Innate RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES
Innate RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES
A contemporary religion essay by R. Weathers and J.b.Wilhelm
Few people give much thought to the natural characteristics we are born with, yet which have such profound effects on our lives and how we live our lives. We all have innate qualities programmed into our brains which are necessary to our survival. While things such as breathing, reacting to pain or discomfort, and forming human bonds are things we take for granted and likely write off as instinctual, they are as a matter of fact attributable to unconscious activity in our brains. They have been pre-programmed into our brains with the same level of scientific wonder that permeates the entire human being as a living organism within nature. They are innate qualities every normal human being is endowed with from the time of his or her birth onward.
Our ability to experience pleasure, to enjoy our surroundings, to think in ways which bring us benefits and even the matter of pro-creation are other innate characteristics which lend meaning to our lives. For those who believe the earth and its inhabitants are no mere accident of circumstance against impossible odds, this portends the existence of an intelligence behind what in minimal terms can be seen as a truly marvelous and complex creation. They see a creator as the one responsible for endowing humans with these innate qualities.
This raises the question of whether there are other innate characteristics in humans which while being less obvious to us may nonetheless have an influence on the lives we live here on this earth.
Men have come to recognize innate qualities humans possess as tantamount to natural rights. While Natural rights (inalienable rights) are primarily viewed by society in a purely constitutional or political sense, one must dig deeper in order to attach meaning to what violations of such rights imply. Since they are deemed to be natural, that is innate to our own nature as humans, and by virtue of their own nature, “God-Given”, they are neither granted nor revocable by man-made legislation or human directive.
This introduces a subject which the intellectual world of our own time finds little interest in exploring. That is; “God Given” responsibilities in connection with those ‘Innate Rights’. Those responsibilities connected to rights the creator has endowed every human being with are of such little interest to the general population of our day that one may get the idea they are deliberately being avoided by most people as subjects for any kind of in-depth discussion.
This may very well be because a true understanding of those innate qualities and responsibilities the creator endows every human being with from the date of his or her birth will reveal a grave deficiency in a person’s relationship with their creator.
INNATE NATURE of INALIENABLE ATTRIBUTES
1. The INNATE NATURE of INALIENABLE ATTRIBUTES including rights and responsibilities can be seen as being connected to individual human rights. These are attributes which humans were endowed with by their creator as a priori from the beginning of their creation. Since they originate with the creator, who is GOD ALMIGHTY (YHWH), they also carry an implication of innate responsibilities HE attaches to them. These attributes are specific human skills and qualities which are not learned or acquired after birth occurs. They are built-in and ready for further development immediately upon birth. For example, no one has to teach a new-born baby to cry when it needs attention. While we may explain such things as instinctual the fact remains that they have been designed and imbued in living humans as skills necessary to their existence by a form of intelligence we know as GOD.
While we readily accept that babies instinctively know to nurse at their mother’s breast and innately possess skills to get attention to their needs by crying, new-born infants have other skills and abilities which we may not be so well aware of. We largely take these for granted and give little thought to the fact that these are inherent in the very nature of humans at their birth. Most of them fall into the category of mental skills and dictate our mental potential for growth and development. Examples of these include our ability to learn and our ability to remember that which we acquire as new knowledge or understanding.
We now know scientifically that all the physiological systems that sustain our lives and allow us to function as living human beings are controlled by the brain. More often than not these systems function automatically, without the need for us to think consciously about them. This is true of our respiratory and digestive systems. It is also true of our ability to emit sounds, to receive visual images by means of our eyes, and of auditory nerves which enable us to differentiate sounds around us. We are also born with other sensory organs such as olfactory organs which enable us to differentiate odors and a complex system of nerves which enable us to feel stimulation by things we experience or come into contact with.
In addition to these innate abilities which enable us to sustain our existence as humans, we are endowed with additional innate characteristics which mostly determine the quality of the life we live. While the qualities mentioned above are largely necessary for our physical survival there are others, often unappreciated by most people, also innate, also connected with the brain’s function. These are attributes and responsibilities necessary for our functioning as members of a communal society within our own species. Also for us remaining in harmony with the rest of creation on the planet we call our earthly home.
In this area ‘responsibility’ plays an important role in that while we all have these potentials within us, we are individually responsible for their use and for how we apply them in our own lives. For example, we find inborn within the youngest of our children, tendencies to love, be loved, to share what they have with others and an innocent kindness that unfortunately in many cases, becomes obscured later by parental instruction. They start out with these attributes till they are taught behaviors which override them. They learn from exposure to elders who have themselves unlearned these characteristics and adopted selfishness instead. Things such as innocent kindness and natural trust become inhibited and even dormant.
These innate tendencies are replaced with the values and beliefs parents and other human role models have themselves accumulated from the system they have been brought up under. That system is pervasive worldwide and dictates that young children must be taught that things like personal possessiveness, city, state and national borders and a form of personal greed are somewhat necessary to exist in the society we live in. These are all forms of a “Me First” mentality. Likewise, fences, locks on doors and all sorts of protective devices in a society where in many cases even ones neighbor may not be trusted, are all things children are taught a need for in their early formative years. Innate inclinations toward personal and communal sharing are replaced by personal and communal selfishness in developing children. While these supplant qualities the creator has implanted in new-born children, they are easily adopted, and then retained for life, according to what the Bible sets forth as a natural truth about human development.
Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old, he will not depart from it. JPS
Unfortunately, in all too many cases this principle provided by our creator for the development of God-loving adults has been adapted by forces opposing God in furthering their own agendas.
“The Spiritual Connection to our Brains”
Additional to those attributes incidental to individual and collective physical survival on earth, according to the Bible, all humans are also endowed with innate abilities essential to a relationship with Elohim God, the creator. These fall into a category referred to as our “spiritual side”. This is; that part of our mentality encompassing those brain functions our creator has endowed us with pertaining to our relationship with him as the ‘Creator’.
