The March 5th 2009 California Supreme Court hearing on the objections to Proposition 8 had a most unusual twist. I was watching it live with Tim Cone. We were watching history. Everything hinged on the definition of one word: Unalienable.

Now unalienable means very simply: not alienable.
Alienable means: “that may be sold, or transferred to another.”

Remember learning in school these opening lines: “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 rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”?

King George saw John Hancock’s signature beneath those words. His name quickly got added to England’s ‘most wanted’ list. Back then, claiming unalienable rights wasn’t always a walk in the park.

But it’s all more than pretty words and a flashy signature. If alienable means to be sold, then unalienable means never to be sold. Which means, Life cannot be bought or bartered and Liberty is not transferable. I did not buy my life from the banker, and the banker can’t sell his life for a profit. A slave cannot transfer his slavery to me any more than I can transfer my liberty to him. Both life and liberty are unalienable.

Yes, people are being trafficked, bought and sold. Slavery is being imposed on whole people groups. But even in the midst of hell, there is in the core of man something that only the Creator can give and the Slaver can never touch: the miracle of breath and the freedom of choice. Does not life consist of God’s breath? see Genesis 2:7. Does not liberty consist of a man’s free will? see Genesis 2:16-17.

Back to California. The Attorney General’s man could not define unalienable for one reason: to do so immediately introduces the Creator. And to introduce the Creator is to assume His laws, laws which the Attorney General of the State of California was trying to overthrow. That’s the difficulty about foundation stones. Once they’re moved, there’s no going back.

“Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set.” Proverbs 22:28