A Response to Ron Suskinds "Without A Doubt" article from NY Times Magazine

Self | October 19, 2004 | Blogger

[Blogger]

I am a Christian and have been since I accepted Jesus's gift of forgiveness and salvation when I was 9 years old.  I was raised in church - but that is not what has created in me the kind of faith that GWB has regarding decisions and life.  What has created that kind of faith in me is the working of the sweet Holy Spirit and the personal witness that, in spite of what non-Christians have declared for years - HIS word is true, both in its content and application.  Simply put, no other ideology or book on earth can match, as far as relevancy goes, the words and content of the Holy Bible. 

 

But, as a Christian, I am not left with just a book to read.  I have a personal relationship with Christ - one that Muslims can not claim about Allah, one that Buddhists do not have towards the Buddha, nor Hindus with the literally millions of deities that they worship can claim to have with their gods.  In fact, not a single religion in all the world can make the same truth claims that Christianity can make - that is, they serve a God who died and rose again and with whom they can converse and be directed daily.  No religion can claim that personal relationship.  NONE, but Christianity.  And that stems from the assurance that Christians have in their Savior.  Once again, NO other religion in the world that I have seen has that assurance of complete forgiveness in this life and eternal life in the next as does Christianity.  The Muslim can serve Allah faithfully, pray 5 times a day, go on Hajj, Ritually wash, etc., etc., and yet he or she still has NO 100% assurance that God will accept them in the end.  It is only "if Allah wills it."  The prevailing thought there is that if our good deeds outweigh our bad, then Allah may be favorable towards them and accept them into heaven.  But they can never be quite sure about that.  NO personal relationship or assurance. 

 

The Sikhs worship a god and ritually repeat his name and revere a book that most of them can not read as it is written in 6 Languages.  They don't have assurance of eternal life in the end.  They have a tradition and seek to be good people.

 

And, so it is with all man-made religion.  You have an endless quest to reach out and work for acceptance in the eyes of the diety.  And, in the end, if you make it to heaven, or Nirvana,  or are dissolved into the Universe as many eastern religions teach, etc., you will have done so based upon your own human works which curried God's favor. 

 

Christianity is unique in that it does not teach this. It teaches that while we were yet sinners, and while all of our good works were as filthy rags in the sight of a God whose holiness and goodness can not even truly be fathomed by human beings, Christ HIMSELF loved us so much that he took all punishment for our sins, paid for them all himself, and offered us that personal relationship and assurance that comes only from faith in Him.  One doesn't have to work for this.  Our works aren't good enough for we would still have the stain of sin on our life.  The only thing that one need do is believe and turn to Christ, accepting his gift.

 

What does this have to do with GWB and the American Presidency at this time?  Well, a lot. 

 

Prior to his 39th Birthday, GWB was probably not the nicest guy to know.  He was an alcoholic rabble rowser who was trying to fill the empty void in his life with the same kind of things that many non-Christians try to fill their lives with (Not that Christians today are all that perfect, just forgiven).  His marriage was on the rocks and he was going down quick.  Then, there was the visit from Billy Graham. Billy was well-respected, and so Bush listened to what he had to say - and it was a seed that totally transformed his life.  Soon, Bush turned to Christ as LORD of his life (that is as the one who now OWNS GWB's life, which he himself was making a shambles of).  With that move, GWB now had someone in his life who promised always to be near, never to leave nor forsake him, and promised to lift him up and make GWB more like Christ himself each and every day.  This is the case with all Christians.  We come to Christ with the remnants of sin on us, and yes, we can still do some pretty rotten things.  But, Jesus loves us just as we are and too much to leave us there. 

 

Slowly, the man you see today in GWB was developed to the point that the partying frat boy of the Yale days would one day have the character and perseverance enough to lead this nation through the most difficult time of its history. 

But, is this so unusual?  Is GWB's devotion and faith the unusual and scary thing that folks like Suskind and Bartlett paint it to be?   I would submit that among the truly great presidents who have lead us through this nation's most difficult times, it isn't unusual at all. In fact, our nation has been ruled by faith from its very beginning and it is the thoughts of folks like Suskind and Bartlett that drag this country away from its core founding principles and values.  It isn't that all Presidents were religious or even Christians -- however, in times of crisis our nation has always turned to God for its strength and guidance.  Hopefully, we always will and we will always have Presidents who will lead our nation thus.

