Mike Farris:
Dr. Montgomery, you’ve said that our best source of human rights is God himself, as revealed in the Bible. When we start to look at Scripture and try to discover the human rights God has given us, what are the major guideposts?

Dr. John Warwick Montgomery:
One starts with the nature of man, the fact that we are self-centered as a result of the Fall, and therefore we seek our own interests. Then, we look at the fact that in spite of this, we’re creatures of God. He has made us, and He regards us as important enough that He was willing to become one of us, in His son Jesus Christ, and die for us. This gives an essential dignity to the human being, even though the human being is self-centered. Any understanding of rights that you find in Scripture will be to protect that image of God and make it very difficult for one person to create grave difficulties for other people.

Mike:
Hmm…and we know that Jesus said that the second-greatest commandment was to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we just had a right understanding of God and our relationship to Him and to each other, human rights would never be an issue at all. Listeners, join us next time when we find out what the Founders meant by “inalienable rights.” I’m Mike Farris.