What are your rights? Can you list them? And, whatever rights you may list, where do these rights come from? Who gave them to you? That is, by what authority or power or fundamental truth are you guaranteed these rights?
Our Constitution speaks of “inalienable” rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for example). How are these rights inalienable and what does “inalienable” even mean?
When the word inalienable is used with reference to human rights, it is to say that such rights have preeminence over all local and/or national governing powers. That is, it is assumed that certain human rights are not given to people by their governments; rather, such rights are inherent to the people simply because they are human. They are the universal rights of humanity.
An inalienable right is a right that cannot be derived from other laws or rights or external powers. Inalienable rights are therefore irreducible givens, essential rights that apply to all persons by virtue of their humanity—the irreducible, non-deductible and essential rights of Being Human. Thus, all good laws are built on the essential nature of what it means to be human; and so all good laws are built on the foundational inalienable rights of humanity.
In short, we humans do not bestow upon ourselves our own inalienable rights. If that were true, than these rights could also be taken away from us just as easily, by the whim and will or fancy of any particular government that happens to be in power at any given time or place—which is exactly how some governments around the world (past, present, and future) wish to rule and actually attempt to govern—as if the inalienable rights of humanity are nonexistent and do not apply.
So, it is insufficient to simply say that our inalienable rights stem from our humanity, the fact that human beings are Human Beings. For, it begs the question—why do or why should human beings have these “inalienable” rights in the first place.
The truth is, if there is no God/Creator, there is no inherent reason to assume that Human Beings are to have or presume to have “inalienable” rights. Without a God, what is…IS! And that is that. And if any single human or group of humans assert or demand that they have inalienable rights, it is nothing more than humans bestowing upon themselves these rights. And then we are only left with a foundation of drifting sand: what humans give, humans can just as easily take away; all depending upon who is in power in any given age or place.
At the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry, Jesus went to synagogue service in his home town, Nazareth, as was his custom, and stood up to read from Isaiah (see Luke 4:16-21; Isaiah 61:1-2): “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed and announce that the time has come when the Lord will save his people.”
Why do the poor matter? Why be concerned about the blind, the lame, or the meek? Why worry about the oppressed and those who are held captive? Why do humans have any value at all? Why do we humans aspire to live in peace and prosperity where justice and goodness prevail?
Because, God is our Creator and we humans are made in His Image. Because, Eternity is in our hearts and deep down inside we know there is a greater Truth to the meaning of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness than how we have narrowly defined it. Because our basic human rights are not bestowed to us by our fellow humans but by the Creator, God’s Self.
Jesus said, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate for the sheep. All others who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever comes in by me will be saved; he will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come in order that you might have life—life in all its fullness.” John 10:7-10. In short, only God through Christ will ever guarantee to us, both in principle and in practice, the Inalienable Rights of humanity; for God is its very source.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
And what does your conscience say?
When was the last time you paid attention to your conscience?
Do you believe that you have one? If so, do you respect it and give it consideration, actually follow its lead? Or, do you more often than not squelch it and ignore it and treat it as a kind of nuisance that is more bothersome than helpful?
What is a conscience? You know. It’s that small inner voice that warns you: “Don’t do this,” or “You better take care of that.” It monitors your conduct, evaluates your intentions, and directs you toward making good and right choices, while blaming you for the bad choices you make.
Speaking of a conscience presumes the following realities:
It presumes that there is a right and wrong and that you know the difference between them. That is, it presumes the knowledge of good and bad by means of a rationale and reasonable mind.
It presumes that, at the core of your innermost being, you’d really rather do what is right and good; you prefer goodness over evil.
It presumes free-choice, that it is a matter of the will—freewill.
And it presumes that there is a higher law of moral consequence and just-desserts. That is that, ultimately one cannot get away with continually doing wrong; sooner or later one’s bad deeds will catch up. That there is a Judgment Day, and goodness will finally prevail over evil.
Christian theology tells us as much: God created Human Beings as intelligent and moral beings.
Proverbs 20:27 says that “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every innermost part.” Given that point, we could say that God’s voice plays a role in the voice of our conscience, which is probably a good reason why we should give it some careful attention. In more stark terms, we are told that “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13.)
Responding to our conscience: Fight or flight?
To fight is to rebel, to stubbornly ignore, squelch, or squash one’s conscience. The Bible speaks of those who seem to have no conscience at all and couldn’t care less, those whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2). These are those who may have had a conscience at one time in their life but no longer. They have seared them; squashed, squelched, and smothered the conscience so often that it can no longer speak or be heard. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:18)
To flee is to admit that one has a guilty conscience with the fear that there is no way of escaping its verdict. One feels doomed and thus one flees. Think of the story of Adam and Eve when they ran from God and hid in the garden for fear of being exposed. They knew they were guilty of committing a wrong. Humanity has been fleeing from God ever since.
