The “Declaration of Independence” was finalized on July 4, 1776. This is the reason people in the United States of America celebrate July 4th as the national holiday, Independence Day. This historic document essentially is the proclamation of the original 13 colonies (or states) that they would no longer be subjected to the rule of Great Britain.
If should be noted that this document was framed within a theistic worldview. Interestingly, there existed no other kind of worldview at the time. Even for people who did not believe in Christianity, they were either generic Deists or held some other religious belief. The idea that everything just evolved out of nothing did not even exist until evolutionary theory made its way into public discourse at a later time. That is why the following words are contained within the document:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created (not evolved) equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” (https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript)
Unalienable means that which is given to us by our Creator, (impossible to take away or give up). These rights are given by God, not government. Another term we use that is similar to unalienable is immutable (unchanging over time or unable to be changed). (I am a 5’6” male born in 1960. I cannot “will” myself to be anything other than that!) These characteristics represent factual reality, not ideology, wishes or any nonsensical thing I might believe or proclaim about myself. If I self-identify as a 500 year-old unicorn, that does not change the reality that I am still a 5’6” male born in 1960.
As much as this document is cherished and celebrated by the citizens of the U.S.A., there is another Declaration of Independence that originated at a much earlier point in history that we do not give nearly enough attention to, or contemplate the consequences of that declaration’s effect on mankind. The Declaration of Independence of 1776 instituted the freedom of the citizens of the United States of America. The declaration of independence I am referring to is recorded in the third chapter of the book of Genesis. This declaration of independence instituted mankind’s bondage and downfall.
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:15-17)
Now the serpent (the lying voice) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[a] and hers;
he will crush[b] your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:1-19)
Many people wrongly think of this Genesis account of the Fall of Man as simply a myth or an allegory. When you understand it as TRUTH, life and the world makes a lot more sense. Some will say the “trees” are allegorical representations of spiritual truths, and/or that Adam and Eve are simply allegorical representations of the plight of all humans and their behavior. The problem with that approach, (other than the fact that it is not true), is that when you allegorize what is literal, you reduce it to the theoretical, and it has no basis in reality. They were actual trees, actual first people, and an actual garden, not a mythical, theoretical garden, trees, and people.
In choosing to disobey God, Adam and Eve made the first declaration of independence. God gave them sound minds and free will. They had the choice of obeying God, staying clear of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and being allowed to eat from the Tree of Life. They chose to disobey God and do it their own way, thus forfeiting the opportunity to eat from the Tree of Life, and live forever. They chose to believe the liar, Satan. That is why the world is such a mess. Mankind, through Adam and Eve, divorced itself from God, the Creator.
Just as our Founding Fathers, through the 1776 Declaration of Independence initiated our independence from Great Brittan, this generation has declared this once great nation’s independence from God. A nation founded on the righteousness and promise of God has sank into the abyss of self-will, pride, perversion, lies, greed, hatred, and ultimate death. We have kicked God out of our homes, out of our schools, out of our government, out of our marriages, out of our courts, out of our media, and to some extent, even out of our churches.
We have set in His place the idols of consumerism, power, sex, money, careers, political and ideological wars, gender confusion, and the murdering of babies. Our independence has only produced misery and death.
I propose a Declaration of Dependence. I depend on the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary for the forgiveness of my sins. I depend on His Resurrection as the way back to the Tree of Life. I depend on the power of the Holy Spirit living in me to give me power over my flesh and sin. I depend on His Word recorded in the Holy Bible to teach me truth in a world full of lies. I depend on the promise of His Return to set up His Eternal Kingdom and set things back to the way they are supposed to be.
I propose we declare Today as the Day of Dependence and take a holiday from sin and death!
Danny's Stump 