The history of the world is permeated with the desire to be independent. For this cause people fight wars, they dedicate their lives and are willing to make any sacrifice that will aid in the pursuit of independence.
This is not only so on an individual basis. History bears this out. South Africa had been under British Colonial rule for centuries and on the 31 May 1910 the Union of South Africa was formed. It was however not until 1961 that South Africa became fully independent. The former Rhodesia adopted a Unilateral Declaration of Independence on 11 November 1965. And many other countries such as Ghana, on the 6 March 1957, Malawi 6 July 1964 and more. Many countries under French rule got independence in the sixties, and countries under Portuguese rule, such as Mozambique and Cape Verde in the mid-seventies.
The American declaration of independence was approved on the 4th July 1776 when thirteen American colonies severed ties with Great Britain. The preamble of the American Declaration of Independence is well known: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
These independent countries represented in United Nations, drafted a milestone document in the history of human rights and proclaimed it in the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948, GA resolution 217A. It sets out, for the first time according to them, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.
That this is not the first time that human rights are protected, is evident from the Ten Commandments that Moses received 3500 years ago on mount Sinai. The Commandments read amongst others:
“ Honor your father and mother” – the right to inherent dignity.
“You shall not kill” – the right to life.
“ You shall not bear false testimony” – the right to a fair trial.
“You shall not covet” – the right not to be deprived of property.
It is a sad reality that the first, second and third commandment of the Ten Commandments are ignored. You shall have no other gods before me, you shall not make an idol and bow down before it, and you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. Instead, the right to freedom, privacy and religion feature. The drafters of the Universal Declaration of Independence lost sight of the fact that these rights can only find their fulfilment if people’s hearts are inclined to God.
Therefore, instead of independence, we should state our dependence on God, because
In Him we live and move and have our being.
