What on Earth is Happening - Human Rights

Several years ago, we went with my parents in law back to their homeland, the Netherlands. One day we went for a drive to Germany and my father-in-law visibly stiffened as we crossed the border. It had been 60 years since the Germans invaded Holland and took over their farm, stole their food, commandeered their house and shot some of his young friends but he still felt the pain. Of course, since then German politicians have apologised many times for the atrocities of the Nazis, and so they should. However, it is not clear how apologies from current politicians can release the pain of individuals who suffered years before. In other lands, African Americans feel pain from their history of slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and the Maori people feel grieved by the injustices committed by the Government, through the Land Acts in the late 19th century.
In war or in peace human rights are often neglected. Currently, it is estimated that around 7,000 Christians are killed for their faith every year and 260 million Christians face persecution. Open Doors reports that if North Korean Christians are discovered, the government either sends them to labour camps as political criminals or kills them on the spot. Other persecuting nations are Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Sudan, Yemen, Iran, and India. In these countries, Christians risk imprisonment, loss of home and assets, torture, rape, and even death because of their faith. Muslims also are not immune from persecution. The UN reports that more than three million Uighurs are in detention in “counter-extremism centres" or “re-education” camps in China, and many Muslims are not safe from other Muslims in their own nations.
Recently the world has been distressed seeing Floyd asphyxiated on the street in Minneapolis and the protests and riots that followed. It has always been true that Black lives matter, Christian lives matter, and Muslim lives matter.

Human rights are about the illegitimate exercise of power upon individuals or groups of people, whether by force or by legislation. In ancient Greece, the birthplace of democracy, only men had rights, and in America 100 years ago, some laws recognized the rights of the few; perhaps only men, perhaps only white men, perhaps only landowners.
For a Christian, human rights for everyone is a given. God instituted civil government to protect citizens. Every authority He instituted, whether parent, employer, government or church, have a responsibly to protect those in their care, from abuse and even from other institutions that overreach their God-given limits of authority. For this reason, the rights of people should be protected by law. Unfortunately, human rights abuses have sometimes been sanctioned by the law. This was the case when Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama. He couldn’t ask the crowd or the courts for justice; so he appealed to a law which supersedes secular authority, the Word of God.

All basic human rights laws stem from the Bible which teaches that we do not have rights because of our ethnicity or because we deserve them, but because each of us is made in the image of God and therefore we have inherent equal worth and dignity. This was the abolitionists’ argument for the dissolution of slavery and for equal pay and voting rights for women. This is the argument against child labour and the abortion of unborn children. The Bible reveals that God is just, condemns evil, and has compassion for victims, therefore, we cannot accept any type of slavery, torture, or discrimination nor be silent when it is within our power to help. The rights of others are as safe as our responsiveness to Gods laws.

Jesus spoke more about human responsibilities than human rights and almost assumed that some human rights may be denied us, by the godless. All of our rights come from the One to whom we are responsible. As our Creator, God has the ultimate right to our lives. He has the first right to be loved, worshipped, and obeyed. Do believers have human rights? Of course. Not rights to our physical needs being met by the government or equal outcomes in life, or a right to a universal wage, but like all people, the right to be protected from injustice, evil, and violence.
In a marriage, or a nation conflicts between parties occur because of a lack of honour. In the history of engineering, medicine, exploration and national expansion, great mistakes have been made. But the future of that marriage or nation will never be healed if one party seizes every opportunity to promote bitterness or the other party ignores the issue. Instead, by acknowledging error and harm and asking for, and truly offering forgiveness both parties may be able to move on together to a better future. Restitution may be attempted if possible, but, because absolute justice is an unachievable goal, justice will need to be subordinate to humility and forgiveness. Corrie ten Boom found that the only way for her to find freedom from bitterness toward her Nazi captors was to forgive them.

The way back for those trapped in offence and bitterness is in three parts: Reconciliation must be based upon truth-telling, so we need to listen to the stories of the offended. They should be allowed to breathe and be heard. Then we need to own our part as a group or institution and ask for/or offer forgiveness. Then we all need to sow a different attitude of honour and inclusion, to reap a different future. If the whole world, heaving in unrest, seems too big a problem to change or help, we can all choose one oppressed person or one needy family and help them. We need to “know the story, own the story and change the story”, (Josh Clemons)
The Universal Declaration of human rights says, “That no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, degrading punishment or an unfair trial and everyone should be presumed innocent until proved guilty.” When Jesus was arrested and crucified, every one of His rights was trampled. This implies that the abuse of human rights is a manifestation of sin and part of the curse He came to free us from. It also means that His healing love can heal our hearts from the pain of Human rights abuses.
Justice in this world may never be satisfactorily enjoyed by all or even many. For many the pain of offence and abuse of their rights may be so deep it can only be removed by Jesus, who brought our healing on the cross. When injustice makes it hard to breathe, we can come to the only One who can give us breath.