Stop running. Jesus tells us that he came into the world for this very reason. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)
This world, beautiful as it is, is also a very hard and painful place to live in. There is much evil in this world, and many people do many bad things. No one is without guilt of doing some wrong to others.
So, we have a choice. Sear our consciences as with a hot iron and do what we want, as we want—good bad or indifferent. Or, we can begin paying more careful attention to what it is that our conscience is really trying to tell us. When we feel guilty, rather than run, the best thing to do is to seek God and His righteousness. Seek the Savior, find forgiveness and redemption, and be given a whole new promise of hope and salvation in the face of a cruel, unjust, and evil world, not to mention our own wrongdoing.
Do you believe that you have one? If so, do you respect it and give it consideration, actually follow its lead? Or, do you more often than not squelch it and ignore it and treat it as a kind of nuisance that is more bothersome than helpful?
What is a conscience? You know. It’s that small inner voice that warns you: “Don’t do this,” or “You better take care of that.” It monitors your conduct, evaluates your intentions, and directs you toward making good and right choices, while blaming you for the bad choices you make.
Speaking of a conscience presumes the following realities:
It presumes that there is a right and wrong and that you know the difference between them. That is, it presumes the knowledge of good and bad by means of a rationale and reasonable mind.
It presumes that, at the core of your innermost being, you’d really rather do what is right and good; you prefer goodness over evil.
It presumes free-choice, that it is a matter of the will—freewill.
And it presumes that there is a higher law of moral consequence and just-desserts. That is that, ultimately one cannot get away with continually doing wrong; sooner or later one’s bad deeds will catch up. That there is a Judgment Day, and goodness will finally prevail over evil.
Christian theology tells us as much: God created Human Beings as intelligent and moral beings.
Proverbs 20:27 says that “The human spirit is the lamp of the Lord, searching every innermost part.” Given that point, we could say that God’s voice plays a role in the voice of our conscience, which is probably a good reason why we should give it some careful attention. In more stark terms, we are told that “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13.)
Responding to our conscience: Fight or flight?
To fight is to rebel, to stubbornly ignore, squelch, or squash one’s conscience. The Bible speaks of those who seem to have no conscience at all and couldn’t care less, those whose consciences are seared as with a hot iron (1 Timothy 4:2). These are those who may have had a conscience at one time in their life but no longer. They have seared them; squashed, squelched, and smothered the conscience so often that it can no longer speak or be heard. “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” (Ephesians 4:18)
To flee is to admit that one has a guilty conscience with the fear that there is no way of escaping its verdict. One feels doomed and thus one flees. Think of the story of Adam and Eve when they ran from God and hid in the garden for fear of being exposed. They knew they were guilty of committing a wrong. Humanity has been fleeing from God ever since.
Stop running. Jesus tells us that he came into the world for this very reason. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17)
This world, beautiful as it is, is also a very hard and painful place to live in. There is much evil in this world, and many people do many bad things. No one is without guilt of doing some wrong to others.
So, we have a choice. Sear our consciences as with a hot iron and do what we want, as we want—good bad or indifferent. Or, we can begin paying more careful attention to what it is that our conscience is really trying to tell us. When we feel guilty, rather than run, the best thing to do is to seek God and His righteousness. Seek the Savior, find forgiveness and redemption, and be given a whole new promise of hope and salvation in the face of a cruel, unjust, and evil world, not to mention our own wrongdoing.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Freedom and Equality! Are You Equal to Me?
Are we equal?
This is not meant to be a trick question, but a simple yes or no answer won’t do.
It’s complicated this question of equality. For, we are certainly not equal when it comes to natural talent and skills. For example: I can’t sing. That is, I can’t wow people with my singing. I certainly can’t bring in the crowds when I sing, unlike an Elvis Presley or a Frank Sinatra did back in their heyday.
Nor are we equal when it comes to income and lifestyle. Some are born with the so-called silver-spoon in their mouths, while others are born barely able to survive their first year of life for want of nutrition and other health care needs.
We are not equal in size, mental capacity, strength, natural abilities, beauty, health, or success potential and so-on. So when our U. S. Constitution speaks of equality, what does it mean and how is it to be applied in our American social construct?
This is where the Christian influence and backdrop to the birth of our nation comes in to play: It is a Christian assertion that all people are created in the image of God.
Practically speaking, despite our differences in talents and abilities and/or our economic status or mental capacity, the life of every human being is sacred and shares the same responsibility to give and receive mutual and reciprocated respect for one another as a fellow human being.
