility to the one and only Sovereign is just another instance of man’s sacrilegious claim to divinity. May God have mercy on us!10
Related posts:
Rights: Man’s Sacrilegious Claim to Divinity (audio sermon)
Rights, Rights, Everyone Wants Their Rights
America’s Road to Hell: Paved With Rights
Chapter 11 “Amendment 1: Government-Sanctioned Polytheism” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective
Chapter 18 “Amendment 9: Rights vs. Righteousness” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective
1. Autonomy or self ruled as opposed to theonomy or God ruled.
2. YHWH, the English transliteration of the Tetragrammaton, is most often pronounced Yahweh. It is the principal Hebrew name of the God of the Bible and was inspired to appear nearly 7,000 times in the Old Testament. Regrettably, it was deleted by the English translators. In obedience to the Third Commandment and the many Scriptures that charge us to proclaim, swear by, praise, extol, call upon, bless, glorify, and hold fast to His name, we have chosen to memorialize His name here in this document and in our lives. For a more thorough explanation concerning important reasons for using the sacred name of God, see “The Third Commandment.”
3. Could You be a Disciple of Baal and Not Know It?
4. Rights, Rights, Everyone Wants Their Rights
5. America’s Road to Hell: Paved With Rights
6. The Second Amendment: A Knife in a Gunfight (audio sermon)
7. Chapter 18 “Amendment 9: Rights vs. Righteousness” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective
8. Chapter 11 “Amendment 1: Government-Sanctioned Polytheism” of Bible Law vs. the United States Constitution: The Christian Perspective
Given the above, which I agree with, how shall we then understand these verses?
Psalm 82:6
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
John 10:33
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
It is a pity that whoever cobbled together this amalgam of disparate thoughts does not understand the simple concept that man was created in God’s image and endowed by the Creator with certain rights. We do not presume to usurp our rights from God. He GRANTED them to us. But hey, nice try. Not really.
Would you be so kind as to back up your purported truth with Scripture?
Genesis 1:27
Genesis 5:1
Genesis 9:6
1 Corinthians 11:7
Ephesians 4:24
Colossians 3:10
See my response to Mr. Duncan above.
None of those contain “Rights”. Three contain commands.
Mark, thanks for joining us in discussion.
I see Harvey asked you the same question I was going to. I’m sure everyone here appreciates the Scriptures you shared and all would agree with your statement that “man was created in God’s image.” However, none of these passages say anything about man having the RIGHT to life or any other right.
As it stands, your claim that the Creator endowed man with certain rights does not come from the Bible but instead the Declaration of Independence, which was principally authored by antichrist Thomas Jefferson who cut the virgin birth, miracles, resurrection, and ascension of
Christ – what he described as a “dunghill” – out of his cut-and-paste
New Testament (Thomas Jefferson, letter to John Adams, 24 January 1814, Lester J. Cappon, ed., The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams (Williamsburg, VA: Institute of Early American History and Culture, 1988) p. 384.)
As such Jefferson’s creator was NOT the God of the Bible but the generic god of the Freemasons and Theistic Rationalists:
“And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh….” (1 Timothy 3:16)
“For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” (2 John 1:7-11)
In light of the consequences described by the Apostle John, I hope you see the danger in promoting Jefferson’s false god and his false promises of unbiblical rights.
Does man or God have A RIGHT to life?
Does man have A RIGHT to choose any god he desires?
You would be correct, if we were only created in the physical image of God. That likeness is spiritual, as well. As such we do have rights, inherent to our humanity. A right to life is included in those.
Ephesians 4:24
and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Colossians 3:10
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.
Those verses speak of a likeness beyond the physical.
A right to life–physical or spiritual–implies Yahweh was obligated to us to create us and send Christ as our propitiation. I’ve got a sneaking suspicion, He doesn’t look at that way. To make God obligated to us is, in fact, heretical:
” For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
A gift, not our right or God’s obligation. If it’s our right, then there’s no gift to it.
You have made an assumption based on nothing but your own interpretation. I see it differently. You view God as some hate filled entity looking or man to step out of line so he can be punished. I believe God loves us, is forgiving of our mistakes, and certain basic human rights to us. Among those is a right to life. That right to life is not a requirement that God give it to us, but that no man should take it away, without cause.
The scripture I quoted supports my position. I know of nothing in sxripture which supports your position. I asked you to provide the scripture which supports your position. You have not. I must then assume you have nothing. Get back to me you can show me sxripture saying man has no rights.
Mark, you might do well to reconsider who’s position views God as some hate-filled entity: Mine that looks to Him as the Life Giver (both physically and spiritually) or yours that puts Him in the position of only providing life because He’s obligated to do so because its our alleged right.
