Where Do Rights Come From?

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 . . .   (Declaration of Independence)

All the arguments about whether our founding fathers were true Christians or just Bible readers, etc., aside, please don't tell me they didn't recognize and found this nation on the principle that we have certain rights which originate from God, our Creator. Therefore the whole concept of moral relativism, of rights being determined by majority vote, of each culture being right for itself, etc. is incompatible with our foundation.

It is simple, basic common sense that if we are given rights by our Creator then the only place to determine what those rights are is that same Creator. He defines them and, inherently and necessarily following from that, defines right and wrong as well. It is, truly, simple. Our nation can change that (and is in the process of doing so) as the majority walk away from that recognition of God as the source of both rights and of right and wrong. They can move into the wishy washy realm of men instead of God deciding right and wrong based on their own opinions, but they should at least have the courage to stand up and state that they are rejecting the concept of a Creator (and that He is the source of rights) instead of trying to pretend they are doing it and staying true to who we are as a nation.

If our rights came from our Creator then there is only one place and way to determine them. Go to the Creator. Simple. Foundational. Logical. Reject it if you will, but recognize you are rejecting God in the process, and have the courage to state it. Quite trying, Christian, to pretend any form of deciding right and wrong by your opinion in opposition to God's Word is compatible with God. Either He is real and hence the source of all rights and standards and morals and ethics or He's not, and if He's not then anyone's opinion is just as valid as anyone else's—be it slavery, Nazism, eugenics, abortion, gay marriage, euthanizing the elderly, or any other subject that falls into the category of right or wrong. There is NO legitimate basis for declaring something to be absolutely right or wrong unless you appeal to something above all the parties involved that is absolute and removed. If it is not God then there is no thing that is universal that works, and we descend into moral relativism and an anything goes society and world where each person determines what they think is right and lives by it, even at the expense of anyone else who doesn't agree. Simply look through history . . . you truly don't want to live in a society where right and wrong is determined by the majority opinion or by the leaders independent of God as the higher, absolute source!

Option 1: Creator. Therefore created. Therefore we are His and He determines our rights and what is right or wrong.

Option 2: Evolutionary accident descended from animals and cellular blobs in some accidental cesspool of chemicals on our accidental planet in our accidental universe with no spiritual real or afterlife. Therefore no absolute right or wrong, no meaning or value to life above anything else or beyond the grave, and no basis for declaring anything morally wrong because there is no absolute to define morals by (unless you adopt survival of the fittest as your causative absolute and I doubt anyone in their right mind truly wants to live in a society that is logical in the implications of that! Of course, how do we even define "right mind" in that foundation?).


I understand the non-Christian who vacillates on moral decisions and tries to determine individually in their opinion what he or she thinks is right or wrong. But, I can not understand the Christian who does—who professes to believe in God and the Bible and yet continually makes moral assessments independent of Him and it. The world may not agree with our stand, but at least it should see us have the courage to take it, no matter the cost.

Just some thoughts.