Holidays
Rights
I told you all before, I love old movies. I was sick a few days back and I did not feel like doing anything so I watched several old movies. One that really got my attention was “The Bird Man from Alcatraz”. It is about a troubled young man who kills a man. He is a very angry man and is constantly in fights with other prisoners and the guards. One of these fights leads him to killing a guard. This gets him sentenced to hang. Through many coincidences (God incidents), his mother is able to get an audience with the President’s wife and plead for her son’s life. The President commutes his sentence to life in solitary confinement. With the help of a baby sparrow and a guard he is led to a change his life. From then on, it is a battle between the Bird Man and the warden about the rights of the prisoner. Because of this, he spends the rest of his life in solitary confinement without parole, even though he has a perfect record for over thirty years.
This really got me to thinking, what rights do we really have?? The Declaration of Independence says
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
First, I love where the Declaration of Independence says we get our rights…. from God. Not man, not the Government, but only God. People do not even think about that today, but when they wrote the Declaration of Independence God was truly prominent in their society.
Another thing that really stands out to me is that we are only granted three rights. Life, the ability to live; Liberty, or freedom; and this is the kicker, the pursuit of Happiness, in other words, the right to look for Happiness; not (as many people assume) that the government must give us happiness. We have the right to choose. It really irritates me that people think that if they are unhappy that it is all the government’s fault and the government needs to fork over some new program or subsidy to help make them happy.
In the case with my movie, the Bird Man was trying to get rights he no longer even had. The government took his rights away because of his crimes - this is Biblical. (Rom 13:1-7)
1Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
2Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
3For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
5Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
6For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
7Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.
This tells us the government is given the power from God to take your rights away, including your life if you do evil. Therefore, the Bird Man had no rights. Hollywood can really get you all worked up in a movie and the characters, but you need to step back sometimes and see what the Bible is telling you.
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What a wonderful article with great insight and wisdom! "Rights" also demand responsibility, and to gain a "happy" life we need also to work and not just lean on the government.
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