Anonymous (via GotQuestions)
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Terry Gillard
Seeing these answers, perhaps we need to recognise our rights are:
- To acknowledge that we are sinners and to repent
- To Confess that Jesus is Lord, and we are of ourselves nothing
- To Trust in Him alone for our salvation. There is no other.
As I review this, what rights can I claim for me? None. Many of the scriptures quoted in response to this question suggest we as Christians should be part of protecting the rights of others, NONE of them suggest we have any rights ourselves: Yet we are the most privileged, and blessed of people - but not because we are believers, but because the grace of God reaches to us: because we stand in His love, and because we know His presence in all things and at all times in our lives.
Is this not more than enough?
Danny Hickman
First this: almost everyone have been denied at least some basic human rights. (I said that to hamstring any attempt to downplay my real comment!)
This comment can be easy to accept if you haven't been denied ALL YOUR RIGHTS, but if you have it's religious gobbledygook. Our human rights are precious whether we're born again or not.
To not be allowed to get lodging while on an overnight trip. (We traveled a lot when I was a kid growing up in the 50's and 60's.) The interstate highway system being incomplete, it took considerably longer then than now to go places. We couldn't just stop and eat like normal folk; we couldn't just stop and use public restrooms. We had to find a secure place to park and sleep in the car. (That ain't easy in a country where the police are your worst enemies.)
It's really easy to say the scriptures don't suggest we have any rights to protect, when most of your rights have never been denied. It's a different story when you've had to buy shoes and clothing you weren't permitted to try on; AS A CHILD! (Have you ever tried to explain that to a 12 year old boy who goes in the store already angry because of all he's going through?)
It can take a person an entire lifetime to digest that kind of treatment. Then a governor starts banning books that tell of this kind of treatment because some people don't like how it makes them look... The dogs licking Lazarus' sores. Luke 16:21. Wounds like that never heal with people like him leading the efforts.