 

A little history of the overt role that faith in God has played in the decisions and life of this country:

 

During the American Revolution, the revolutionaries denounced allegiance to King George and their motto became "No king but King Jesus."  They knew that man, in his fallible wisdom, was not sufficient to meet the needs of the people of America.  They renounced the English monarch and turned towards a rule by the people based upon their allegiance to Jesus Christ.

 

At the Constitutional convention, the great men gathered together to draft our nation's governing document but were coming to nothing but dead ends.  It was at this point that Benjamin Franklin stated,

 

"I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: "that God governs in the affairs of man." And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this. I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in the political building no better than the builders of Babel; we shall be divided by our little, partial local interests; our projects will be confounded; and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by word down to future ages. And what is worse, mankind may hereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing government by human wisdom and leave it to chance, war or conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move that, henceforth, prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberation be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business."

After prayer and contemplation, the Constitution of the United States was finally adopted.  Even in the words of the Declaration of Indepence of this nation from England, we hear the voice of the Almighty... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are CREATED equal and are endowed (by the wisdom of men, no) BY THEIR CREATOR with certain inalienable rights...  The founding fathers knew that man's rule alone was not enough. You needed leadership from God to get it right.  Incidentally, the "Sacred Writings" to which Jefferson referred were not the Muslim Koran or the Hindu Bhagavad Gita - they were the Holy Bible. Our nation started as a Judeo Christian nation with freedom for all.

 

Our first President, George Washington recognized the direct influence of God in the life of the nation when he stated: "I now make it my earnest prayer that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for brethren who have served in the field; and finally that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to deman ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation."

George Washington, relied on God's ACTIVE participation in this nation for its very survival.  He also stated: "It being the indispensable duty of all Nations, not only to offer up their supplications to ALMIGHTY GOD, the giver of all good, for His gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner to give Him praise for His goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of His providence in their behalf. They do further recommend to all ranks, to testify to their gratitude to GOD for His goodness, by a cheerful obedience of His laws, and by promoting, each in His station, and by His influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness." George Washington recognized our dependence on God and need to follow His lead.     In a quote often taken out of context by those who want to say that our founders were not Christian, John Adams said: "Twenty times, in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, 'This would be the best of all possible Worlds, if there were no Religion in it,' !!!   This misquoters usually stop there.  But Adams, a deeply religious man, went on to say: But in this exclamation I should have been as fanatical as Bryant or Cleverly , Without Religion, this World would be Something not fit to be mentioned in polite company, I mean Hell."         Thomas Jefferson, a man who had his own brand of belief, nevertheless recognized the need to follow Christ and his doctrines as one lived his life: "To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense he wished anyone to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence; & believing he never claimed any other."

 

James Madison declared, "

We have staked the future of government not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions on the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

 

In saying so, James Madison was declaring that the very laws we are governed by stem from God's Word.  Our freedom, our justice system, our philosophy as a nation stems from the Word of God.

 

Madison also declared,

"Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift [James 1:17] we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land."

 

John Quincy Adams, a favorite of George W. Bush's stated:

To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that "except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future destinies of my country.

Though President, John Quincy Adams bowed to the Sovereignty of Jesus Christ in his life and His "overruling providence" for the destiny of this nation.  If G.W.B. would have said something like this, the ACLU would be suing and the left would be howling.  Wait a minute, the left is howling and the ACLU may not be suing, but they don't seem to be all that happy. 

But this is not all.  Adam's  faith was also quite evident in his discussion of Independence day:

"Why is it that, next to the birthday of the Savior of the world, your most joyous and most venerated festival returns on this day. Is it not that, in the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior? That it forms a leading event in the progress of the Gospel dispensation? Is it not that the Declaration of Independence first organized the social compact on the foundation of the Redeemer's mission upon earth? That it laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity and gave to the world the first irrevocable pledge of the fulfillment of the prophecies announced directly from Heaven at the birth of the Savior and predicted by the greatest of the Hebrew prophets 600 years before."

Boy, Adams is really stepping out of line here.  Is he daring to proclaim that the American nation is unique amongst the nation in that it was founded as a Christian nation with the Divine purpose of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ?  HEY, That's that's just UNCONSTITUTIONAL.  Oh well.  Guess the ACLU can't file a retroactive lawsuit.  Maybe Suskind can write a smear.

Andrew Jackson, in his second inagural address said

"Finally, it is my most fervent prayer to that Almighty Being before whom I now stand, and who has kept us in his hands from the infancy of our republic to the present day, that he will so overrule all my intentions and actions and inspire the hearts of my fellow-citizens that we may be preserved from dangers of all kinds and continue forever a united and happy people."