Each of us has an innate connection to our creator and an ability to communicate our desires and wishes to him. We also have an intrinsic ability to receive communications from him through the means of natural mechanisms he has designed into our brains.
Today religious persons refer to this communication as the power of prayer. Scientifically it may be defined as “thought transfer”, where a series of our thoughts which take the form of neuron patterns formed in our brains may be read by God and then responded to by his forming new neuron patterns in our brains, (thoughts) replying to our original thoughts. This process may seem foreign to some people. However, those who understand it are truly able to open their minds to two-way communication with their creator.
The Scientific Side of Spiritual Thinking
To shed a scientific perspective on this process, recent science has recognized ‘thoughts’ as measurable physical things. Thoughts are a literal electro-chemical firing of neurodes or neuron patterns. These electro-chemical patterns have become recognizable, readable and recordable by means of computers, aided by scanning devices developed in recent years.
All information that comes into our brain from the outside as well as the thoughts we form in our own minds are potentially seen to be stored as neuron patterns or neurodes in our brain. It is these neuron patterns which then re-fire as thoughts. When taken as a pattern in groups, they become what we refer to metaphorically as light (enlightenment). These patterns, create beliefs based upon which neuron patterns fire the strongest. The belief when it becomes fertile as a desire leads us to action or behavior. The Bible writer James relates how a desire opposed to God’s will (referred to as sinful by him), takes us through a thought process that eventually leads us to the consequences for the behavior our thoughts trigger.
James 1:14-15 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.NKJ
Thus when those naturally existing neuron patterns are overridden by new, conflicting patterns impressed through repetition and use, the new ones become more strongly established, and supplant the earlier patterns. The old ones regress or shall we say become subordinate in our vast store of neurodes. The newer ones fire first on an everyday basis supplanting older ones and they become the beliefs that motivate our behavior. It is our beliefs that control our attitudes, it is our attitudes that control our feelings, and it is our feelings that control our behavior.
(Psychology, both a science and an art, based on 19th century thinking did not fully understand many recently discovered operational mechanisms of the human brain. Thus, while psychology has much to contribute in the field of human relations, it may be un-mindful in its application of some modern-day neuro science (Brain Science) discoveries. Also, missing or incomplete is recognition of the Creator’s viewpoint concerning human relationships with him and how our brain is involved in them. Therefore, Psychology as a discipline should be viewed as a work in progress subject at the very least to re-evaluation in light of more recent discoveries in functional brain science and also consideration of the creators viewpoint as presented in scripture)
Based on information recently discovered, the more a given set of neuron patterns fire, the more it becomes a belief. Beliefs are the engines that drive behavior. Your actions, behavior, success, and level of achievements are controlled biologically by what neuron patterns fire in your brain. Neuron patterns firing in your brain are real. They are physical. They are observable and even measurable via today’s scanning devices. They are changeable and they are the basis of every action you take. Your mind is what your brain does. You are what your mind is.
When pre-existing neuron patterns are displaced by newer, more frequently fired patterns, the earlier ones regress and the new ones become mentally operative in determining our behavior. This is essentially what happens to us as young infants. Those neuron patterns that our creator endowed us with were over ridden by new patterns which were implanted and led to beliefs which trigger our behavior. As long as they are reinforced by repetition, in various ways over the years of our lifetime they will control our actions. The old patterns will remain supplanted and imprisoned in the deep recesses of our minds, overridden by reinforced current thinking and behavior. New fresh strong patterns will in turn influence our behavior for change while repetition of presently dominant thought patterns will perpetuate our behavior whether it be beneficial or is harmful to us.
YHWH (God), the creator is able to read our neuron patterns and this enables him to determine what we are thinking and what our desires are (our heart condition). By planting thoughts in our minds he is able to provide us with the on- going guidance necessary to conduct our lives in ways beneficial to ourselves and to the natural creation surrounding us. It is in this area that normal and natural God-given thought patterns are supplanted by other interests than his own.
There is another super intelligent observant spirit being, (an adversary of God) who. while not being proven with the ability to read our thoughts, nonetheless, does have the ability to plant thoughts and ideas within our brain. He has been busy at work resisting YHWH and his purposes since the Garden of Eden, the dawn of human history. Since those early times. “GOD Almighty” has been and is still able to offer a counter to this by implanting his own thoughts, injecting his viewpoint directly into our minds. It is left up to us as free ‘moral agents’ to accept, embrace, or reject those thoughts which he implants. This phrase ‘free moral agents’ may bear some explanation for those unfamiliar with it.
Free Moral Agency is an innate quality the creator has endowed humans with which differentiates them from robots programmed to certain tasks and also from the animal kingdom which is guided largely by pre-determined instincts.. Humans have choices and extensive areas of freedom in their lives to exercise those choices. A major area or way this reveals itself is in the matter of whose sovereignty they wish to live under. That is who they choose to be guided by and whose rule they desire to live under. God YHWH is set before them as a loving fatherly provider who has conceived and created a marvelous environment designed to provide for all the needs humans have for a happy and fulfilling life. He asks only that they recognize that he, their creator knows what is best for them and that they honor, respect and humbly appreciate him as their creator and as a master intelligence with capabilities far beyond what they themselves possess.
Preserving the natural balance in the world of nature is essential to its continued survival in perpetuity. Living under his (Gods) sovereignty (right to rule) affords human beings the most benefits while also preserving the natural balance in the rest of creation. Along with those benefits which they may or may not appreciate as individuals, he affords them the choice of submitting to his own sovereignty or to act otherwise. Acting otherwise includes choosing to live under their own sovereignty (masters of their own lives) or submitting themselves to the sovereignties of other entities than God (YHWH), their originating creator. This remains the core aspect of free moral agency. Other aspects have to do with choosing between behavior patterns the creator sees as most beneficial to his overall creation and patterns which oppose him and contain harmful side effects ultimately leading to the deterioration of his creation. Put in the most simplistic of terms, humans have a choice between “Good” (the creators concept of what is appropriate and beneficial) and “Bad” (that which is counterproductive to perpetuity of life on earth). Despite the fact that humans are not designed to be more intelligent than their creator they are none the less given these choices. This ability to choose is “free moral Agency”.
