Summary of a Christian Philosophy of Human Rights

Image Credit: Media from Wix

When we talk about human rights, we are talking about things that human beings are entitled to by virtue of being human.

Obviously, in the relationship between God and man, the Former is the latter's Creator and Lord, so the concept of human rights does not mean that God owes man anything. This is because God created man (and therefore, the latter owes everything to the Former, not the other way around) and also because man has sinned against God (and therefore, is subject to God's wrath rather than His favor). 

However, when it comes to the relationship of man to his fellow man (and "man" includes both men and women), we see that human beings are transcendentally and objectively obligated to relate to each other and treat each other in certain ways. We see this in God's law, the body of His commands, which mandates the treatment people owe to each other. And God's law is the Bible, the 66 Books of the Old and New Testaments that constitute God's Word. All the ways that God's commands require people to treat each other are human rights from a Christian perspective. And this is a Christian philosophy of human rights because, since the Lord Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1-18) and the Bible is God's Word (2 Timothy 3:15-17), the Bible is the Word of Christ (Colossians 3:16). Read the Bible, and you will acquaint yourself with the God-Man's doctrine of human rights.

And this is one reason why the faith of God's Word must be contended for! Because false religions, by definition, oppose the rights that God grants man through His Word.