There goes a President asking God to overrule his intentions again and to act in the affairs of this nation.  What a fanatic that Jackson was.

Now we go to the one time this nation faced as dire of a threat to its existence as any other from the founding to 9/11.  The time of the civil war.  Abraham Lincoln had a great dependence on God - one that many in his time didn't understand either - but one that he relied upon in many of the great decisions of that war.

In 1863 he stated:

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, and to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in Holy Scripture, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. And, insomuch (sic) as we know that by His divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

The same could be said today - and even more so.

After Gettysburg, Lincoln stated:

"Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of the campaign up there (at Gettysburg) when everybody seemed panic stricken and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day and locked the door and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him that this war was His war, and our cause His cause, but we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville... And after that, I don't know how it was, and I cannot explain it, but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul. The feeling came that God had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go right at Gettysburg and that is why I had no fears about you."

That whacky Lincoln.  How could he dare claim to be on God's side in anything.  And, to think that God would actually talk to him and give him peace.  It's absolutely, absolutely, Christian.

 

Summing up Lincoln's belief's is this quote from the great President:

"I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day."

Abraham Lincoln knew God.  He depended on God daily.  And, without that dependence our nation would likely not be here today.

But, Lincoln is not where it stops.

Rutherford B. Hayes said in his diary:

What a great mistake the man makes who goes about to oppose this religion! What a crime, if we may judge of men's acts by their results! Nay, what a great mistake is made by him who does not support the religion of the Bible!"

Woodrow Wilson, who led this nation in the first World War, stated,

"[The Bible is] a book which reveals men unto themselves, not as creatures in bondage, not as men under human authority, not as those bidden to take counsel and command of any human source. It reveals every man to himself as a distinct moral agent, responsible not to men, not even to those men whom he has put over him in authority, but responsible through his own conscience to his Lord and Maker. Whenever a man sees this vision he stands up a free man, whatever may be the government under which he lives, if he sees beyond the circumstances of his own life."

 

Wilson also declared in a letter:

"My life would not be worth living if it were not for the driving power of religion, for faith, pure and simple. I have seen all my life the arguments against it without ever having been moved by them . . . never for a moment have I had one doubt about my religious beliefs. There are people who believe only so far as they understand -- that seems to me presumptuous and sets their understanding as the standard of the universe . . . I am sorry for such people."

 

Warren G. Harding was a deeply religious man.  A man with a middle name like Gamaliel could hardly be any different!  Yet, his religion came from the heart and he probably would have been considered "fundamentalist" in some of his insistencies.  He stated,

"It is my conviction that the fundamental trouble with the people of the United States is that they have gotten too far away from Almighty God."

 

later he said,

"In the experiences of a year of the Presidency, there has come to me no other such unwelcome impression as the manifest religious intolerance which exists among many of our citizens. I hold it to be a menace to the very liberties we boast and cherish."

 

It seems that Harding recognized a religious apathy amongst the citizens of America during the early 1920s - and feared for our nation's future.

Herbert Hoover, further commented on the moral degeneracy that a nation turning from God was committing.

Our strength lies in spiritual concepts. It lies in public sensitiveness to evil. Our greatest danger is not from invasion by foreign armies. Our dangers are that we may commit suicide from within by complaisance with evil, or by public tolerance of scandalous behavior.

Our Christian beliefs are the strength of this nation.  Without them, we are doomed.  It won't be a foreign enemy that destroys this nation.  If we were invaded, we would fight to win.  What will destroy this nation is the rejection of it's Christian foundation and principles.  As Hoover says, it will be national suicide.

Yet, this is not all.  The great democratic leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stated in his first inaugural address in 1933,

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself

Famous quote - but he goes on...

-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days... In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come."

In Scripture, Fear is shown as a tool of Satan, not coming from God.  Today, Christians have come up with an acronym that fear is "False Evidence Appearing Real".  Roosevelt recognized the corrosive effects of fear, but also recognized the need for God to protect the nation and guide his presidency.  Was Roosevelt akin to Islamofascists????

"In the swift rush of great events, we find ourselves groping to know the full sense and meaning of these times in which we live. In our quest of understanding, we beseech God's guidance."

 

General Dwight David Eisenhower recognized faith as our most powerful weapon in time of war and peace.

"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource in peace and war."

He also recognized our humble dependence upon our creator:

We are particularly thankful to you for your part in the movement to have the words 'under God' added to our Pledge of Allegiance. These words will remind Americans that despite our great physical strength we must remain humble. They will help us to keep constantly in our minds and hearts the spiritual and moral principles which alone give dignity to man, and upon which our way of life is founded. For the contribution which your organization has made to this cause, we must be genuinely grateful."