However, these choices bring responsibility with them. If they make choices outside of the freedom their creator allows, they must bear individual and collective responsibility for the harm such choices may have on others and to his creation as a whole. He will allow just so much latitude in how far they will be allowed to proceed with patterns of behavior and resistance to his will which have the potential to harm his overall creation.
Thus, all through human history men have been afforded a choice between supporting his viewpoint or viewpoints of other men and of those spirit beings who oppose him. By examining the Bible carefully, we are able to demonstrate that this innate connection with the thinking of GOD is a matter of design and intended as part of our ongoing relationship with our heavenly father and benefactor. Also, that these innate abilities to choose “good” lie within all of us so that we are inexcusable when we reject or disregard thoughts he implants anew in our brains in order to re-awaken beliefs he has innately implanted us in the beginning.
Some may conclude that if we have been given these innate abilities to communicate with the mind of GOD, it would demand a need for general corroborating evidence in other places besides our own minds and our personal experiences.
This viewpoint is largely determined by human thinking which has become deeply immersed in the “scientific method” of proving things. This method of scientific investigation has until very recently been dependent exclusively on material observations. Only recently have scientists recognized that the universe consists of more than 95% non-matter. Scientific investigation into to the ‘spiritual’ realm is in its early infancy and will remain there as long as people use material methods exclusively to investigate spiritual matters. However, a new dawn is emerging.
The scientific community at large is for the first time in recorded history beginning to understand how the human brain actually operates and its vast underutilized potential. Experiential evidence for such things as mental telepathy and pre-cognition found in primitive societies and rare individuals are being taken more seriously by progressive scientists. There is a rich history of these experiences found among African tribes, Aboriginals in Australia, Aluets, Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, North American Indian tribes, Siberian tribes and other indigenous people who have not been effected so greatly by the same modern scientific thinking which has become a priori in today’s world. Also, there are a goodly number of historical examples found in civilized societies as well. These are largely ignored or passed off as some occult nonsense. Since there seems to be so few examples among us today, scientific thinking rejects them as unsupported theory. Could the reason why only a relatively few examples are found among us today be grounded in an old principle, expressed by Jesus Christ in the Bible at Matthew 17:20 and later restated another way by Henry Ford who is quoted as saying ““Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.”
This raises questions of whether abilities we consider to be para-normal lie innate within us and have been suppressed by disbelief on our own parts. It also brings another question into focus; Are the thoughts that come into our minds uniquely our own or may they in some instances be placed there by others than ourselves. Recently (the last 100 years) there has been a flurry of activity concerning research into ‘metaphysics’ (the science of God). Albert Einstein wrote years ago; “I want to know the Mind of God, everything else is details.” Kant wrote “Objective cognition is made possible by the unconscious assumption of ‘God’s eye View’”. Einstein also wrote later; “Everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a ‘spirit’ is manifest in the laws of the universe – a Spirit vastly superior to that of man and one in the face of which we, with our modest powers, must feel humble”. . . Nikola Tesla wrote almost a century ago “The gift of mental power comes from God, divine being, and if we concentrate our minds on that truth, we become in tune with this great power”
Yet progress in these areas seems to be bogged down by the traditional view the “scientific mind’ of our own day clings to. It demands all cognition must conform to the objects observed. Mainstream Scientists who have bought into traditional scientific investigation find insufficient evidence to conduct tests for paranormal occurrences encompassing large numbers of subjects. Lacking what they deem to be conclusive results, they reject the validity of any anecdotal evidence which stares them in their faces.
If there is little material evidence aside from personal experience and since all scientific investigation is said to be based solely on material evidence, are there any other avenues to explore for answers to these questions.
Perhaps this is an area where we can benefit by information found in sources scientists seem to be pre-disposed against, according to popularly held biases within their own scientific communities.
For one such source we may point to the Bible which has been provided by GOD as a device we can rely upon to verify whether a thought which may appear in our minds has been placed there by him or by some other means including but not limited to our own personal fancies or delusions. The Bible has been given to us as means of understanding his pattern of thinking and exposing conflicts our thoughts may have with his.
(2 Timothy 3:16 ASV Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness).
Therefore, let us examine the Bible to determine what light it sheds on the innate nature of humans and their relationship with GOD. Also, how thoughts attributable to other entities affected the behavior of humans throughout history.
2. BIBLICAL EVIDENCE OF AN INNATE CONNECTION with GOD
Do we have examples of thoughts implanted in the originating couple, (Adam and Eve) responsible for the entire human race, and in humans during the earliest days of their successive generations.
Gen 2:15 – 17 AMP And the Lord God [Elohim] took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
In these verses we are told that God (Elohim) communicated his command and accompanying information to Adam. We are not given the exact means by which he did this here other than being told he said these things. However, we know from later scripture that it was not by physical presence and speech as we know it. Rather there is strong inference to another presence other than GOD (YHWH) who was involved in this revelation to Adam. (AMP John 1:18 No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, Who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known]. [Prov. 8:30.]
When the Bible was written and for many centuries afterwards the only commonly understood methods of communications humans were aware of was eyesight (visual) and voice (auditory) with any other form of communication held to be para-normal.
Nevertheless, even at that time, God was communicating with humans in other ways than those which were seen as normal by humans then. While the Bible portrays such communications mainly in terms humans understood at the time of its writing, scriptural evidence suggests God’s actual communications to humans took other forms besides the conventional ways described at the time they were written.
Here are examples of inconspicuous scriptural evidence alluding to extra ordinary methods he used in communicating with those humans he wanted to convey specific information to.
