God Given Rights

Excerpt From The Declaration of Independence

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

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.

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COMMENTARY

Whatever else might be said about the origin of our nation, it is evident to any reasonable observer that it was formed by people who recognized the existence of the creator God. The idea that this God endowed men with inalienable rights was no matter of controversy with them. They asserted it in the Declaration of Independence as an axiomatic presupposition. The concept of a creator-God is a bedrock of our national heritage.

While I am neither prophet nor prophet’s son, I am confident in this: When a nation abandons God and pridefully declares, “There is no God,” an aggressive denial of “God-given rights” will soon follow. Indeed, if there is no God, then there are no God-given rights, and if our rights are not God-given then they are certainly not inalienable. The result is tyranny in all its grotesque splendor.

“Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.” (Lamentation 5:21)

May God bless America,

- Elder Daniel Samons