Posted on 04/15/2016 5:13:21 PM PDT by molewhacka
Those of us who have been around awhile look at all that is going on in our nation and the world, and realize how far we have fallen.
Literally, not a single day passes without new revelations regarding the corruption and treason that is the norm among the so-called leaders of both America and pretty much every other country.
I take hope knowing God is in ultimate control, and that all will eventually work to the good in His will and in His time.
That certainly does not excuse, however, the lack of sound moral principles of those in control of our man-made institutions (e.g., Tennessee Republican leaders blocking bills protecting traditional marriage and children from sexual predators in bathrooms).
If anything, God’s sovereignty should cause those in positions of authority to rethink the decisions they are making.
Though those who founded and guided our nation at its formation and for many years thereafter were not perfect by any means, they did understand the necessity of upholding Christian principles for the good of our country and us, the people.
In fact, these indisputable truths used to be taught in our schools so that all would understand the foundation upon which we stood secure.
Even those who refused to abide by these moral truths understood that choosing to do so had negative consequences.
When I look at the current crop of leaders, many are quick to cite their “Christian” connections, but precious few actually make decisions that are in keeping with the teaching of the Holy Bible, or even in keeping with the Constitution that is supposed to guide our laws and restrict government theft of our God-given freedoms.
The actions of most incumbents are in stark contrast with the standards and wisdom of those who pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor in founding our nation.
So many now undermine those sacrifices with apathy, unmerited entitlement and outright wicked rebellion.
John Adams warned Americans that, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.
“Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Samuel Adams observed, “The rights of the colonists as Christians … may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the Great Law Giver and Head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written and promulgated in the New Testament.”
Even the U.S. Supreme Court once understood the necessity of upholding Christian principles.
In an 1829 speech at Harvard, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story said, “I verily believe Christianity necessary to the support of civil society.
“One of the beautiful boasts of our municipal jurisprudence is that Christianity is a part of the Common Law …. There never has been a period in which the Common Law did not recognize Christianity as lying its foundations.”
In the 1892 decision in Church of the Holy Trinity vs. United States, the Supreme Court recognized, “Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind.
“It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian …. This is a Christian nation”
My, how both our judges and universities have changed for the worse!
We used to elect leaders who understood the role and necessity of upholding Christian principles in protecting our nation — instead of just using their “faith” as a smokescreen even as they do the opposite of what the Bible teaches.
President Calvin Coolidge understood this when he said, “The foundations of our society and our government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country.”
President Ronald Reagan reconfirmed these truths when he stated, “The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers’ abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual.
“This same sense of man patterned the convictions of those who framed the English system of law inherited by our own nation, as well as the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.”
Compare the current hostility toward Christianity in public education to the words of William McGuffy, author of McGuffy Reader, from which many learned to read for at least 100 years, beginning in the mid-1830s:
“The Christian religion is the religion of our country. From it are derived our nation, on the character of God, on the great moral Governor of the universe. On its doctrines are founded the peculiarities of our free Institutions.
“From no source has this author drawn more conspicuously than from the sacred Scriptures. From all these extracts from the Bible, I make no apology.”
Even our federal government saw the writing on the wall. The words of Thomas Jefferson inscribed at the Jefferson Memorial include:
“The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man,” and, “God who gave us life gave us liberty.
“Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?
“Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
These are truths that should again be taught from every pulpit and in every classroom if we are to have any hope of surviving as a constitutional republic.
ART HIGHLAND of Paris is a member of the local Volunteers for Freedom Tea Party.
Lies about Christianity quotes and Jefferson and the memorial, and probably the others too.
Jefferson said the OPPOSITE there:
No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion.
Exactly what ethics and morality and justice did Christianity INTRODUCE? In other words, what ethics and morality and justice weren't previously known through Jewish teachings?
Yes... we need to be careful what we mean when we ask for “America to return to its Christian roots.”
I think it can be biblically conforming without needing to carry the whole nine yards of the Ten Commandments (let alone gospel) into its affairs. We are told to pray for kings and all who are in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. To be friendly to churches (at least those who are not looking to raise gratuitous trouble) doesn’t require to be preaching things that are peculiar to churches.
I see problems when governments are being asked to be godfathers. To carry that off correctly would require the immediate personal supervision of Jesus Christ which will happen in all good time, but the world isn’t going to evolve there... it will be an apocalyptic event.
What does the bible say about judging a case before hearing it out? You are all ready to judge the whole because of one purported fault. And you are the one calling “complete bullshit.” When you point one finger, four point back at you.
That said, I might actually agree on a different level: the gospel is special. Jesus Christ never told governments to preach it. Jesus Christ told churches to preach it.
John Locke was hardly a Quaker and his philosophy undergirds over 80% of the philosophy of our Founding Documents.
There is meaning in “..Laws of Nature and nature’s God” and Christianity is the only religion (because of the Catholic Church/Augustine/Thomas A.) who made Natural Law Theory (God’s Work” ) in line with God’s Word.
