In my opinion, one of the most pressing worldview/apologetic questions of the day is what makes a human valuable? After all, we live in a day when so many people fight for human rights, equality, and value. It certainly comes up in every election. But why do humans value each other so much? What is abut humans that compel us to defend their rights and dignity?
As we celebrate Independence Day, we shouldn’t overlook The Declaration of Independence. In it, we see that God’s revelation in nature itself allows for the grounding of human rights and human dignity. As Stephen Meyer points out, Jefferson wrote the Declaration, asserting the inalienable rights of human beings derived from “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God. Also, from a Biblical standpoint, all human beings enjoy the right to life and the resources to sustain it, for life is a gift from God. Thus all humans have a right to human dignity (i.e. the right to receive respect irrespective of age, gender, ethnicity or rank or any other way). NOTE: I chose to the use the word ‘ethnicity’ instead of race since the Bible doesn’t teach there are races. There is only one race which is the human race. We also have a responsibility to secure/protect/establish the rights of others.
Here is an article online called Grounding Human Rights: Naturalism’s Failure and Biblical Theism’s Success by Paul Copan.
Also, here is a lecture by Angus J.L. Menuge, where he compares naturalism and theism and which worldview can adequately ground human rights. In your conversations with others, talk to them about this issue. It is a great conversations starter.
THINKAPOLOGETICS.COM 