I’ve already demonstrated from the Scriptures that rights are not biblical. You might want to go back and carefully re-read the article again.
First, do not patronize me. My opinion comes from scripture and two biblical scholars I have discussed this idea with.
God creates man. Until God gives us life, and determines who and what we are, at the moment of conception, we are essentially an empty vessel. When we become human, those rights are given go us by God.
Prior to our conception, there is no human to have, or not have, rights. Therefore, we do not have a right to creation. But after birth, Hod gives us our rights as humans.
Piss, moan, whine all you want. Tell me I am going to burn in hell. I really do not care what your OPINION is. God is my Lord, and Jesus is my savior. What some belligerent, poorly informed individual says, has no impact on me, what so ever.
I wasn’t patronizing you, merely answering your last post.
I must have missed it, please point to where you’ve proven anything by Scripture.
After man is born, does God pour into Him the RIGHT to choose any god he pleases? Does God pour into him the RIGHT to blaspheme His name? Does God pour into him the RIGHT to assemble peaceably to promote infanticide and sodomy?
Tel me again why I should re-read something I have already demonstrated to be wrong.
I must have missed it, please point to where you’ve demonstrated anything in the article wrong.
The Right IS the gift.
Please explain how something that’s my right that obligates God to fulfill my right can then be a gift from God.
This sounds like socialism: Taxpayers are obligated to give to the poor but they should consider it their gift nonetheless.
Mark- we DO have a spiritual existence, but not everyone benefits from that tripartite existence- yes, Tri-partite ‘Body, soul, and spirit’ as St. Paul noted, and as many of the Fathers (of the Church) have noted. Only those who are REGENERATE, have that mirror ‘image’ of the Trinity. The unregenerate do NOT. They lack (again, as the Fathers state, the ‘pnevma’ to even begin to DO the will of God, and that, only imperfectly, as we resist the Spirit of God, which alone dwells in the hearts and minds of believers. So, your Scripture quotes do not pertain to the vast majority of either Whites in the “Christian West,” and are a total misapplication of the imbuing of sentient sanctity to the vast bilions of non-Whites, who are (by and large) Utter Pagan, without the ‘pnevma.’
Ted is correct in this instance. Only a godly people can rule righteously, and the only form of government that Christians have ever had that was biblically ordained, is some form of monarchy, mirroring God Father as King of all creation. The US FEDGOV is an antichrist state, and was construed to be one- albeit an enlightenment variation on the form. It only worked, as long as the populace of America was Christian. Now, it is nothing less than fit for the ‘dungheap of history.’
You sure took a lot of words to say nothing. At least nothing based in reality.
And you sir, are a fool. Prov. 26:5
That is funny. I have two men I counsel with who have ecumenical degrees. Both said you are a fool. I’ll go with men of faith, educated in the Christian faith, over some buffoon I have never met, spewing an incorrect interpretation of The Word. You are the rock tied to the sling. Completely useless and foolish.
If the two of you intend to continue down this line of insulting each other, take it somewhere else. You’re in violation of our comment policy: “Discourteous
behavior (name calling or rude or insulting remarks directed at another
user).” – See more at:
http://www.constitutionmythbusters.org/comment-policy/#sthash.ySxwy2GH.dpuf.
Continue to do so and you’ll both be banned from this blog.
Do not bother. I am not a proficient user of disqus. Explain the process to block this lunatic blog. You won’t need to block me.
I was curious of the content based on the name. There is no serious content here. Simply a tiny group of loons, trying to cast aspersions on great men (our Founders). Little, angry men who could not make a shadow of the brilliance of those men of great faith, who threw off the shackles of slavery of a tyrannical British Monarch. What have you little men done? Good bye and good riddance to bad rubbish.
Ecumenical degrees means they are at peace with the world, which means they are at enmity with God. I’d rather be at peace with God, and at enmity with the world. You have made your decision.
Titus 3;10
Show me in scripture where is expressly states man does not enjoy the rights the creator bestowed upon him.
It’s not incumbent upon me to provide you Scripture that states He never gave us rights only mentioned in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. It’s incumbent upon YOU to provide Scripture proving your claim that those rights come from the God of the Bible. If they did, it should be easy enough for you to provide Scripture, for example that declares that man has a right to choose whatever god he pleases (which, don’t forget eliminates any possibility for judgment for exercising that right.)
Ted you put up a good fight but unilaterally by referencing
the biblical text but without reference to the statement of which the dispute
surrounds. The rights that the fight is all about are those in The Declaration of Independence and referenced by the Constitution in what is called the States Rights Amendments 1 thru 10. The Laws written by man referencing the Edict “declaration” that we no longer recognized the English King as our sovereign but replace him with our Sovereign The Almighty God of Creation and his unalienable unchanging” mercy he has endowed us the choice of right and wrong with penalties or rewards depending on our own choice. The physical rights to protect ourselves from an oppressive state or federal government are the laws of man to protect our families and not denying the spiral laws given to us by our Living God of which we must abide if we chose salvation and our choice does not infringe upon the choice “rights” of others.
