Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”  (Genesis 1:26)

God made us to be like Himself in certain ways. We have the freedom to make choices. Clearly, we have not and do not always make the right choices. Nonetheless, if our choice were taken from us we would lose a very important Godlike quality.

God placed His creation under our authority and protection. We are given an inheritance of resources to manage and enjoy. If we did not have these resources we could not be generous in sharing them with others. God has been generous with us and He affords us the opportunity to be generous. We may not choose to do so, but if we did not have those resources the choice of being generous would not even be a possibility. Generosity is a second Godlike quality in which we may choose to participate.

Now image living in a nation in which freedom of choice and personal property rights are not guaranteed. Such a nation would dehumanize us in that it would strip away these God-given gifts.

The counter argument would be that the State is better at making choices for us. The State is also better able to take care of the needs of all its people. There are those who believe that and are quite willing to relinquish their rights over to the State. Such a State, however, does not resemble the State of our founding fathers. Here is what George Mason wrote in the Virginia Declarations of Rights, adopted unanimously on June 12, 1776:

That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

We may be more familiar with these words of our Declaration of Independence:

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.

Do we want the State to determine the acceptable the quality of our lives? Do we want the State to determine what type of health care we receive? Do we want the State to declare what is marriage?Do we want the State to educate our children without regard for our parental rights? Do we wish that the State determine what is legitimate commerce and what is not? Do we want the State to determine when life begins and when it should end? Do we wish to give up our individual sovereignty so that the State may rule over us in all areas of our lives? If so, now is our opportunity to ensure that this will occur and there will be no going back.

Do we want the State to dehumanize us? The choice is ours and the choice is now. Will we accept the gifts of God for which others have fought so valiantly or do we make the State our God? It is really that simple.

God did not want to preclude us from making bad choices. He made provisions for us in case we made wrong ones and provided a way of restoring His image in us:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.  (Ephesians 1:3-10)

Does the State have a better plan that this?