There are some issues on which Christ followers can reasonably disagree (the Apostle Paul referred to them as “disputable matters”). But not on such fundamental issues as abortion and homosexual marriage.
"Being our brother's keeper" and "to whom much is given . . . " refer to personal charity and the need for personal responsibility. They are not delegations of authority to
some elected or appointed imperfect individuals to impose, or coercively "take" from
other likewise imperfect individuals the fruits of their labor and "redistribute" those hard-earned earnings to
other individuals in the society, no matter how deserving the recipients are.
To try to justify coercive government power by such misuse of Biblical passages is just as dishonest as are the politicians who employ them to gain power and privilege.
This new line about the "free market" being a "license to steal" is just more semantic dishonesty used by Obama and the so-called "progressives" to obscure the Founders' admonition that their "People's" limited government would not be "licensed" to do that which, for individuals, is considered a crime. That is what "redistribution" is--theft made legal by man-made laws which are not in accord with the Ten Commandment's admonition against stealing.
From the RNC Convention remarks by elected leaders from various so-called "minority" groups, one can assume that their families' hopes and dreams rely on the same solid foundation as did those of every previous generation of immigrants to America--the Creator-endowed and unalienable right to be free, to work and earn, and the right to ownership of private property, not a false "common ownership" of the earnings of someone else.
Now, however, the Democrats' "media" strategy toward their targeted groups (Hispanic, African-American, women, elderly, etc.) turns such understanding upside-down. They present "regressive" ideas as "progressive," "backward" policies as "forward," and "down" as "up." On and on it goes.
It's a strategy which goes deep into the decades-long effort to "fundamentally change" America from its new and revolutionary foundations in Creator-endowed liberty backward into the Old World and later Marxian ideas of control by imaginary human grantors and protectors.
Perhaps an answer to the once-asked question here on FR: "Why does Christianity 'scare' . . . ?" may lie in the degree to which the foundation ideas upon which America's Declaration of Independence were laid and from which the concept of Creator-endowed individual liberty and the Source from which that liberty is derived have been removed from "the American mind" (Jefferson).
Perhaps the so-called "progressive" enemies of freedom understand better than those who fancy themselves as "conservatives" that in order to reverse the Founders' ideas of "People over government," and institute "government over People," they must first marginalize and destroy the ideas from which liberty is derived.
The writings of America's Founders are replete with references which rebuke would-be tyrants and cite a Higher Source for life, liberty and rights. Early histories confirm those facts.
As so-called "progressives" have led a movement in forsaking the Founders' "reliance on Divine Providence," and belief that individuals are "endowed by their Creator," they also have forsaken the principles underlying America's Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and are systematically dismantling the greatest protections for liberty ever established for a people.
"Ideas have consequences"(Weaver).
The ideas of 1776 came out of a set of ideas consistent with liberty.
We tend to forget, or have never considered, that other world views existed then, as now.
Unless today's citizens rediscover the ideas of liberty existing in what Jefferson called "the American mind" of 1776, we risk going back to the "Old World" ideas which preceded the "Miracle of America."
There are those who call themselves "progressives," when, in fact, their ideas are regressive and enslaving, and as old as the history of civilization.
Would suggest to any who wish an authentic history of the ideas underlying American's founding a visit to this web site, at which Richard Frothingham's outstanding 1872 "History of the Rise of the Republic of the United States" can be read on line.
This 600+-page history traces the ideas which gave birth to the American founding. Throughout, Richard Frothingham, the historian, develops the idea that it is "the Christian idea of man" which allowed the philosophy underlying the Declaration of Independence and Constitution to become a reality--an idea which recognizes the individual and the Source of his/her "Creator"-endowed life, liberty and law.
Is there any wonder that the enemies of freedom, the so-called "progressives," do not promote such authentic histories of America? Their philosophy puts something called "the state," or "global interests" as being superior to individuals and requires a political elitist group to decide what role individuals are to play.
In other words, they must turn the Founders' ideas upside-down in order to achieve a common mediocrity for individuals and power for themselves.
So, the still-revolutionary idea stated by both Ryan and Romney last week about the Source of our rights became fodder for the current President's disdain this weekend, when he declared that they were "reruns" from the 20th Century and better suited for "black and white" television. (Actually, Mr. President, they are from a time much earlier than that.)
As Jefferson wisely observed:
"History, by apprising the people of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; it will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it may assume; and knowing it, to defeat its views."
All of which reinforces our conviction that the ideas of our Declaration of Independence and Constitution are as revolutionary and objectionable to tyrants as they were in 1776 and 1787!