Roy, thanks for joining us. However, you’re going to have try this again. I’ve read it a couple of times and still haven’t quite figured out what you’re point is.
Amen Ted ,you know rights imply that we deserve what we are falsely claiming we have,a right to ,for instance a,right to life .we do not have a right to be born just as one does not have a right to be born again both are a gift of God.The bible says in the book of job referring to God that …he gives and he takes away… So if we had a right to be born again then that would mean that God (Jesus)would have had to go to the cross and die for his chosen ones ,this he did because he willingly gave his life,and not because we had a right to him, the word rights are only for God not man the correct word is gift or duty ,we have gifts from God and duties to protect them ,as in the gift or duty to life not the right to life ,or any other so called right.also know that the gift of being born again is the only Gift God will never take away from one that has it,because it’s a gift not a right
This article is a mish-mash erroneous reasoning. The article
fails to separate the various meanings of some words, and fails to separate the
different levels of standing.
There are three levels of standing mixed together as one, in
this article. The highest level of standing is God. God is sovereign above all
things. The second level of standing is the level of mankind, which is lower
than God. The third level is the level of the Declaration of Independence, and
the Constitution, or government. These are subordinate to both God and man. This
article mixes them all together, as if they are on one level.
The word ‘sovereign’ has more than one level of meaning. When
applied to a man it has a different meaning, a different connotation, than when
it is applied to God. The meaning of the word ‘sovereign’, when applied to a
man, applies only among men, and only on the human level. Does the author agree
that “all men are created equal? The term ‘sovereign’, when used by men simply
means the individual is not inferior to any other human being, but has equal rights
to all other men; that he is free from outside control.
Is a man free from outside control? Does God allow us free moral agency? Do we have the RIGHT to CHOOSE our religion; our way of life? The Bible says: “I set before you life and death… CHOOSE life.” Duet 30;19 Does that imply that people have a choice; a ‘right to choose’? We might carry that even further and say that it implies that we have other rights; such as life, liberty, and property. ‘Liberty’ is implied by our freedom to choose. Property ownership is implied by the commandment; “Thou shalt not steal”. Do we have a right to own property? If not then “thou shalt not steal” means nothing, if you no one owns it, it can’t be stolen. (We are aware that the phrase “the pursuit of
happiness” was used to avoid the word ‘property” because slaves were deemed to
be property; and Jefferson didn’t want to legitimize the institution of slavery.)
The Declaration of independence in no way implies that man
has the ability to create life. The creation of life is on a higher level. The
implication is that no human has the right to take your life; as commanded; “Thou
shalt not kill.” The author admits that we have the right to self defense;
which admits that man has the ability to take life.
The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are not
grants of rights. They are documents of man; inferior to both man and God. The
Declaration of Independence says, in the preamble: “to assume among the powers
of the Earth”; the Earth, not heaven, the Earth. Does that sound like the
framers were trying to usurp the standing of God?
The Constitution grants no rights. The Constitution forms an institution, a government,
that is supposed to defend the individual from infringements upon his rights. Evil
men may usurp authority and try to oppress others. Certainly Satan has
influenced the men who infringe upon our rights. The Constitution is the
directive for the institution, that it created, to protect men from the
usurpers. The Declaration of Independence states why governments are created; “among men …to secure these rights”, from other men’s infringements. That’s on the
human level, not the Godly level.
The author attempts to show that the intent of the founders, and these documents, was to usurp the sovereignty of God. The author’s reasoning doesn’t support his conclusions.
Sorry Ted, but the Bible is full of God given rights both in the Old Testament & New Testament. In the old testament God chose the Hebrews as an example to all the kingdoms of the world of how blessed you would be if you followed the laws of The One True God. Under the law of Moses, God commanded that every 7 years farmers weren’t allowed to harvest their crops, they had to leave them for the poor. Hence, God gave the poor the right to claim the crops for their own. Also every 7 years under the law of Moses all debt was cancelled. This gave you the right not to be enslaved by loan sharks. It didn’t matter how much you owed. There were no 30 year mortgages, or debts so high that you could never pay it off.
In the 10 commandments:
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. This commanded you & gave you the right not to worship anything but the One True God. You have the right not to accept false ideas. Commanding people not to bow down before graven images also meant nobody was allowed to make you worship false gods & false ideas.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Is telling people that God will bless them, if they don’t esteem God lightly by speaking his name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day, keep it holy. God gave people the right to have a day of rest, including son’s, daughters, servants, strangers, and livestock all had the right to rest on the sabbath day.
