tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post675077629547785576..comments2024-01-24T10:39:27.668-05:00Comments on Coming Untrue: Universal Human Rights: The Christian LegacyDr. S. L. Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06303707167715370504noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-4923696454190829032015-02-18T21:29:02.523-05:002015-02-18T21:29:02.523-05:00Interestingly though, even if God is retained as t...Interestingly though, even if God is retained as the author of those rights, there is no guarantee of their sensible interpretation and application since that depends on your type of God as well. This is currently seen in the Middle East with their contorted view of a despotic semi-god whose supposed laws are merely being used as a basis for human depravity. <br /><br />Only if the Christian view of a benevolent and self-sacrificing God is present can a political arrangement "under God" succeed. The trouble is of course that most Canadian legislatures probably did not believe in such a being but wanted to pay lip service and therefore replaced God with a secular basis hoping to pacify both camps. <br /><br />However, as God disappears from public view in the USA as well (and people after all elect in those who are making it happen, e.g. via the appointed supreme court justices) we will eventually see a similar trend. The danger is of course that, in the long run, we could then end up similar to the Middle East, serving human depravity in the name of a non-existent deity. I.e. we will be back at a time similar to Greece and Rome when God had to intervene by sending Christ.Qmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-31188606301615171752015-02-18T10:28:27.681-05:002015-02-18T10:28:27.681-05:00It's interesting to watch things change. Here ...It's interesting to watch things change. Here in Canada, we "repatriated" our constitution in 1982. One of the founding documents is something called the "Charter of Rights and Freedoms". It's an exceedingly cynical document and a rather odd contortion of Locke's original notions. The opening line begins benignly enough and sounds as if Locke might have written it:<br /><br />"Whereas Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law..."<br /><br />That's an auspicious beginning but with barely a breath, the next line immediately subverts the supremacy of God in a profound way. Here's the second line:<br /><br />"The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees the rights and freedoms set out in it subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."<br /><br />Notice two things about this that are deeply, deeply cynical:<br /><br />1. It is not God but rather a document - the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - that grants you rights as a Canadian. This is no small thing, these are CITIZEN rights, not HUMAN rights. The idea is really that if the Canadian parliament had not passed this document into law, your rights as a human being would not exist at all. There are no human rights innate in creation or granted by God at all - citizen rights are unique to Canada and granted by the human ruling power.<br /><br />2. Secondly, the rights listed are subject to change without notice and without reservation. Human rights - as Locke saw them - came from a creator and could never be altered by human government, only recognized and yielded to. But in Canada, the government expressly reserves the right to alter, change, add or obliterate all the listed rights. All rights are subject to limits prescribed by law.<br /><br />Finally - and perhaps most controversially - the Charter includes Section 33, commonly called the "notwithstanding" clause. This reads as follows:<br /><br />"Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter."<br /><br />What this means - in plain language and in demonstrable application by the Province of Quebec among others - is that the Canadian government both provincially and federally may pass a law that clearly violates any enumerated "right" that Canadians hold. That new law cannot be challenged if the government (as it has repeatedly since 1982) invokes the"notwithstanding" clause.<br /><br />I said in opening that this is a deeply cynical document and so it is. Though it purports to grant human rights to individuals and to buttress the authority of God, it accomplishes the inverse. Its text expressly and by design grants all God's power to government and actually manages to effectively remove all human rights without limitation of any kind. It's an impressive feat of social engineering and could not be more profoundly opposed to true freedom.Berniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11964708678887990251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-15022564305997004142015-02-18T07:08:15.473-05:002015-02-18T07:08:15.473-05:00How kind of you! We are just grateful for any use...How kind of you! We are just grateful for any usefulness the Lord allows us. It's all a privilege when He's in view.Immanuel Canhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11580529966007662214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5596708332568087278.post-1862095036459554872015-02-18T01:27:27.694-05:002015-02-18T01:27:27.694-05:00This post, my dear IC, was very helpful. As a Chri...This post, my dear IC, was very helpful. As a Christian myself, I know that the source of Truth comes from God and through His Word the Bible; there, in the Word, unshakable Truth is found (whether acknowledged by the world -- or my government -- or not). But, I had not known of Locke and his statements cited in your post here -- where would I have heard it after all? Who would have copped to it? Philosophy has not been apart of my education, aside from having to live out what has been imposed upon society by those enacting policy and/or law (if even they actively act upon philosophical ideas, knowingly). So, once again I am thankful for Coming Untrue. Though I don't comment often (inane babbling filling the comments section isn't too productive coming from me), I think most (80-90%) of the posts have directly been helpful in weekly living out Christ and has been very helpful in conversations with others seaching and seeking what is true and "real." Thanks IC. Thanks Tom, and thanks you other writers too (not sure how many have added posts). <br />With thanks again,<br />WiCAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com