Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

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.

But just how "self-evident" are they?  Maybe that depends on just who "self" is?

The Declaration of  Independence does say the words above.  But I wonder - do they mean the same thing to us as they do to the Creator to whom we assign those words?

Life

From dictionary.com -

1. the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally.

2. the sum of the distinguishing phenomena of organisms, especially metabolism, growth, reproduction, and adaptation to environment.

3. the animate existence or period of animate existence of an individual: "to risk one's life; a short life and a merry one."

4. a corresponding state, existence, or principle of existence conceived of as belonging to the soul: "eternal life."

OK - eternal life is there at number four.  But look at the first three.  I'm going to bet that few people think of "life" in those terms.  

If we look at some of the synonyms for the word life - I suspect we're closer to what most people would consider life -

This is all about enjoying life - having fun - having a good time.

But what of our Creator?  What did He mean? 
Let's look at some examples -

Jn 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This sounds good.  Jesus came so that we may have life to the full.  That sounds like some of the words above.
But before we get too excited, let's keep going.

Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Oh.  This doesn't sound so good.  Like maybe there's a difference between life while we're here on earth - versus the life that we have afterwords.  Better keep going.

Lk 12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 

Lk 12:14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
Lk 12:16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
Lk 12:18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
Lk 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
Lk 12:21 “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Now that's downright worrisome.  God called that man a fool.  The life of eat, drink and be merry that we had in mind apparently isn't what the Creator meant.

I wonder.  What did the writers of the Declaration of Independence have in mind?  From what we know of them - I kind of doubt that they meant the eat, drink and be merry that we tend to think of today as our "right".

Liberty

Back to dictionary.com.  Here's the first four definitions again -