In other words, it is the ONLY religion which is compatible with our Constitution based on Natural Law Theory-—and God’s Laws. We have Modern Science and Right Reason and Logic in Western Civ which ONLY came from Natural Law Theory (Newton was a Natural Philosopher) .
You can never remove Right Reason and Natural Law (Science/Logic) from our “Justice” (virtue) System. Can’t remove Reason because then you get irrational, arbitrary “law” which is always unjust and unconstitutional. (All Marxism is irrational and arbitrary, and, like welfare, is irrational and unconstitutional....it is Rule of Man-—never Rule of Law (Higher Laws/God’s).
As Thomas Aquinas stated: When Law ceases to be Just (virtuous), it ceases to be Law. All the Founders, Blackstone, Justice Marshall, MLK,Jr and the Nuremberg Trials all stated the same.
Our “legal” system destroyed Words, twisted language to make arbitrary, unequal, unnatural “laws” into a “Just Law” which is impossible...Holmes, etc needed to be impeached 100 years ago....but they weren’t cuz Marxists flooded the courts and Marxists controlled the “Free” (lol) Press.
Nancy Pelosi is a Catholic. Richard Nixon was a Quaker.
The reality is that without the principles routed in Christianity (not a specific denomination per se), we would not have had the nation we had.
If people want a nation built on Islam, there are plenty of choices. Likewise, for secular humanism, Buddhism, communism, etc. If you strip away the Bible-based principles that were foundational to our original constitutional republic and guided the leaders in our early years, we would not have had the freedoms we had and have.
There are various levels of responsibility that the bible assigns to various levels of authority.
By purporting to take on too much, the state invited shame on itself.
And I used to mouth that dodge about a generic Christianity too.
But that was before I watched the grace of God operate seriously at a gospel level. To go beyond decent, to miracle.
Why work with a 50 cc engine running on kerosene if you can have a 5000 cc engine running on nitro?
A fair government, with a hot gospel church, is the sweet spot. Not some “generic-Christian” government.
Just out of curiosity, does your approach to dialog usually persuade anyone?
Doubtless if you wanted to debate the author of the article, he could provide you with additional citations and documentation. There have been volumes written on the subject so you are arguing against reality.
It would appear, however, that your mind is not open to any facts not in keeping with your opinions. I would urge you to reassess and approach the facts with some measure of objectivity.
That is not what I read into the author’s comments, and certainly not what the quotes indicate. I don’t see advocacy for an earthly pseudo-theocracy, but a recognition of underpinned the character and principles of those who fought to make America the country it was.
I think the point of the column is that if you discount the principles of Christianity as found in the Bible, those who founded our nation would have birthed something completely different. We are pretty much seeing what that something completely different is and it ain’t pretty.
No, you can carry on a perfectly fine government today with the principles elucidated to Noah. That’s before the Ten Commandments, let alone the Gospel.
Christians who smear it all into one big vague mess should be ashamed... they will never be able to cogently defend the gospel.
And what we are seeing today is an attempted Christian-state mix gone sour. It dumbed down religion, but it kept the interest of liberals.
Where else could Satan have found an open door for the kind of religiose zeal that gave us “RIGHT TO GAY MARRIAGE”? That is historically very RARE. I am not even sure Sodom was that bad. They sound like consensual wildcatters.
Even idol worshipping societies wouldn’t have presumed to declare nonsense to be sense. They might blaspheme, they might be profane. They might have civil unions, but they wouldn’t have called this affair “MARRIAGE.”
To muster the seeming authority to change the meaning of words themselves — took a direct affront on God, and had to borrow things from God that would have only been known in a forced-Christian society.
Had those levers never been known in the halls of government, they could not have been misused.
Excellent article, thankyou.
It would be nice if our government leaders were filled with God’s spirit in that they displayed integrity, honesty, righteousness, mercy, compassion, discernment etc. I couldn’t care less about religious jargon and preaching, but to find leaders who are right before God, and man in the ways that God says we all should be...That would be a very precious thing.
In order to get that in our leaders, we ourselves have to fulfil those qualities, and be able to recognize them in others, as well as the lack thereof. We have to raise our children to know and obey a Holy and Righteous God, and not one of our own religious preference. In other words, we have to learn the sovereignty of God, and be his willing vessels. If we do that, our kids do better, too. Then we raise up good leaders.
my central point is that religious people aren’t necessarily Godly people, and there are Godly people who are not religious people. To Me, there is a huge difference between being Godly, and being religious.
To ME, religion is a man made philosophy while Godliness comes from God, and agrees with his entire word, and not just the front of the book, or just the back of the book, but the whole entire book. However, it begins with the front of the book, the first page, first sentence, first word...
Great article, thankyou!
But will it?
Repent; US???
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Are you still killing your unborn? -- GOD |
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