1. Examples of thoughts being implanted in human minds since early days as described in the Bible
ASV Genesis 15:4 And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying. . . (Perhaps today we might call this phenomena intuition, gut feeling, having a hunch, or something from within.)
LXE Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the ancient things have come to pass, and so will the new things which I tell you: yea, before I tell them they are made known to you. (Today we know this as prophecy, prognostication or revelation of future unknowns. The verse tells us that God made things known to Isaiah about the future before formal disclosure of telling him)
NJB Jeremiah 34:1 The word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh . . . . (We could just as well say “the word occurred to Jeremiah” and be perfectly accurate)
LXE Jeremiah 36:1 IN THE FOURTH YEAR OF JOAKIM son of Josias king of Juda, the word of the Lord came to me (again, the word came to me carries an implication that it was revealed by other means than speaking in a conventional sense)
NJB 2 Chronicles 18:20, 21 A spirit then came forward and stood before Yahweh and said, “I will entice him.” “How?” Yahweh asked. 21 He replied, “I shall go and be a deceptive spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.” Yahweh said, “You will succeed in enticing him. Go and do it.” (An example of influencing the mind of prophets without their own awareness)
NJB Habakkuk 2:2 Then Yahweh answered me and said, ‘Write the vision down, inscribe it on tablets to be easily read. (An example where Habakkuk, a man Jehovah was using to make his will known to others received a reply to a question he had posed to God by means of instantaneous communication between his mind and the mind of God)
2. Examples of Dreams and Visions (mental pictorial scenarios) implanted in human minds as a means of conveying information without a need for or use of physical retinal eyesight. Perception exists in the mind. Eyes are merely a means by which images are carried to the brain for analysis and deduction. While we as humans consider this extraordinary or paranormal, God has no need to use our eyes to plant pictorial scenarios in our minds. When he does this, we refer to them as dreams or visions. When we perceive them by other means we see today as being normal, we may refer to them as television or movies.
Amos 7:4 MKJV The Lord Jehovah made me see this:. . . . . . (the very fact that he states the Lord made him see implies a paranormal experience)
Isaiah 29:11 NKJ The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is literate, saying, “Read this, please.” And he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” (Isaiah was describing a vision he experienced which he could not fully understand the meaning of it was obviously beyond something he would have generated by himself)
Numbers 12:6 NAS He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. (God was addressing Aaron and Miriam in their presumptuousness against Moses, whom he held as an exception who He would deal with in a more direct manner)
Joel 2:28. Acts 2:17 ESV “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; (this verse shows that the gift of prophecy connected to visions and dreams was a result of God’s spirit and not human self-will)
Amos 1:1 BBE The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa; what he saw about Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earth-shock. (An example of a vision given to a prophet by paranormal means before the event occurred,)
These are but a sampling of occasions when God communicated dreams and visions to humans enabling them to discern information beyond their naturally perceptive abilities.
3. Biblical evidence of telepathic communications between minds without any external devices (mental telepathy).
Matthew 9:4 BBE And Jesus, having knowledge of what was in their minds, said, Why are your thoughts evil? (Jesus was essentially able to read information in their minds without their having disclosed it to him)
Acts 15:8 NJB And God, who can read everyone’s heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. (The mind and heart are held as interchangeable by many Bible translators. When scripture says God can read hearts, we may also conclude he can read minds)
Matthew 12:25 NAB But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. (Again, by Jesus knowing what they were thinking before they expressed it to him in words, it shows their thoughts had been transmitted to him by some other means than their own spoken words.
Matthew 6:8 ESV Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. (There can be no other explanation for this than God having a way of seeing what men are thinking even without any outward expression on their own parts)
In all these examples we find phenomena beyond what modern science fully understands. Yet they lie within the definition of truth as God defines it in his Holy Bible.
3. “TRUTH” and its INNATE CONNECTION to GOD
Truth has best been defined as “reality “and reality is that which supersedes whim, fancy or delusion when it comes to making decisions that will best benefit us now and in the future. Truth is the underlying basis for all natural science, mathematics, physics and life forms found in God’s creation. It remains the personal building block for all progress ever made by human beings on this earth. Truth as an elementary facet of God’s nature positions itself behind everything he says and everything he does. Truth pre -existed as a central part of God’s own nature before the Bible was ever written. The Bible summarizes his relationship with truth in two simple statements: At Titus 1:2 it describes him as a“God, who cannot lie“ and in at least 4 places (Ex:34:6, Deut.32:4, Ps31:5, and Isa.5:16)it refers to him as “The God of Truth”. “Truth” can be seen as a precursory part of his nature as it was an essential link to everything he ever created and remains equally essential in the continuing existence of every living being. Truth is so intrinsic with the nature of God that it may be seen as an extension of his very essence.
At birth, we all start life with a connection with truth. This relationship with truth exists as an innate quality, endowed in all humans by God. It is a quality which is essential in enabling a new-born infant to grow and develop into a mature fully developed adult. Later, without a continual reference to things which are true we could not exist or progress further as living human beings
This means that just as God is a God of truth, with truth being a fundamental part of his own nature, that we, as beings he has created in his own image, also have within us a built-in fundamental relationship with truth.
Sadly to say, that relationship is all too often perverted and undermined at a very early age by the intervention from an unseen spirit being who is opposed to the will of God almighty. He introduces a different version which he promotes as truth but is in reality a form of un-truth YHWH associates with darkness. This one is very powerful and whether we realize it or not, he exerts influence upon our lives. Interestingly he is also referred to in the Bible as a god, “the god of this world”. . 2 Cor 4:4”Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them”. BBE
While the Creator’s nature is exemplified by truthfulness, that opposing one is portrayed in scripture as the “father of the Lie”. His hallmark is deception and he uses deception to blind minds, and control all those he wishes to divert away from their innate relationship with the true God and creator, Elohim God. This “god of this world” is identified elsewhere in scripture as “Satan”the Devil. Satan (Adversary/Resister), “Devil” (Slanderer /False accuser) also as “Lucifer” (light bringer), with the latter being somewhat of a misnomer since he is in actuality a proponent of darkness in Jehovah Gods eyes. In the Bible Light is equated with the truth and goodness which is in harmony with God’s will, while that which is out of harmony with God’s will is likened to darkness.
