GOD GIVEN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS ... YES!

I am thankful for the Right of free speech, and the freedom of the press, but am especially thankful to The Idaho Observer for allowing both sides of this ongoing dispute regarding whether we have “God Given unalienable Rights” ... or not! I cannot accept the last “Response” as the final word. Previous articles in the I.O. are listed below as reference points:

5-09 “NO CREATOR, NO RIGHTS”; 6-09 “DID SOMEONE MENTION ‘RIGHTS’?”;

7-09 “RIGHTS”; 10-09 “YES, I DID, EMPHATICALLY!”; 12-09 UNALIENABLE RIGHTS VS GRANTED RIGHTS; 1-10 “ABOUT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS” and article 7, dated 2-16-10 “RESPONSE” TO “RIGHTS” by Ralph Kenney, which I want to address.

In the past 50-60 years, the schools and colleges have done a 180 degree turn from teaching that America is a Christian Nation, as they have presented the atheistic and socialistic concepts, along with their negative and false claims about our founding fathers, promoting the propaganda of Communist John Dewey, that “God is dead” and there are “no absolutes”. We are witnessing the fruits of such indoctrination in this very dispute.

In October, J. T. Hale gave 14 examples of Bible references whereby certain; “Rights” were conferred upon us through our Creator’s legislation. I noticed that Kenney only denied one of them, and that on the basis that the scriptures did not summarize it as specifically “Rights”, although it implied it clearly.

Kenney says that “The Bible condemns the act of looking back.” There are a few of us that like to “look back” to the old days, right here in America, when porn, adultery, nudity, profanity, perversion and immorality of every sort was an unacceptable rarity, rather than the norm. But Kenney says “the Bible condemns looking back.”

Does it? He gives no reference, so I will! Jeremiah 6:16 “Thus says the LORD, Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Jer. 18:15 “Yet my people have forgotten me; they burn incense to worthless idols, which made them stumble in their ways and in the ancient paths. They made them walk in bypaths and on roads not built up.” Today, some boldly claim they “will not walk in” those “ancient paths “. However, every time there was repentance noted in our Bible, it was when the people “looked back” to the “ancient paths” that they had deserted.

The Holy Bible is full of such admonishment for His people. Yet, I see the Holy Scriptures used so deviously to misrepresent a socialist doctrine of humanism. The Bible does not say not to look back. If we do not heed the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat them. The Scriptures do not say that the Israelites “were not allowed to enter the Promised Land ... because they looked back to Egypt.” Nor, does the Christian Bible say that “not one Israelite of the Exodus generation was allowed to enter the Promised Land.”

What saith the Word? First, the reason the adults that left Egypt were not allowed to “enter the Promised Land” was because they feared the giants reported by their spies (Numbers 13 and 14). Second: “Not one”? Wrong again! The adults that left Egypt were not allowed to enter the promised land ... except two: Joshua and Caleb.

More psychological manipulation is the hypothetical scenario that no matter how “healthy you may wish to be, if you drive from LA to NY you’re going to absorb some MSG in restaurants along the way.” Wrong again! If you truly wish to be healthy, there are many snack bars in health food stores, fruit and veggies stands, and organic food departments in grocery stores. There are some of us that want to be healthy and would not eat in a restaurant (MSG, pork, sugar, chemical additives) if we went from LA to NY every week! Do we not have the “right” to eat what we choose to eat?

Kenney goes further in claiming there are no “constitutional (Rights) under British Common Law”. Of course, that would have to be condemned also, for it was the basis of our Constitutional Republic, and our entire judiciary system that made America great! Our founding fathers may not have been perfect, but they were divinely inspired to work hard to give us the best form of government the world has ever known (aside from the “old paths” of Theocracy). Blackstone [British Law Dictionary] was used as legal reference when our Constitution was formed, and also in our courts until the early 20th century. Blackstone used the Holy Scriptures for the basis of his ruling in almost every situation! His entire works illustrate the value of our unalienable God-Given Rights.

As for the replacing of “Rights” to that of “duty”, I’d like the actual scriptural references, such as “St. Paul ...says, ‘We owe a duty to God.’” I cannot find such a statement in the Bible.

But Eccl. 12:13 says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” And our Savior said: “If you love me, keep my commandments (John 14:15).” We are back to the commandments, to not steal or kill whereby we are given the “right” to life and property, etc. No, it doesn’t say “rights”, but it definitely infers such. If our Creator confers no “Rights”, then we are no better than the animals; each individual’s “will and power” insures our existence. Darwin, with this same atheistic philosophy, called it the “survival of the fittest”. And without our God-Given-Unalienable-Rights, the socialist evolution of the “survival of the fittest” becomes the strongest, smartest, and largest liars and deceivers!

But if our loving Creator gave us our basic “Rights” of life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness, it is for this purpose that government was designed, and our Constitutional government, with a Christian foundation, is still the best choice! I am a Christian, and an American, and I claim the “Right” to defend both.

Debbie (Hale) Skipper
Smithville, Oklahoma