If we agree that scripture has preeminence over earthly law, we must recognize the source of the Declaration of Independence’s phrase,
“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 … That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”
The Declaration of Independence’s original draft read, “Life, Liberty, and Property.” We should consider where these men got the idea that the life, liberty, and property of individuals were to be protected.
Let’s look at the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:2-17
1) I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
2) You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3) You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5) Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6) You shall not murder.
7) You shall not commit adultery.
8) You shall not steal.
9) You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10) You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
The first four of these commandments are specifically related to recognizing the proper place of God in our worship. The fifth reminds us to, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you,” and we should remember that Exodus 21:17 says, “And he that curses his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.”
Now, the rest of God’s commandments deal with our respect for, and interaction with other humans.
We are not to murder them, commit adultery with them, steal from them, bear false witness against them, or covet their wife, or material possessions.
Isn’t the origin of governmental concern for life, liberty, and the pursuit of property obvious? Isn’t the biblical foundation of our Declaration of Independence, and Constitution clearly demonstrated?
According to the Word of God, (written in stone by the hand of The Almighty,) isn’t our proper respect for Him, respect for our neighbors, their lives, liberty, and their property, paramount?
If we help to enable those that seek to conquer our neighbors, for their own personal gain, we are of all men most miserable. We find ourselves violating the spirit, if not the letter of Isaiah 5:20,
“Woe unto them who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
God bless you, Dave