All those who follow Satan’s the Devil’s lead, either intentionally or unintentionally, and promote his thinking are seen scripturally by God as adversaries and workers of “darkness”. This includes both spirit beings and human beings. Humans who follow the Devil’s lead are referred to in the Bible as his children, those he begets by means of his deceptive devices.
John 8:44 NLT “For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies”.
In contrast, for God’s children (those who follow his lead) the Bible contains this message:
Ephesians 5:11 NJB take no part in the futile works of darkness but, on the contrary, show them up for what they are.
How importantly God views our relationship with “truth” is borne out in numerous places in the Bible. Here are just a few which serve as examples;
At John 4:24 we are told that he demands to be worshipped in truth.
John 4:24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth”.
At Ephesians 4:25 NKJ The Bible admonishes men to rid themselves of deceptive speech;
“Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another”.
with a reason given at:
Ephesians 4:14-15 14 “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ” —
The Bible further demonstrates how important truth is to GOD by disclosing that a” Love of the truth” is essential to those who would avoid the fate of an ungodly world destined to perish along with Satan the deceiver and his minions.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, 10 and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, 12 that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness”.
These verses from the book of Thessalonians are especially telling as an indictment toward those who fail to see the gravity of untruthfulness, for they indicate how badly God views this despite his will being that none be destroyed (1 Timothy 2:3-4 “God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”.
Paul is clear in Thessalonians that if one disregards truth, and even more astoundingly, “does not love truth”, that one puts himself in the position of being seen and treated as an enemy by God.
Appropriately, The Apostle John may have been referring to an innate pre-disposal towards truth in his hearers when he wrote;
1 John 2:21 21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
4. INNATE, (therefore) INALIENABLE ATTRIBUTES
mean RESPONSIBILITIES as well as RIGHTS
[4a. RESPONSIBILITIES attached to OUR INNATE NATURE]
A need for and an affinity for truth among other qualities or attributes is what we as humans are initially endowed with by the creator at birth These things are granted to us as inalienable rights by him. Inalienable in the sense that they can neither be legally canceled or nullified by any other being than himself. While he has loaned them to us on a conditional basis he holds title over them in perpetuity. However, while we can readily understand these “rights” as humans and hold them dear to ourselves, they come to us bundled with another constituent which is not as readily embraced by us. That is that all these rights from God have implied responsibilities attached to them. Those responsibilities seem to be less appreciated by most people who are quick to defend their “rights” yet seem far less concerned with the responsibilities they come with. We will discuss the history of these rights and the responsibilities inherent with them further, but first there is a fundamental and very important aspect to address.
In addition to all those other rights, previously mentioned which are granted to humans in the form of innate qualities possessed at birth, there is one which merits special mention. It concerns an inborn relationship which takes on the greatest significance among them all.
It is the innate need for a relationship with the creator. What makes this so important is that if we want to enjoy all the others in their perfect sense, it is dependent on an on-going relationship with the creator. We all have an innate need for God which was a crucial part of our original design as humans. Yet, this is a need that God’s major opponent has spent great time, effort and energy on to undermine and subvert. By promoting the lie that there is no God, among many other Anti- God teachings, he overrides people’s natural inclination toward a relationship with their creator.
God as the original designer of our founding human parents had something specific in mind for us along the lines of what a relationship with him should be like. He never designed us to be his equal and he did not make us to be fully independent of him. What he had in mind for us was rather along the lines of a parent / child relationship. He would be our spiritual fatherly benefactor and we would be an earthly family of appreciative children. This relationship would continue as long as we lived on this earth, which was intended to be of a duration expressed by the Hebrew biblical word ʽoh·lam′. (Time-indefinite or forever). By examining the bible book of Genesis we are given a reliable view of God’s original innate relationship with humans and the implied responsibilities it carried with it.
4b. INALIENABLE RIGHTS and INALIENABlE RESPONSIBILITIES from God
In the account found in Genesis, when God created man, scripture makes two things clear;
1. Regarding the Nature and Origin of man’s cardinal attributes and 2. That he was given inalienable rights and responsibilities.
NIV Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.“
Other versions read;
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” English Standard Version (ESV, also KJV)
Important observations are derived from this passage;
1. Man was to be given inalienable rights to dominion over all the earth, and the living things upon the earth. These rights also implied specific responsibilities in connection with them. The responsibilities included the need to exercise these rights in harmony with God’s standards for preserving his creation into which they had been introduced. Also to preserve the earth itself as created and not do harm to it.
2. Man was created with attributes according to the likeness of God with abilities in the “likeness” of God which he was to employ in connection with what he was given. History reveals not all humans fulfilled their responsibilities in connection with those rights. God’s viewpoint on the outcome of how men exercised their responsibilities over the long-term is shown afterwards at Revelations 11:18 NJB “The nations were in uproar and now the time has come for your retribution . . . . . and for those who fear your name, small and great alike, to be rewarded.[also] The time has come to destroy those who are destroying the earth.”
4c. INALIENABLE RIGHTS are “CONDITONAL”
(1) Man was given an inalienable right to dominion over all the earth and everything living things upon the earth
The text of these verses states that God endowed man with the right to rule the earth and to enjoy the things upon the earth, with just one exception.
Gen 1:27-29 AMP So God created man in His own image, in the image and likeness of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Col. 3:9, 10; James 3:8, 9.] 28 And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth. 29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the land and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food.