Take that particular premise away—that we are all created in the image of God—and you have a ready argument to begin to justify categorizing humans as more valuable or less valuable, as more worthy or less worthy of respect and dignity—based on varies metrics, such as natural strength & power or skills and abilities, etc.
It’s a question of what makes a human being valuable. If value is simply based on performance, that is, on what one can do, than those who have little capacity to do anything have less value—may even be seen as totally worthless, having no value at all.
Or, to make the question of human value even more complicated, some will say that value is based on one’s goodness: The more bad a person is, the less value that person has as a person; that is, good people are more valuable than bad people are. But then we get into the question of how to define “goodness” over “badness” and the difference between “being” a bad person versus “doing” a bad thing—they’re not one and the same.
So, the premise that we are created in God’s image gives us the necessary foundation for the building block of human equality.
Thus, rich or poor, all humans are to be given the dignity of respect and honor as a human being. That is, one’s dignity is not based on one’s wealth or monetary value.
Thus, all humans are equal before the law and are to have the right to just treatment and with respect, regardless of physical stature or social status or mental capacity.
Thus, all humans, regardless of ethnic identity, language, culture, and or regional origin, are to be honored as deserving of dignity and respect.
And thus, the most pointed Christian message of human equality is this: though all humans are guilty of wrongdoing and are therefore deemed sinful in the eyes of God (for example: as liars and cheats, as unfaithful and/or unkind and hateful toward others, or as having hearts of greed, pride and arrogance, etc.) we humans are all offered the same means of salvation—redemption and forgiveness by means of Christ the Savior.
The further we move away from the premise that all humans are created in the image of God, the closer we move toward unjust laws, oppressive government, and the devaluing of human beings that we deem as unworthy of our honor and respect simply because they are not like us.
This is not meant to be a trick question, but a simple yes or no answer won’t do.
It’s complicated this question of equality. For, we are certainly not equal when it comes to natural talent and skills. For example: I can’t sing. That is, I can’t wow people with my singing. I certainly can’t bring in the crowds when I sing, unlike an Elvis Presley or a Frank Sinatra did back in their heyday.
Nor are we equal when it comes to income and lifestyle. Some are born with the so-called silver-spoon in their mouths, while others are born barely able to survive their first year of life for want of nutrition and other health care needs.
We are not equal in size, mental capacity, strength, natural abilities, beauty, health, or success potential and so-on. So when our U. S. Constitution speaks of equality, what does it mean and how is it to be applied in our American social construct?
This is where the Christian influence and backdrop to the birth of our nation comes in to play: It is a Christian assertion that all people are created in the image of God.
Practically speaking, despite our differences in talents and abilities and/or our economic status or mental capacity, the life of every human being is sacred and shares the same responsibility to give and receive mutual and reciprocated respect for one another as a fellow human being.
Take that particular premise away—that we are all created in the image of God—and you have a ready argument to begin to justify categorizing humans as more valuable or less valuable, as more worthy or less worthy of respect and dignity—based on varies metrics, such as natural strength & power or skills and abilities, etc.
It’s a question of what makes a human being valuable. If value is simply based on performance, that is, on what one can do, than those who have little capacity to do anything have less value—may even be seen as totally worthless, having no value at all.
Or, to make the question of human value even more complicated, some will say that value is based on one’s goodness: The more bad a person is, the less value that person has as a person; that is, good people are more valuable than bad people are. But then we get into the question of how to define “goodness” over “badness” and the difference between “being” a bad person versus “doing” a bad thing—they’re not one and the same.
So, the premise that we are created in God’s image gives us the necessary foundation for the building block of human equality.
Thus, rich or poor, all humans are to be given the dignity of respect and honor as a human being. That is, one’s dignity is not based on one’s wealth or monetary value.
Thus, all humans are equal before the law and are to have the right to just treatment and with respect, regardless of physical stature or social status or mental capacity.
Thus, all humans, regardless of ethnic identity, language, culture, and or regional origin, are to be honored as deserving of dignity and respect.
And thus, the most pointed Christian message of human equality is this: though all humans are guilty of wrongdoing and are therefore deemed sinful in the eyes of God (for example: as liars and cheats, as unfaithful and/or unkind and hateful toward others, or as having hearts of greed, pride and arrogance, etc.) we humans are all offered the same means of salvation—redemption and forgiveness by means of Christ the Savior.
The further we move away from the premise that all humans are created in the image of God, the closer we move toward unjust laws, oppressive government, and the devaluing of human beings that we deem as unworthy of our honor and respect simply because they are not like us.
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