While recognizing the fear of many protestants of having a Catholic president, and defending the need for no state religion to be established, Kennedy still spoke of a divine responsibility upon Americans and a destiny given to us by our Creator.

We in this country, in this generation are, by destiny rather than choice, the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. That must always be our goal. For as was written long ago, "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."

Lyndon Johnson, leader during the civil rights movement's zenith and presider over much of the Vietnam war stated truly during his inaugural address of 1965:  

"Under this covenant of justice, liberty, and union we have become a nation--prosperous, great, and mighty. And we have kept our freedom. But we have no promise from God that our greatness will endure. We have been allowed by Him to seek greatness with the sweat of our hands and the strength of our spirit. In each generation, with toil and tears, we have had to earn our heritage again. If we fail now then we will have forgotten in abundance what we learned in hardship: that democracy rests on faith, that freedom asks more than it gives, and the judgment of God is harshest on those who are most favored."

How sobering. Are we rejecting that faith in God for this nation? I pray not.

 

Of course, everyone knows that Nixon was a Quaker, Jimmy Carter was a self-declared born-again Southern Baptist, and Ronald Reagan was a man with a strong faith in God which was bred into him by a faithful mother throughout his early life and which was never shaken.  Poetically, Reagan summed up this nation's history when he said...

"It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That's our heritage; that is our song. We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of old, as we raise our voices to the God who is the Author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us close as we fill the world with our sound-sound in unity, affection, and love-one people under God, dedicated to the dream of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world."

It is because of our faith in God that we have prevailed and excelled.  Reagan recognized and believed that and was truly a great President.   Reagan's was a faith with action:

“I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God’s help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can’t expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.”

No truer words have been spoken.

 

George Herbert Walker Bush is known as a man with a much quieter religious spirit that his son; yet, even he has at times spoken of the role of the Christian faith in his life and the life of this nation:

"As I said many times before, prayer always has been important in our lives. And without it, I really am convinced, more and more convinced, that no man or no woman who has the privilege of serving in the Presidency could carry out their duties without prayer."

 

Bush 41 also stated:

"Americans are the most religious people on Earth. And we have always instinctively sensed that God's purpose was bound up with the cause of liberty. The Founders understood this. As Jefferson put it, 'Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?' That conviction is enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution. And it's no accident that in drafting our Bill of Rights, the Founders dedicated the first portion of our first amendment to religious liberty. We rightly emphasize the opening clause of that amendment, which forbids government from establishing religion. In fact, I believe the establishment clause has been a great boon to our country's religious life. One reason religion flourishes in America is that worship can never be controlled by the state.

"But in recent times we have too often ignored the clause that follows, which forbids government from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. This myopia has in some places resulted in an aggressive campaign against religious belief itself. Some people seem to believe that freedom of religion requires government to keep our lives free from religion. Well, I believe they're just plain wrong. Our government was founded on faith. Government must never promote a religion, of course, but it is duty bound to promote religious liberty. And it must never put the believer at a disadvantage because of his belief. That is the challenge that our administration has undertaken. To be succinct, it is my conviction that children have a right to voluntary prayer in the public schools."

 

Thus, anything under the guise of law that seeks to prohibit the free exercise and expression of religious belief (save that which prohibits folks from flying airplanes into skyscrapers and the like) is just not in harmony with our nation's foundation.  You can't have a free America without the freedom to express one's self religiously.  GWB, far from being this foreign being that has this bizarre adherence to blind faith is simply being the best that America has to offer.

 

His father also recognized the utter dependence of any President upon the guidance of the Creator.

You know, I've been President for 3\1/2 years now. More than ever, I believe with all my heart that one cannot be President of our great country without a belief in God, without the truth that comes on one's knees. For me, prayer has always been important but quite personal. You know us Episcopalians. [Laughter] And yet, it has sustained me at every point of my life: as a boy, when religious reading was part of our home life; as a teenager, when I memorized the Navy Hymn. Or how 48 years ago, aboard the submarine Finback after being shot down in the war, I went up topside one night on the deck, on the conning tower, and stood watch and looked out at the dark. The sky was clear. The stars were brilliant like a blizzard of fireflies in the night. There was a calm inner peace. Halfway around the world in the war zone, there was a calm inner peace: God's therapy." --

 

Finally, George Walker Bush's predecessor in the White House, Bill Clinton, frequently spoke of God and quoted Scripture.  It was Clinton that stated in 1994:

 

As our Nation has grown and flourished, our Government has welcomed divine guidance in its work, while respecting the rich and varied faiths of all of its citizens. Many of our greatest leaders have asked God's favor in public and private prayer. From patriots and presidents to advocates for justice, our history reflects the strong presence of prayer in American life. Presidents, above all, need the power of prayer, their own and that of all Americans.