The exception, closely related to the stewardship he afforded them over his creation was a very important one. Obedience to that exception was completely necessary to the harmonious continuance of the earth and its natural systems as he had designed them. That exception in the form of a restriction is found at Genesis 2: 15,-17
(2). The “Tree” of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
GW Gen 2:15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it 16 The LORD God commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. 17 But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.”
The Hebrew meaning for the word knowledge as it applies in this verse.is important for us to understand. Whereas in English the word ‘knowledge’ implies a mostly intellectual meaning that is; acquisition of information, in Hebrew it carries the added meaning of experience connected to that knowledge. Therefore, much as ‘knowing’ in the verse describing Adam and Eves relationship at Genesis 4:1 ( below) actually described experiencing that knowledge, so too the ‘knowledge’ of good and evil at Genesis 2:17 indicated experiencing the evil side of that knowledge.
Gen. 4:1 AMP AND ADAM knew Eve as his wife, and she became pregnant and bore Cain; and she said, I have gotten and gained a man with the help of the Lord.
Another version;
Genesis 4:1 NJB The man had intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I have acquired a man with the help of Yahweh,’ she said.
The rights he gave man had an exception in the form of a simple command which symbolized a far greater meaning. The meaning behind that command not to partake of the experience connected to knowing the evil side of good and bad had to do with sovereignty. It brought into focus God’s sovereignty (his right to rule). Disobeying that single command signified resistance to God’s sovereignty and a violation of the responsibilities connected to the rights God granted our first parents, Adam and Eve.
As their God, man’s Creator gave these rights and responsibilities as an inheritance, as such they are inalienable and can only be nullified by their rejecting him and his sovereignty. Accepting Gods sovereignty over them was and still remains the conditional basis under which these rights were granted. Such is true of any inalienable right bestowed on humans by God.
4d. INALIENABLE RESPONSIBILITIES in the Garden of Eden
We know that Adam was given responsibilities as well as rights when he was installed in God’s earthly paradise. He was to be a caretaker of the Garden, he was responsible for naming and shepherding the animals, he was God’s communicator of instruction, and so on.
(1) Caretaker
The Garden of Eden was a God-given example of what He expected from man in his role of caretaker or steward over his earthy creation. The responsibility to care for and preserve the natural integrity of the Garden of Eden would extend to the entire earth as humans became numerous enough to care for the surroundings they would eventually occupy. In this assignment they would be provided with sustainable and rewarding activity to fill their days with.
Genesis 2:15 And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. KJV
or another version;
Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. NIV
(2).Naming the living creatures (a confirmation of man’s authority over them)
Genesis 2:19, 20 ESV “So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, which it became its name”. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.”
Or as other versions state;
Genesis 2:19, 20 KJV And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;
Genesis 2:19, 20 NIV Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
Naming some one or some thing was in the Biblical sense a form of exercising authority over it. It had greater importance than merely serving as mans of identify-cation as it does today. A name was important in that it established how something was to be perceived in the future. Thus when Adam was afforded the right to name all other living things on earth, it confirmed the rights God had given him over them.
(3). Adam as a Communicator of God’s instructions
In the conversation that Eve had with the devil cited below, her response indicates that Adam had communicated God’s instruction (Gen. 2:16, 17.) to her precisely as he had received it from God.
Genesis 3:1-3 NIV Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4e. Made In the IMAGE or LIKENESS of GOD
First, we must concede an image or likeness is not comparable to the reality.it represents. An image is only a marginal representation which bears enough resemblance to something for the viewer to associate it with the reality. It is far from the reality which an image barely allows the viewer to recognize
In using the description “Image of God”, the Bible tells us man was created with attributes according to the likeness of God. If we take the four cardinal qualities associated with God, which are Love, Justice, Power and Wisdom, we easily see that man was endowed with them, however in a lesser yet relative sense.
Genesis 1:26, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
This Biblical verse tells us that man was created in God’s likeness. He was given a mind so that he could carry on logical thought processes and to be able to communicate with his God and creator. That God is an exceptionally effective communicator of instruction is seen in the brevity of the Bible verse quoted above. He gives instruction to the One with whom he is speaking saying, “Let us make man. . . . “. In this he gave both the instruction and detail so that His will could be performed, all in a simple and concise ten word statement of instruction.
Adam needed some form of instruction about how to obey God and how to care for the Garden. He also needed to know a language by which to communicate. with God and with others in the future. Later he used the language he learned from God to communicate with his wife and others including the human family he was destined to father.
Clearly his ability to perform God-given responsibilities was dependent on knowledge of how to do so. Adam being created in God’s image meant he was endowed with a natural ability to communicate. Being created in the image of his Maker also bestowed upon him innate qualities that made it possible for him to understand the will of God and to learn other skills necessary to carry out it out. We can be assured God provided him a way to do. He, as a human father would also have the innate ability to instruct his children, according to God’s plan for human families and their future populations.
However, there is clear indication in the broad context of scripture that humans were never intended to have free-reign over their thinking and subsequently their behaviors.
4f. Responsiblity for Obedience to God’s Commandments
Adam had responsibility for obedience to God’s commandments concerning things God forbade and there were penalties for failure to follow these implicitly. That Adam was liable for such disobedience is clearly stated at Gen 2:16.
Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” ESV
Obviously this constituted a limit established by the Creator as to what Adam was allowed to do within the dominion God had given him. Man never had absolute freedom to do as he willed.
God taught him what was good and beneficial for him and for the creation around him. How?
The Creator taught by communicating His will to Adam, with instructions on how to stay ‘right’ with Him. From the very beginning of their human existence, humans have possessed innate rights and innate responsibilities before God. As Adam was created with a God-given ability to reason based on knowledge he would continue to receive from God. Today people are still-born with this innate ability to be instructed by our Creator.
When questioning Job, God himself, with a rhetorical question, reveals that it is He who has put beneficial thinking ability (wisdom) within man’s “inward parts” in order that he might understand.
The rhetorical question;
Job 38:36 ESV Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?