Honour thy father & thy mother. God gave parents the right to be honoured by their children, if the children wanted to have a long life they had to obey God.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. God gave men & women the right to have a family when they married, with the requirement of not cheating on your spouse.
Thou shalt not covet anything of thy neighbor’s. God obviously gave people the right to marry have children, and have possessions or he wouldn’t have made this law to protect ownership.
Isaiah 58:6-9
In these scriptures God gives people the right not to be oppressed, not to be dominated, hurt, enslaved, overworked. Not to be hungry, destitute. God tells his people to quit whining in prayer & go help the people who really need help. If you do these things, when you pray to him, God will say, “here I am.”
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of
wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and
that ye break every yoke?
7
Is it not to deal thy bread to the
hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou
seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine
own flesh?
8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth
speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD
shall be thy rereward.
9
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say,
Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the
putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;….
When Moses saw a Hebrew slave being hurt by an egyptian soldier, he went and defended the Hebrew slave & killed the egyptian. Later on after Moses did this, which some mistakenly call murder, God spoke of Moses very highly, saying that if there was a prophet of man of God he would speak to them in dreams or visions, but with the man Moses he would speak face to face. God had a high regard for Moses. The Hebrew slave had a right, not to be killed by the egyptian, and not to be enslaved. That’s why God delivered them from egypt.
When Abraham’s nephew Lot & his family were kidnapped by the kings of Sodom & Gomorrah, Abraham gathered 318 of his servants, and armed them, then chased down the kidnappers, who were also murderers, and killed them, rescued his nephew Lot & those that were with him & brought back all the things they stole.
After Abraham did this God said to him “Fear not, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.”
So God gave the people that Abraham rescued the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There is much more than this…
Jeb, thanks for participating in the discussion. You bring up some valid points for consideration.
This is not just a matter of semantics, but paradigms: in other words whether we are considering this issue from man’s or God’s perspective.
Blessings are not equivalent with rights. They are instead the results from obedience to our responsibilities required of us by Yahweh–the only one as Creator and Sovereign with rights to ANYTHING.
I hope you’ll at at least agree that man does NOT have a right to life.
Only the Everliving I am that I am has a right to life. For the rest of
us life is a gift and a responsibility, with accrued blessings or curses
depending on what we do with that responsibility. If, in fact, life is not a right than everything else that comes with life cannot be a right either.
If you read my comments again, you may see that I wasn’t just talking about blessings. The law of Moses was very detailed, you might call it the original Constitution, and the law of Moses absolutely gave people God given rights. I barely scratched the surface.
The Bible also says that God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. In the new testament when Jesus spoke the parable of the sheep and the goats, it was actually a repeat of Isaiah 58, which I partially quoted from, only with more details. Saying that to those who don’t help the destitute, naked, hungry, imprisoned, oppressed, etc….like Moses and Abraham did…..in as much as you didn’t do it unto the least of these, you didn’t do it unto Jesus.
Remember the Bible says that Jesus is the light that lighteth every man. And what he said was that those who were the goats would be cast into the lake of fire, forever. People belong to God, they are God’s sovereign property. Peter here is talking to all Christians;
1 peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;…..
Jesus also said that whosoever harms one of these little children that believeth in me, it were better for him that a millstone were put around his neck and be cast into the ocean than what’s going to happen when God judges them. I would say that these things absolutely give people God given rights.
As far as having a right to life, people can’t give life or take it away. Jesus said, fear not those who can kill your body, but to fear him that can destroy both body and soul in hell. We all have an indestructible soul, if we believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and follow him, then Jesus himself gives us eternal life.
Also since God gave us our life to begin with, no man has the right to end it here on earth, unless we are a threat to other people’s lives. So if life is not a right, then who are you saying has the right to take it away? If life is not a right, then why do the Ten Commandments say thou shalt not murder?
Jeb, thanks again for responding.
Paradigm: From man’s perspective, you would call those rights. From God’s paradigm, those are obligations, often with judgments when not adhered to.
If what you identify as man’s right (for example, such as sabbathing yourself, your servants, and your animals), then there can be no judgment when those obligations are not complied with.
I wish I had time to address each and every one of your paragraphs but I don’t, at least presently.
In the meantime, for more on the difference between rights and responsibilities, check out blog article “Rights, Rights, Everyone Wants Their Rights” at http://www.constitutionmythbusters.org/rights-rights-everyone-wants-their-rights/ and “America’s Road to Hell: Paved With Rights” at http://www.constitutionmythbusters.org/americas-hell-paved-with-rights/.
Thanks for your input.