new church life : july / august 2016
But since the state ’ s main purpose and responsibility is to protect our Godgiven rights , we owe allegiance to it as well as to God . In a well-ordered society , patriotism or love of country is a spiritual love , not just natural . Allegiance to the state is strained , however , when the state itself trespasses on our inherent human rights .
The commandment against murder implies the right to life . The commandment against stealing implies the right to own property . The first law of Divine providence-- ” that man should act in freedom in accordance with reason ” ( Divine Providence 71 ) – implies the right to liberty .
Even inherent rights are not absolute . The same Divine truths that give us rights are also the basis of certain limitations and responsibilities that go along with them . The first law of Divine providence , for instance , implies both the right to liberty and the responsibility to exercise that right rationally and not abuse it .
The right to life gives us the right to control our own body to save our life , but in the case of a soldier in combat even that right is necessarily circumscribed because of the greater good that would be harmed if soldiers could desert with impunity . The greater good is that of the country whose laws protect its citizens ’ right to life . ( See True Christian Religion 414 )
The right of free speech is implied by the freedom to think which the Lord has given us , since speech is how we express our thoughts . Society must place certain limitations upon the exercise of that right , however , in order to preserve it . Such restrictions ( against slander , for instance ) are based , like the right itself , upon the order of human life taught in the Word , such as the commandment against bearing false witness . In addition , each of us has a responsibility to monitor and self-censor our own words out of basic charity toward others . Truly free speech is also responsible speech .
The right to pursue happiness is open to interpretation , but it surely includes the right to own property , which was mentioned along with life and liberty in the Virginia Declaration of Rights , which was a forerunner of the Declaration of Independence and heavily influenced it . ( Jefferson changed the right of property to “ pursuit of happiness ” in the Declaration of Independence .)
The desire , thought , effort and time that go into acquiring property make it an extension of the person who acquires it by these means . A farmer , a doctor , an entrepreneur – people in all occupations – put a lot of themselves into their occupation . We can see the connection between the words “ proprium ” and “ property .”
People are occupied ( or preoccupied , as we say ) by their occupation . The monetary rewards that accrue as a result belong to them as much as the expenditures of time , labor or money they put into the work . One who follows a responsible work ethic , and bears the responsibilities and obligations an
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