Other versions;
Job 38:36 KJV Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Job 38:36 NIV Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind?
The answer to that question is revealed at Job 32:8 where it tells us;
Job 32:8 But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. ESV
Or as other versions state;
Job 32:8 KJV But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.
Job 32:8 NIV But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
That God has ‘means’ of speaking (communicating) which are neither audible nor written in form can be gathered by the words of the man Elihu as he rebuked Job. One can also glean from verses 16 and 17 at least three reasons he may wish to communicate with them.
Job 33:14 NIV For God does speak– now one way, now another– though man may not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, 17 to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride.
God has the means to speak with us internally by way of our thoughts. These Scriptures tell us that God’s Spirit enables understanding in order that we may know the will of our Maker and resist wrongdoing. Since we are liable to God and he is both righteous and just, he teaches us what we need so that we know how to obey His commandments. However, a major obstacle to God’s kindly guidance in these areas is “individual and societal pride’ wherein men equate their own thinking as being equal or superior to God’s.
The Bible reveals how mankind in general has responded to God and his efforts to educate us in his ways. Examples can be seen from the very beginning of the Bible record down to this very day. However, perhaps they are best summed up in what Solomon is said to have written at;
Ecclesiastes 7:29 NIV “This only have I found: God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many schemes.”
The rights and responsibilities God granted Adam and Eve in perpetuity continued to be an issue between God and men, way beyond the initial creation in Genesis. This can be seen by examining the history of God’s people and of people in general since that time. The status of this issue between God and mankind is still evident from what we see around us if we care to examine the world we live in today from God’s viewpoint.
GOD”S INALIENABLE RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES TODAY
a. In the world of religion;
These inalienable rights and responsibilities have become twisted and subverted to fit man-made selfish interests through the introduction of doctrines which under the guise of being agreeable to God actually subvert his will.
His direct sovereignty is superseded by the insertion of men as rulers between him and the human family. Men who claim to be ruling and administrating on God’s behalf are found to be entrenched in their own self-perpetuating institutions which are primarily dedicated to their own interests, relegating God’s interests to second place as a type of window dressing. Worship of God in “spirit and truth”-exists in name only. The institutions, the grandiose facilities and the men who administer their affairs have made themselves objects of worship in their own rights, diverting acclaim and adoration due exclusively to God.
b. In the world of Politics;
Being ruled by men instead of God is universally accepted. Self-rule is the banner which is supposed to exemplify freedom, yet self-rule or self-determination is no inalienable right from God. Actually, self-rule or political rule by a king or other form of man-made government was not God’s idea at all. It was humans, spurred on by an unseen power who promoted the idea of humans ruling over other humans. Scripture proves this to be an idea alien to God’s way of thinking. The fact that he made a concession by allowing them to have their way does not change that scriptural reality. The account at 1st Samuel 8:5, 7, 11-20 shows us how God allowed humans to have their own way as a concession, despite the fact that it conflicted with his own will.
c. In Society at large;
In the world we live, people in general have adopted the ways of pagan nations and of those ancient Israelites who wanted surrogate human rulers rather than God almighty. and has sovereignty over their nation. We say surrogate in the sense that while kings and governments have made the claim they rule by Gods’ grace, implying that it is God who sponsors their rule, the reality is that what they answer to is an unseen enemy of God who manipulates them. That spirit being is the real ruler behind men of this world and their governmental systems. (Matt.4:8, 9. 1st Joh. 5:19b).
He and his supporters are the primary means by which our inalienable rights to a relationship with our creator, the Almighty God are being undermined. How effective they have been in their efforts can be seen by examining the condition of these god given inalienable rights and responsibilities in our organizations, institutions and the popular movements in our own day.
INALIENABLE RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES IN OUR TIME
In our own day those God-given rights and responsibilities God deemed as essential and inalienable have virtually either been lost by or supplanted among the entire human family on earth.
a. In Religious Institutions:
In religious institutions individual innate rights to communicate with God directly have been subordinated wherein the organizations and the men who run them are in place as mediators between God and all other individual believers within their organizations. God-given freedoms and rights have been relegated to mere window dressing under manmade doctrines and laws.
b In Political Organizations and Movements:
If any semblance of a relationship with God exists, it exists virtually in name only.
In most political systems God is no more than a slogan on their currency or a figurehead if he has any existence at all. Even humans who claim to rule by the ‘grace’ of God or in the ‘name ‘of God pay little more than lip service to God’s will and to his standards for mankind. His precepts are bent and twisted to their own advantage and to the perpetuating their own power.
c. In society at large – The world at large is in their own eyes becoming more and more independent of any need for God. Everywhere philosophies which either ignore God or dis-honor him have been woven into the very fabric of society. That which God holds as perverted and contrary to nature is being painted as an acceptable norm while those who concur with God’s views are increasingly being ostracized as dangerous extremists. More and more individuals are being educated to deny the existence of God and therefore any rights he may have over them as his own as their creator. The word ‘Creation’ itself has become a term viewed as part of an archaic and obsolete belief system. Scientific Evolution has achieved god-like status in the minds of moderns who either intentionally or inadvertently have made science and scientific thinking a religion of their own. All of this is abominable to God and constitutes a rejection of him for which every human who advocates such behavior will face consequences for.
5. SUMMATION: – INALIENABLE RIGHTS and RESPONSIBILITIES
Inalienable rights may be identified as those inherent gifts by the creator which not only contribute to the essentials for human life on this planet but add greatly to its enjoyment. While they largely consist of things we take for granted such as the air we breathe and the marvelous functioning of our human bodies they also include more abstract things such as our faculty for communicating with our creator, our relationship with him and our social relationships with others.
