Inside: Unalienable rights are given to us from God and cannot be legitimately taken away – except by God or by legitimate action of God’s minister properly carrying out God’s authority.

In our turbulent political times, we often hear someone on either end of the political spectrum talking about losing their rights.  Perhaps in conservative circles, we hear of someone concerned about losing their “Second Amendment Rights”.  On the other end of the political spectrum, as we discussed in our article, June is Life Month, we hear of people concerned the Supreme Court took away their “Abortion Rights” (as if there ever was such a thing).   As I pondered the “loss” of unalienable rights, or what that would mean, some things came to mind I wanted to share. 

Unalienable Rights Lost

In the Biblical Book of Job, we read about a man who was blessed of God.  He had 10 children, thousands of animals, and a “very great household”.  In fact, in Job 1:3, God calls Job, “the greatest of all the men of the east”.  However, we don’t even get out of chapter 1 before God gives permission to Satan to take everything Job has – only Job himself is off limits – and Satan wastes no time…  In the next 7 verses, Satan takes everything, including Job’s children and possessions.  I find it interesting to see the behind-the-scenes conversations and especially to see how God drew the lines of exactly how far Satan could go, what he could take from Job, and what he couldn’t. 

The Lord Gave, and the Lord Took Away

One of the most remarkable parts of the entire Book of Job is at the end of Chapter 1.  After Job learns of the succession of tragedies and the loss of his children and all his possessions, we see his amazing response in Job 1:21.  Job said, “naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD”.

We have discussed unalienable rights before, in articles like Unalienable- What Does That Mean?.  The Declaration of Independence tells us our unalienable rights come from God Himself, and governments are instituted among men for the purpose of securing these rights.  One thing we learn from Job is that God gave, and therefore God can take away.  I mean, if God is finished with you or I being on the earth, He can literally open the ground and swallow us up – He’s done it before!  He can take our lives – He apparently can also allow attacks from the enemy to take our possessions, etc, (but He draws the boundary lines that may not be overstepped!)  None of us can say God is unjust.  He is the giver of rights (like our lives, families, and property) and He can take them back at any time for any reason.  So, really, the only way to “lose” an unalienable right – is if God Himself were to require it back from us.  In the Patriot Academy classes we host, David Barton shares a quote from John Dickinson, who was a signer of the Constitution.  He said this about unalienable rights:

An unalienable right is a right, “which God gave to you and which no inferior power has a right to take away.”  Human governments “could not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher Source – from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth.  They are not annexed to us by parchments and seals.  They are created in us by the decrees of Providence, which establish the laws of our nature.  They are born with us; exist with us; and cannot be taken from us by any human power, without taking our lives.”             

John Dickinson

So the clear answer to the question, “Are we losing our unalienable rights”, is always “NO”!!  It is impossible for man to take away something given to us by God.  It is possible (and likely) that others would do us wrong, and infringe upon our rights and steal or kill, or otherwise commit crimes against us (we will look more at that shortly), but they cannot take away a right that was given by God!

Now for those things that some imagine to be “rights”, like abortion, homosexual activity, or distortions of God’s design of marriage or gender, it is safe to say that God never gave anyone rights to these activities that are clear violations of His law.  If people claim rights to such things, I ask where those rights came from…?  God is the giver of rights, and He does not give rights to things expressly forbidden in His law. 

Christian Culture Under Attack

Christian culture is under relentless attack in our country.  We must not allow the enemies of God to pretend to wield His authority of defining right and wrong or granting rights.  If we pretend government (or public opinion) can grant rights, we are pretending government (or public opinion) is in the place of God Himself.  People cannot create their own rights, nor have we any claim to “rights” for things that God, the Creator and giver of rights, hates.  So, in areas where a legitimate right never existed – there can be no “loss” of rights. 

As we mentioned earlier, what if another person steals my property or takes my life?  When we talk about rights legitimately given by God, we are alluding to the proper flow of real authority and jurisdiction.  Rarely is there any legitimate authority or jurisdiction from God for another individual to take your life or property, (self defense is the only example I can think of).  However, our lives or property may be stolen.  That would be a crime, of course, punishable by the legitimate government authority, but it can be done, and does occur.  In his famous 1750 sermon entitled, “A Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission and Non-Resistance to the Higher Powers”, Jonathan Mayhew said, “There may be power where there is no authority.  No man has any authority to do what is wrong and injurious, though he may have power to do it.”  Really, Mr Mayhew was referring to governments in Rom 13:1…  which leads to an interesting question…  what about governments? 

God’s ministers

According to Romans 13:4, government officials are God’s “ministers” to you “for good”.  The Greek word here for “ministers” is the same as “Deacon”.  So, the government official is like an agent of God, literally, God’s Deacon on Earth, working in God’s place…  Therefore, governments do have a legitimate role in carrying out God’s punishments on earth in order to restrain evil.  The proper role of government is clearly defined in both Romans 13, and in 1 Peter 2, as a power to “execute wrath on him that doeth evil” (Romans 13:4), or similarly (in 1 Peter 2:14), as “unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well”.  So, if you are doing evil, then, “be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain” (Rom 13:4).  If we are doing evil, then the government properly wields the sword of God Himself to restrain that evil.  They carry the authority of God in this case, because they are commissioned by Him, and they may therefore infringe upon our lives, property, and freedom in order to uphold their divinely appointed role of restraining evil. 

But what if government is outside its proper flow of authority from God?  What if they are enforcing “laws” (or like the Declaration accurately says, “acts of Pretended Legislation”), that are for their own arbitrary will or are not designed to restrain evil & reward good? 

daniel violates the “law”

As an example, Daniel spent the night in the lion’s den for violating a “law” which King Darius had no authentic jurisdiction to pass.  Daniel says in Daniel 6:22 that he was innocent before both God and the king and had “committed no crime” (Dan 6:22 NASB).  The law to pray only to the king was, in itself, an infringement upon the law of God and so this was not a legitimate law to begin with.  Therefore, Daniel was innocent and indeed had committed no crime.  We learn from this passage in Daniel that if the law is not legitimate, then the one who breaks it has committed no crime. 

Unalienable rights are given to us from God and cannot be legitimately taken away – except by God or by legitimate action of God’s minister properly carrying out God’s authority.  If someone or some entity steals from us by unlawfully infringing upon our God-given, unalienable rights, then they have committed a crime and are the guilty party before God.  So, are we losing our unalienable rights?  No, that would be impossible… But, we do need to carefully make sure the rights we are claiming are actually given by God, and that, like Daniel, we are innocent before God and man.