Independence Day

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

These famous words, written 239 years ago by Thomas Jefferson, formed the foundation of the Declaration of Independence in which the thirteen colonies formally severed all ties with England and became a free and independent country (although they still had the war to fight).

Since then, these words have become the basis of personal freedom and the battle cry of every person or group that feels like their personal rights have been infringed upon.

Today these words are especially celebrated and championed by the LGBT community who recently won what they believe to be a major human rights victory with the Supreme Court decision to federally recognize same-sex marriage.

But let us examine these words a bit.  (And we will assume at least for the sake of discussion that the preamble to the Declaration of Independence is true) What is a person affirming by championing these words?

First of all, this statement affirms that we are created. Modernists have spent the last one hundred-plus years trying to disprove this. They theorize that we evolved from simple-minded ape-like cavemen into the intelligent beings we are today. Many Christians, of course, know and believe the Biblical record that God created mankind in his own image and likeness. But for those who reject the Biblical record, consider this: if we are not created, there is at least a chance that we are not equal. Some of us may have some mutant caveman genes lurking in our DNA. Some races or ethnic groups may be “less evolved” than others. When we depart from the belief that all people are created in God’s image, why are we surprised when there is race-based violence and tension in our country?

Secondly, the opening statement affirms that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness has been endowed on mankind by our Creator. This is important. If these rights have not been endowed by the Creator, then it is simply my word against yours. Every person who desires to claim any personal right can legitimately be challenged with “says who?”. In order to have any weight, these rights must originate from Someone beyond any of us.

If, on the other hand, it is a self-evident truth that our Creator has gifted us with these rights, then it should also be a self-evident truth that we pay attention to what the Creator has to say about the limits and boundaries in the exercise of these rights. To not do so is akin to taking a $50,000 bequeath from rich Uncle Bob that is intended to pay for college tuition and use it to buy a new Corvette instead. Too many in our country want to forcefully claim and defend their rights but ignore any boundaries established by the same Creator who gave them the rights.

Thousands of years before the Bill of Rights or even the Magna Carta, God gave us the Ten Commandments and Jesus expanded on them for the New Testament Age in the Sermon on the Mount. Do not kill. Do not even hate. Do not steal. Do not covet. Honor your parents. Honor the Lord’s Day. Do not commit adultery. Do not divorce. Do not even lust. Always speak the truth. Do not resist an evil person. Love your enemies. These are not complex or complicated ideas. Hard to practice perhaps but not hard to understand. As Paul Harvey once noted, “Even if you do not believe these to be the inspired Word of God, they are still good words to live by.

For Christians who read this who question whether or not the Sermon on the Mount is practical or even intended to be for our time I ask this: Do you have a better solution? What would our world be like if most people lived this way? If these words were not intended for our time, why are you so shocked and outraged at the moral condition of our country and world?

For any of you who read this as part of the LGBT community or those who celebrate your lifestyle and newly won recognition let me be perfectly clear. I do not hate you. I am sorry that is too often what you get from our camp. You have the right to be free from discrimination in the goods and services you seek and the jobs and career opportunities you pursue as well as the basic rights of freedom of speech freedom of the press, freedom to vote for the candidate of your choice, etc.

I cannot, however, ignore the words of our right-endowing Creator when He said, “In the beginning God created them MALE and FEMALE. For this reason a MAN will leave his father and mother and will cling to his WIFE and the two will become one. Therefore what God has joined together let not man separate.”

As you revel in your newly claimed right this Independence Day, I humbly ask you to consider these same words.

May God have mercy on us all.