My God-Given Rights

 

It’s a phrase long used by Americans.  “They’re trying to take away our God-given rights!”  Since COVID, though, I’ve seen it used more and more frequently by Australians, especially (mostly on Facebook – no surprises there), in relation to mandatory masks and, of course, vaccines.

The ubiquity of the idea likely stems from the American Declaration of Independence, which we seem to hear in movies every time there’s a scene with schoolchildren on stage:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Like many “Americanisms”, Aussies and other Westerners have absorbed this idea into our culture, especially our Christian culture.  After all, it’s referring to our Creator and the Bible does talk about things like freedom and joy and abundant life.

But we need to examine and challenge it, like all ideas.  Is this really biblical, or is this just something we’ve never really thought about?

I can already see the hackles rising on my readers’ necks, and I get it.  I do.  I work in human rights, researching female genital mutilation and campaigning against it.  With all my heart, I want to see this horrendous practice end.  I want to see people receive actual living wages.  I want universal healthcare for all (I’m looking at you, America).  I want to see disabled and fat people treated equally to other human beings.  I want people to stop abusing apostrophes.  But are any of these things “unalienable Rights”, or are they simply things that good governments and churches should endorse and advocate for?  We are, after all, saved not so that we can go to Heaven, but so that we can do good works – see Ephesians 2:10.

Still, we have to ask the question:  are we entitled to these things?

Let’s do a search of the Bible (I’ve used the ESV translation) in relation to our rights as human beings and as Christians: 

For you were called to freedom, brothers.  Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:13–14).

 

Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good (1 Peter 2:13–14).

 

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  Honor everyone.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honor the emperor (1 Peter 2:16–17).

 

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities.  For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.  Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (Romans 13:1–14).

 

Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor (1 Corinthians 10:23–24).

 

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them (1 Corinthians 9:19).

 

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.  Why not rather suffer wrong?  Why not rather be defrauded? (1 Corinthians 6:7)

 

You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”  But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.  And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.  Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you (Matthew 5:38–42).

 

I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.  I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man (Ecclesiastes 3:10–13). 

You can see from these scriptures that God does not focus on our rights at all, but on our responsibilities.

I think it goes even further, though.  The Bible is pretty clear that humans deserve nothing.  God owes us nothing.  Our salvation is a gift; it’s not something God owes us because we have enough faith, or because we’re “a good person”.  The same goes for our health, our homes and our very lives.  It’s all icing.  It’s all a bonus.

We all know John 3:16 by heart, but what about John 3:19? 

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 

We’re taught over and over again through pop culture – movies, books, etc – that humans are essentially good, but our upbringing or circumstances corrupt us.  That is simply not the case.  Isaiah 64:5–6 says, 

Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;

in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. 

That phrase, “polluted garment”, is a polite way of saying “period rags”.  In other words, even our good works are corrupted.  It’s easy to see that; for example, we give to a charity, but part of us loves to give because we get something from it – even if that’s just pride at our own generosity.  No one does anything completely unselfishly.  Jeremiah 7:19 says, 

The heart is deceitful above all things,
           and desperately sick;
           who can understand it? 

This is the biblical doctrine of total depravity, which is a bit of a theatrical name, I must admit.  At its core, it means that we’re all born slaves to sin, incapable of saving ourselves.  No amount of human-rights advocacy will do it.  No number of good works will do it. 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). 

 

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men . . . But the free gift is not like the trespass.  For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many (Romans 5:12&15). 

One of the most common objections people have to the idea of God and Christianity is, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  What they don’t realise is that there’s an entire book of the Bible dedicated to this very question – Job. 

Leaving aside the doctrine of total depravity for a moment, Job was what many of us would consider a “good man”.  Even the Bible paints a nice picture of him: 

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. . . . And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 

This is the whole reason Satan goes after him – and God allows it. 

Job complains loudly to God and his friends about the things he is suffering (the deaths of his children, the loss of his health and his fortune, the scorn of his wife . . .), and his friends give him all kinds of terrible advice (which is why you should never, ever quote verses from Job out of context).  When God finally does answer Job, he never even gives His reasons for allowing Satan’s attacks.  In a nutshell, what He says is, “Who are you to question what I do?  Did you create everything?  Can you see anything beyond your own immediate circumstances?  Could you even control the behemoth and the leviathan, the first of My creations?  Puny human.” 

No, He doesn’t say it quite like that, but He does sound pretty sarcastic, at least in English: 

“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;

    clothe yourself with glory and splendor.

Pour out the overflowings of your anger,

    and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.

Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low

    and tread down the wicked where they stand.

Hide them all in the dust together;

    bind their faces in the world below.

Then will I also acknowledge to you

    that your own right hand can save you” (Job 40:10–14). 

In our lovey-dovey, happy-clappy, white-washed, essential-oils church culture, where Jesus is our best bud and we have “morning tea with the Holy Ghost” every day, we have forgotten His power.  We have forgotten that nothing can stand in His presence without frying to a crisp, unless He allows it.  We have forgotten that He alone can see the end from the beginning.  That He has greater purposes than our health and wealth and temporary happiness here on earth.  Yes, of course He loves us, but He alone knows what is good for us and what loving us means in practice.  And giving ourselves to Him involves trusting His wisdom and love, no matter what we go through. 

Jesus suffered absolute torture so that we wouldn’t have to, but we’re whingeing about having to get a little shot so we can go to the movies without making vulnerable people sick. 

You know what?  Get over it. 

“My body, my choice” does not apply to Christians.  Your body is not your own. 

Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). 

How do we honour God? 

Jesus declared, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37–39).

 

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). 

1.  We are to love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds (Matthew 22:37).  Science, bro.  Educate yourself about these amazing bodies that He has made and the technology He has allowed us to develop to combat sickness and death.  Worship Him for them.  Yes, He made your immune system, but, no, your immune system won’t save you – it, too, has been corrupted by sin and cannot overcome every bacterial infection and virus. 

2.  We are to love people.  Laying down your life for someone is loving them; so too is wearing a mask or getting a shot when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable – or when it frightens you or impinges on your “freedoms”. 

One of the great ironies of life is that true freedom comes with boundaries and responsibilities, or else it is simply chaos.  The freedom we have in Christ comes within the framework of one law:  the law of love.  That should be the basis of every choice we make, every position we take . . . suddenly I sound like Sting.  But you get the picture. 

True biblical freedom isn’t given so that we can cling to “our rights” or “our choices”; it’s freedom from sin so that we can be slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18).  It’s the freedom of knowing that, whatever happens here on earth, God is in charge – in other words, freedom from fear.  It’s freedom to love God and love each other.  It’s freedom to take care of widows, orphans and people vulnerable to a pandemic, without worrying about the cost to ourselves, knowing that we are doing the good works that God has saved us to do.