Are all men (and women) really created equal?
As Jefferson meant it, and as Christian Theologians meant it before him: YES. All men are created equal BEFORE GOD – i.e., there is no class system, no privileged birth, and no “untouchable” status, in the Grace of God, and thus “all men should be equal before the law”, i.e., there should not be a different law for some because of power and “hereditary privilege”. The problem with Americans is they tend to think “equal” means “the same”. None of the Founders ever thought that all people were the same, and they certainly didn’t think (or mean) that everyone was equally blessed with equal intelligence and with talents of equal value. It was a statement condemning notions of hereditary privilege, where certain persons, by dint of their birth, were legally immune (as opposed to practically immune) to certain provision of the law, or when entitled to different treatment under the law. The only distinction a democratic law allows is in matters of mental competance and maturity – i.e., a sepa
There are as many thoughts and ideas about the phrase, “God created all man equal.” So it really comes down to what you believe. My believe is this, when the word “Man” is used in the scriptures, it is referring to a whole and complete man, which is a husband and a wife. Naturally, men and women have many differences. Simply all of us have differences in looks, mannerism, built, emotions, etc. ; so what does it mean to say all are created equal, purely that all of us when we come into this world have the Light of Christ; meaning all of us, whether physically, mentally or other handicap(s), have the spirit of Christ to be with them. Yes, even those in countries that have never heard of Christ. Now once again, there are as many thoughts or ideas about what the Light of Christ means as there are most teachings of the scriptures. But to put a 21st century term or definition made by man, such as created equal, on what God means is fruitless and useless. I will give you another example, “Spa
As a normative statement ,it is true that all men(and women) are created equal.I mean when they are created ,that is ,when they are born or before they are born.But the reality is that a girl child is treated as inferior to a boy child or a member of a low-caste treated as less equal than persons of a higher caste.Whether they are in fact created equal is also a matter of our perception because equal or unequal refers to some quality or worth in terms of which they are judged and such a quality is difficult to quantitatively measure.
