Nature's Rights...
Terry Dashner (www.ffcba.com)
What provided the basis for America's liberty? You might be
surprised to know, but America's concept of liberty and equal
justice before the law were concepts that went back to the
glorious days of Rome.
In short natural law provided the basis for liberty, and natural
law--as understood by our forefathers--was used by the Romans as
a basis for a legal system with which to govern people in
different countries, which they conquered.
The idea of natural law was not new to our forefathers of the
18th century. Nor was it new to the 17th century. It had come to
the fore in ancient Rome, had been greatly revived in the High
Middle Ages, and philosophers and thinkers began to focus on it
increasingly in the 17th century. The division of Christendom
after the Protestant Reformation may have provided the impetus
for this renewed interest. Men turned to natural law in the
quest for a new basis of unity in a European civilization no
longer held together by a common faith in the Roman Catholic
Church.
You see if the Romans were to rule diverse peoples justly, they
had to do so on the basis of something broader than customs,
traditions, and laws of the people so governed. What they hit
upon were the natural laws, the laws that apply to people
everywhere if they would have order and security, the natural
laws of justice. After the Enlightenment period sprang up in
Western Europe in the 17th century, natural laws came to refer
to all those regularities that are to be found in the universe,
in the nature of man, the lower animals, plants, and which apply
to the behavior of all natural objects.
So when we read the Declaration of Independence, it's no
accident that the words "nature" and "nature's law" are used
with expressive meaning, especially to the sages of that day.
The authors of the greatest document ever written were writing
about the very essence of man when culture, tradition, and
social-economic standings were eliminated. As man stood raw
before his Creator, he was endowed with certain basic rights
that could not be denied him by government, tyranny, or another
man. Man's rights are God given rights.
I wonder if the ACLU has been advised of this basic premise of
Western Civilization? Why do I say that? I say it because there
seems to be a move by the pundits and so called protectors of
the First Amendment to argue otherwise. It seems the history
they want to write for the West, specifically for America, is a
history revised. They want us to believe that our forefathers
wanted nothing to do with mixing God and government. But the
facts are that America was and has always been a nation who
recognizes the utter need of God's Providence in the affairs
and, especially, the fair government of men. Pastor T.
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