Bill of Rights
Micah 2:1–3
"Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. Therefore, the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity."
I am today reminded that human rights stem ultimately from the One True God revealed in Christ. It is a direct legacy of the Judeo-Christian perspective —this was the great missing piece to the Greek democratic and Roman republican political theory. Polybus lamented that democracy logically comes down to mob rule. The Judeo-Christian tradition completed the equation, as such, an addendum of a bill of rights in most every modern state constitutions because it couldn't simply be derived from democracy. In an interesting scene in the kingdom of Israel we see king Ahab sulking about not getting a field he desires. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite (1 Kings 21:5–7)." Jezebel, a Phoenician, a foreigner to Israel couldn't understand why her king cannot act as a despot and simply run roughshod over anyone to get what he desires, it is because of the concept of inherent individual rights that extend to one's property or inheritance, that's why Ahab cannot simply override Naboth's right to his field. We have been given inherent worth by God, it isn't some sort of arbitrary convention or a construct that has evolved over time subjective ideas do not somehow turn into objective ones as the percentage of intersubjective consensus increases (Wittgenstein). Human rights are not determined by government, not by the state, nor by community agreement even as in the purest form of democracy, it can only be endowed by a transcendent Creator Who is the locus of moral perfection and worth. "Then God said, "Let us make humans in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over creation (Gen 1:26)".
"Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. Therefore, the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity."
I am today reminded that human rights stem ultimately from the One True God revealed in Christ. It is a direct legacy of the Judeo-Christian perspective —this was the great missing piece to the Greek democratic and Roman republican political theory. Polybus lamented that democracy logically comes down to mob rule. The Judeo-Christian tradition completed the equation, as such, an addendum of a bill of rights in most every modern state constitutions because it couldn't simply be derived from democracy. In an interesting scene in the kingdom of Israel we see king Ahab sulking about not getting a field he desires. His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’” Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite (1 Kings 21:5–7)." Jezebel, a Phoenician, a foreigner to Israel couldn't understand why her king cannot act as a despot and simply run roughshod over anyone to get what he desires, it is because of the concept of inherent individual rights that extend to one's property or inheritance, that's why Ahab cannot simply override Naboth's right to his field. We have been given inherent worth by God, it isn't some sort of arbitrary convention or a construct that has evolved over time subjective ideas do not somehow turn into objective ones as the percentage of intersubjective consensus increases (Wittgenstein). Human rights are not determined by government, not by the state, nor by community agreement even as in the purest form of democracy, it can only be endowed by a transcendent Creator Who is the locus of moral perfection and worth. "Then God said, "Let us make humans in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over creation (Gen 1:26)".
Comments
Post a Comment