The responsibilities linked to these rights are;
a.) Loving concern for others and for the planet we have been given stewardship over and
b.) Maintaining an acceptable relationship with our creator. This includes subjection to his sovereignty (right to rule) and appreciation for him and his provisions, expressed publicly as “worship. Under the topic of subjection to his sovereignty falls obedience to his directives and executing his will to the best of our abilities. Appreciation for him includes faith in him and his provisions, exclusive devotion, love, loyalty toward him and voluntary worship.
6. WHAT IT MEANS TO US AS INDIVIDUALS TODAY
a. Where we individually stand as members of God’s communal family;
Today most people take many of these inalienable rights for granted and fail to appreciate that they exist solely because there is a God (the creator) who was uniquely responsible for them. Innate qualities such as two-way personal communication with the creator have been in the least obscured beyond accurate definition and or, in a larger sense lost completely due to lack of use. Humankind has become a family without a true spiritual father, instead embracing an invisible surrogate spiritual stepfather who promotes a multitude of schemes in opposition to the true God YHWH, awarding selfishness in the process. Human kind as a whole has abandoned the fatherly household of God, and his sovereignty thus making itself an apostate world in His eyes. Centuries of this apostasy from the true God has brought the world to the brink of self-destruction.
NJB Jeremiah 17:13 Yahweh, hope of Israel, all who abandon you will be put to shame, those who turn from you will be registered in the underworld, since they have abandoned Yahweh, the fountain of living water.
b. What our position is individually before God almighty;
Fortunately, God almighty (YHWH) is not impeded by human limitations. He has omniscience, and with it the ability to completely know the smallest detail in connection with every living individual on earth. (Matthew 10:30 NAB “Even all the hairs of your head are counted”.) As such we need not be concerned that he will judge us in any other way than as individuals. We will ultimately be judged on how we personally respond to him and his guidance. He has the ability to plant both thoughts and questions in our minds. It is not his will that any one of us be swept away with a worldwide system destined to be brought to an end before it destroys the earth. (1 Tim. 2:4 LITV) who desires all men to be saved and to come to a full knowledge* of truth.)
* knowledge = ‘Epinosis’ = precise and correct knowledge, of divine origin and nature
Until the very moment when he decides enough is enough and closes the door of patience for a rebellious and unappreciative generation, each and every one of us will be given opportunities to choose between him and his sovereignty and factions opposing it. We can choose to live under his sovereignty under a future government administrated by God’s son Jesus Christ or remain committed to the current system of things destined to end when God causes its ultimate demise.
c. Forthcoming ‘GOVERNMENT’ with inalienable rights and responsibilities
As for those who occupied the earth and died before the generation when God intervenes on earth, bringing all opposition to his sovereignty to an end, they are in God’s memory. Jesus spoke of a resurrection of both the “righteous” and the “unrighteous’ at Acts 24:15. Scripture provides us with nine separate examples demonstrating God’s power to restore dead humans back to life here on earth.
Through the power of resurrection (Acts 24:15 AMP Having [the same] hope in God which these themselves hold and look for, that there is to be a resurrection both of the righteous and the unrighteous (the just and the unjust).
Resurrected humans will be able to avail themselves of a new government referred to by Jesus in the model prayer at Mat 6:9,10 GNB This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored; 10 may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
That ‘Kingdom” is an actual government under his Son Christ Jesus and other rulers selected by the YHWH ELOHIM (the creator) himself. They will either be appointed or elected by humans, nor will they be inheritors of power due to family roots. Nor will they be ones who have seized power for themselves. They will govern humankind righteously according to God-given inalienable rights and responsibilities by God’s standards for a thousand years, during which time the earth will be restored to its original paradise-like condition.
Psalm 78:7,8.GNB In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but always obey his commandments. :8 They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.
Under that “Kingdom” (government) under Christ Jesus, prophesied to last a thousand years, all mankind will be given the opportunity to exercise their rights and responsibilities without the intervention by spirit forces who oppose YHWH God. At the end of the thousand years, all those who continue to loyally support God’s sovereignty in the face of a final test will fulfill their prospect of living forever (G165 aivw,n aion {ahee-ohn’}, perpetuity of time, eternity.), a prospect Adam and Eve had and lost due to their apostasy from Elohim, their God and creator in the Garden of Eden, as recorded in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
d. What disregard for God given Inalienable rights and responsibilities means to us as individuals in the future?
Our future, both as a collective people and as individuals living on this God-given earth will be determined by our attitude toward God-given rights and responsibilities. The issue set before us today is the same as that set before Adam and Eve in the dawn of human history upon this earth. It is an issue which has existed among man-kind since then and continues to be the defining paradigm affecting the entire future of the earth and humans as a people living on it. For us as individuals alive today, that issue is encapsulated in a simple yet deeply profound question;
“Under whose sovereignty will YOU choose to live”?
The answer to that simple straightforward question will determine an individual’s attitude towards the rights and responsibilities God has innately granted to humans. While it is God’s will that none be lost (Joh 3:16, 1Ti. 2:4, 2 Pet. 3:9) rejection of God and his god-given rights and responsibilities betokens a future devoid of the blessings and hopes he has purposed for a human family at oneness with him. Those hopes and blessings are summarized in the pages of Revelations chapters twenty-one and twenty-two. You can read those for yourselves and then determine for yourself what is at risk for those who choose to disregard the God given rights and responsibilities he has intrinsically endowed us with. Then, when you do make your choice fully expect that the choice you make will determine the reality of your future. God is not one to one mocked. A universal principal governing the choice you make is found in his word states at Galatians 6:7.
Galatians 6:7 AMP Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap.
What we “sow”, individually in regard to the rights and responsibilities God has endowed us with becomes a reality anchored by what we accept as our own truth. One thing is certain, we will all reap according to what we sow. As long as the time is open to us, which it still is according to the Bible we can respond to those thoughts God places in our minds as reminders of our innate relationship to him and the rights and responsibilities inherent with them. The decision is up to you and me as individuals. No one can make it for us and no one other than ourselves will be held responsible for the decision we make as individuals before our creator.
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