We need not shrink as Americans from asking for divine assistance in our continuing efforts to relieve human suffering at home and abroad, to reduce hatred, violence, and abuse, and to restore families across our land. By following our own beliefs while respecting the convictions of others, we can strengthen our people and rebuild our Nation. As Micah reminds us, we must strive "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly" before God.

And this is what President Bush does.  The Bible says that the unspiritual can not understand the spiritual things of God, but those of us who are Christians can fully identify with the humility that President Bush shows when he commits the affairs of this nation to a Sovereign God as those before him have done.  We can also identify the confidence that he has when he realizes that the pursuit of freedom for all and the spreading of truth and justice around the world are truly within the will of God.  We can say in those things confidently that we are doing the work of God on earth.

Bartlett's whining complaint: "I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea ofwhat he thinks God has told him to do." does not speak from a benevolent understanding of the truth; rather, it shows a tremendous IGNORANCE of what reality is. Furthermore, comparing the faith of GWB to Al Qaida's murderous hoards is not only insulting; it is vile.  He might as well compare George Washington, Ben Franklin, Abraham Lincoln and all the others to Osama bin Laden and denounce nearly 230 years of the history of America and how it has been governed. 

Make no mistake, George W. Bush was put here by God for God's purposes for such a time as this.  Romans 13: 1 says "Everyone must submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authoirty except from God, and those that exist are instituted by God."  Before one even asks, "does that mean Bill Clinton."  Yes, that mean's Bill Clinton.

This does not of course mean that leaders are always righteous or following God.  After all, when Paul wrote that, he was writing under the governance of Nero.  However, when a leader, such as George W Bush, shows evidence of being a person who truly is interested in seeking God in the affairs of this nation, of yielding his will to God, and of spreading freedom - the response should not be "further human analysis" but prayer and thanksgiving.  You see, the faith of the Christian is not, as Bartlett states " a faith for which there is no empirical evidence."  That would be blind faith.  No, it is a faith based upon the unchanging Word of God and an undying reliance upon His goodness and guidance.  The evidence is in the blessings we see.  When we pray, God moves.  When we submit, God guides.  When we humble ourselves God graces us with bountiful gifts.

Yes, you can run the world on faith.  In fact, the truth is, you can not run anything, even your own life, without it.

May God bless this nation and President Bush.

 

1 Timothy 2:1-4 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

[LArighty]

Amen Brother. Thank you for that scholarly disertation. I will ensure it gets the circulation it deserves. I'm confident our brother W. will lead us for four more years. But even if he does not, we know we have done our duty. We have kept the faith.

[Blogger]

Amen! And, Bump!

[lelio]

I have a personal relationship with Christ - one that Muslims can not claim about Allah, one that Buddhists do not have towards the Buddha, nor Hindus with the literally millions of deities that they worship can claim to have with their gods.

How do you know that? Because you want to believe it? That's not very convincing.

When you accept something on faith, how can you criticize someone else's faith? They believe it as fervently, and for the same reason, as you do.

[Blogger]

How do you know that? Because you want to believe it? That's not very convincing.
I know that because God said it. It is based upon His Word, not my feelings. I have also experienced His workings in my life and continue to. I have seen relatives healed of disease, overnight and have felt His peace when times have been pretty rotten. Is it faith? Yes. But it is faith with accompanying evidence - not blind faith.

When you accept something on faith, how can you criticize someone else's faith? They believe it as fervently, and for the same reason, as you do.

one may believe something to be true, and that doesn't make it so. If you are dealing with man's opinion only, then my faith has no corner on the market compared to yours. However, we aren't dealing with man's opinion alone. We are dealing with evidenciary proofs that set Christianity and God's Word, the Bible, aside from all else. Archaeological evidence supports the Bible. Historical evidence supports the Bible. Circumstantial evidence supports the Bible. The changed lives of others support the Bible. My basis for belief is Scripture, and it has stood the tests of time and the critics who have tried to destroy it.

Other religions are demonstrably false. They do not "work" in real life. Christianity does.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

May God bless this nation and President Bush.

Bump!