{"id":33229,"date":"2025-05-01T10:03:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T15:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/?p=33229"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:19:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T15:19:07","slug":"unalienable-rights-and-the-bible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/unalienable-rights-and-the-bible\/","title":{"rendered":"Unalienable Rights and the Bible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When the Founding Fathers of America issued their statement of justification for cutting ties to their Mother country in order to form a new nation, they alluded to the notion of \u201cunalienable rights.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a> Where did they derive this notion? Did it arise from political philosophy to which they had been exposed? Did they believe in the theory of evolution, concluding that humans should receive no special, moral treatment based solely on their humanness?2<\/sup><\/a> Or was the source of their thinking on this subject drawn directly from the Bible? FACT: It came from the Bible. Consider the following listing of unalienable rights affirmed, defined, and delineated from Scripture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affirmed:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[A]ll men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defined:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose sacred rights which God himself from the infinity of his benevolence has bestowed upon mankind.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Delineated:5<\/sup><\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Life<\/strong>\u2014God gave us life; no one is permitted to take that life, except under conditions the Creator gives by which it might be done by duly constituted authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Acts 17:25; 1 Timothy 6:13; Job 12:10; Isaiah 42:5; Daniel 5:23<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Liberty\u2014<\/strong>Freedom to make own decisions, control own actions, exercise own volition, change situations, move wherever one desires to move (under constraints of law)\u2014the exercise of free will.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Ezekiel 18:4ff.; 1 Corinthians 9:17; Revelation 22:17<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Pursuit of Happiness<\/strong>\u2014Right to pursue one\u2019s own advantage and enjoyment (within moral limits), including selection of vocation, profession, trade, or business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Joshua 1:15; Psalm 128:2; Ecclesiastes 2:24; 3:13; 5:18; 1 Timothy 6:17<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Private Property<\/strong>\u2014Acquired by one\u2019s own lawful, moral labor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Genesis 2:15; 3:17-19; Ecclesiastes 3:13; Isaiah 65:22; Matthew 20:13-15; Acts 5:4; 1 Corinthians 9:4-10; Ephesians 4:28<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Family Relations<\/strong>\u2014A scriptural<\/strong> marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Genesis 1:27; 2:24; Matthew 19:9; 1 Corinthians 7:1-2; 9:5<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Family Relations<\/strong>\u2014bear\/rear\/educate\/care for one\u2019s own children<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

John 9:23; Ephesians 5:31; 6:1; Colossians 3:20; Romans 1:30; Hebrews 13:4<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Right to Worship<\/strong>\u2014Pursue Christianity and worship God according to own understanding of the Bible\u2014as long as not harmful or immoral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Deuteronomy 6:13; Matthew 4:10; 2 Kings 17:36; 1 Chronicles 16:29; Psalm 96:9; John 4:23; Revelation 22:9<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Self-Preservation<\/strong>\u2014The right to defend\/protect self, family, and property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Genesis 9:6; 14:14-20; Exodus 22:2-3; Nehemiah 4:13-20; Esther 8:11; 9:5; Matthew 24:42-44; John 18:36; Hebrews 11:32-34; James 2:8<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Endnotes<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup><\/a> For more discussion of this topic, see Dave Miller (2017), God & Government<\/em> (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press), pp. 13-36.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/sup><\/a> Kyle Butt (2008), \u201cDawkins Does Not Believe \u2018Men\u2019 Have Unalienable Rights,\u201d https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/dawkins-does-not-believe-men-have-unalienable-rights-2477\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/sup><\/a> \u201cDeclaration of Independence: A Transcription,\u201d National Archives, https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/founding-docs\/declaration-transcript<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4<\/sup><\/a> John Dickinson (1766), An Address to the Committee of Correspondence in Barbados. Occasioned by a Late Letter from Them to Their Agent in London<\/em> (Philadelphia, PA: William Bradford), p. 4. John Dickinson (1732-1808) was a prominent Founder. He was homeschooled by a tutor and became an attorney\/politician and served during the Revolution as a Militia Brigadier-General. He served as a member of the Continental Congress and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787. He served as Governor of both Delaware and Pennsylvania and was among the wealthiest men in the British American colonies. He wrote Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania<\/em>, and was a signer of the Constitution<\/em>. Like Dickinson, a host of the Founders alluded to and expounded on the notion of \u201cunalienable rights.\u201d For example, Dan Foster (1775), A Short Essay on Civil Government<\/em> (Hartford, CT: Ebenezer Watson), pp. 17,24; Thomas Jefferson (1774), A Summary View of the Rights of British America<\/em> (London: G. Kearsly), p. 19; William Wells (1865), The Life and Public Services of Samuel Adams<\/em> (Boston, MA: Little, Brown & Co.), 3:325; Bird Wilson (1804), The Works of the Honourable James Wilson<\/em> (Philadelphia, PA: Lorenzo Press), 1:104; 2:454.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5<\/sup><\/a> This listing is not intended to be exhaustive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6<\/sup><\/a> For a discussion of slavery as depicted in the Bible, see Kyle Butt (2005), \u201cThe Bible & Slavery,\u201d Reason & Revelation<\/em>, 25[6]:41-47, June; Dave Miller (2005), \u201cPhilemon & Slavery,\u201d Reason & Revelation<\/em>, 4[6]:21-R, June; Eric Lyons (2018), \u201cDid Paul Endorse Slavery?\u201d Reason & Revelation<\/em>, 38[1]:2-4, January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Founding Fathers of America issued their statement of justification for cutting ties to their Mother country in order to form a new nation, they alluded to the notion of \u201cunalienable rights.\u201d1 Where did they derive this notion? Did it arise from political philosophy to which they had been exposed? Did they believe in… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33236,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,28],"tags":[],"kids-category":[],"people":[273],"bible-book":[],"language":[168],"age-group":[172,173],"publication":[248],"class_list":["post-33229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas-culture-war","category-government-and-god-americas-culture-wars","people-dave-miller-phd","language-english","age-group-teens","age-group-adults","publication-reason-revelation"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Unalienable-rights-and-the-Bible-DM-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33230,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33229\/revisions\/33230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"kids-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kids-category?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"bible-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible-book?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"age-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age-group?post=33229"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=33229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}