It was Patrick Henry who spoke these immortal words when calling for the United States colonists to rise up in arms against Great Britain:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!
Upon hearing this, the crowd reportedly rose to their feet and shouted, “To arms! To arms!”
I love this quote from one of our nation’s founding fathers, as I love much of the history and values of our great country.
Whose Unalienable Rights?
But I am often surprised and perplexed that men who wrote in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, could so quickly seek to take the first of those rights—the right of life—from others.
In other words, it is strange that people seek to defend their life, liberty, and rights by taking away the life, liberty, and the rights of others.
I understand that this is the way the world works, but I also understand that the way of the world rarely matches the way of Jesus.
The Way of Jesus
While it is true that all people are created equal, and that God has given us the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is not true that the best way to achieve these rights is through the subjection, enslavement, and killing of others. Do not they also have the unalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?
But what happens when rights collide? What happens when one person’s pursuit of happiness requires the unhappiness of someone else, or worse, their enslavement or death?
It is here that the way of Jesus is highly instructive. It is also here where the founding fathers of our government, as well as nearly all governments of the world, have missed the mark. And it is also here where most Christians, pastors, and churches have also lost the way of Jesus.
Jesus, in contrast to Patrick Henry, said, “I give you liberty BY my death!”
Christians and churches should follow this example as we seek to be Jesus to the world.
Ooh! This has possibilities! Luv it! But are really ready to go there? You know it will bring out the Bible verse quoters, quoting their favorite twelve passages (while ignoring the rest of the Bible, it’s historical and cultural context, etc. etc.) in droves.
In your settings can you limit comments to maybe 100 words? Otherwise my large computer screen will be too short to see even one comment at a time.
Sam,
You really think so? I was dreading this series, because I thought my readers would drop to 3: You, me, and my wife.
Maybe I’m wrong!
Depending on your approach, it could include politics, religion and the Bible. A discussion on any one of those issues can rile the masses. Mix in all three and something is sure to happen. We may need continued reminders to be civil and kind even though we may not all agree.
A declaration of war on another person, community, culture etc means they have lost the argument. They are saying by the very declaration “I am right you are wrong”.
This automatically allows the enemy to respond in any way they wish.
Looking at all the wars in the last century there has been no justification in going to war and the ramifications goes on forever, never to be forgotten, always a running sore.
India, Pakistan, Africa, America, Europe, Asia, Russia, Northern Island whether they be national, international or civil, absolutely nothing has been achieved.
Look at wars within society and religion. Our inability to make any effort to understand people with different ideas or not even willing to even listen.
The IRA in Northern Island are still rumbling. The Taliban, who now appear to be world wide keep popping up to kill a few people the list is endless and our whole lives are covered by mistrust of anyone as we fear the worst in all things. look at that young black youth killed by a gun toting fearful man, again the stories of ‘accidents’ are also never ending.
Surveillance cameras are everywhere.
The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Proverbs 15 v 3. People say to me that we will be surprised who we meet in heaven. I say I will be surprised if there will be anyone in heaven, as when we commit the unforgivable sin of taking the name of the Holy Spirit in vain we will all be up the creek without a paddle.
Clive
I love this and whole heartily agree with your analysis. I appreciate what the Apostle Paul has to say about freedom and liberty, which I believe your post echoes – You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Is killing in self defense ok? That is the question. On an individual level, self defense is justified because we are responsible to protect our family from evil. However on the earthly governmental plane, the early church did not defend itself against government persecution but they did defend against robbery and murder. But in our American legal structure, we are not under a king with divine rights, we are the government and as such, we are legally individually entitled to protect our rights which are divinely given, not determined by any government. Because the “government” has raw power over us such power does not establish any justification for their use of that power to suppress or deny God given “rights” or privileges. So what can we do? Our Kingdom is not of this world so it may be that we allow them to rule over us in so far as it does not conflict with our faith principles? Let your conscious and the Spirit guide. Fight or submit…
Good questions. I would say that we are responsible to protect ourselves and our families. I personally would use violence to do so.
But notice that violence toward others is almost ALWAYS justified as “self-defense.” Look at the escalating violence in Israel right now. Both sides are saying they are blowing up the others out of “self-defense.” Now we could say (truthfully) that Hamas fired the first rocket (or first couple hundred). But they claim they only fired rockets because they were acting to defend their people from the restrictive policies of Israel which were starving the Palestinians. Is this true? I don’t know…
Bottom line: almost all violence is “self defense” violence…. even when it clearly is not, we have an uncanny ability to justify our own violence.
Dwight, that is a good question. These “rights” are taken from the character of God, not from His direct commands. The history of God’s dealing with His children (the Israelites) was that of giving them freedom from their oppressors. Freedom and self-determination is embedded in that history. However in Christ that is not specifically taught.
I cant believe the German lied when the SS troops asked if there was a Jew they were hiding in there. —
I probably would have lied too…
I am curious how you square the three inalienable rights. How do you believe those are endowed by God?
I would say something like those three rights are implied by the God-given right to own property, and its flipside, the divine prohibition against theft. We can use our property to pursue the good life with and for others only insofar as it does not interfere with someone else’s property.
That is probably a good way to put it. Of course, as with violence, it is always difficult to know when we are infringing on the rights of others. Some say that simply by living in the United States, we are infringing on the rights of our global neighbors (the right to have their own property). When the USA uses 80-90% of the world’s resources (is that statistic still true?), it seems that maybe they have have a point?
Jesus taught us to lay down our lives….that includes the rights we think we have.
We can give up our rights and property. But no one can force us too.
Interesting clarification. Yes. That is the difference between what we see in Acts and with som/communism. Som and communism use the force of government to say “What is yours is mine.” In Acts 2-5, we see the early church, as each one was able, saying “What is mine is yours.”
In our specific nation, legally no they can’t force us to. However in their vicious battle, they make life much more difficult to hang on to your rights and make it worth your while to release them.
The interesting thing about Patrick Henry’s speech is that he already had far more rights than most people who have lived before or since. He just didn’t have the right to vote for representatives to Parliament – just as residents of DC or Puerto Rico don’t have representatives in Congress (the old “taxation without representation” complaint.) Our revolution is presented as an inevitable cry of liberty. But the more I understand what really happened, the more it sounds like impatient hotheads trying to safeguard their transatlantic profits.