Posted on 10/22/2001 8:58:52 PM PDT by Mercuria
In 1830 Alexis de Tocqueville toured the United States, and stated that he had found the secret of American greatness and strength. It was not in the textile mills, the shipyards, anything we had built, in fact, he didn't even mention our precious founding documents, although those documents permitted the activity that de Tocqueville discovered.
He found that America's greatness lay in the fiery preaching of the Gospel in America's churches. Simplicity of life, humbleness of mind, and a pervading sense of the presence of Almighty God and the accountability of His creation, mankind, to obedience to the faith, gave America her character and her strength.
Once the land was noted for her many churches, preaching the Bible as truth. We still have churches, but what are they preaching? Tolerance? Diversity? Something bland and inoffensive? The Gospel is offensive to sinners. All men are born sinners until they are reborn, so says our Gospel. Forgiveness of sins, absolution from guilt, accountability to the Creator of the Universe, keeps man from becoming proud, self-sufficient, rebellious toward God to the point of denying Him and desecrating His standards by flaunting man's achievements and sinfulness.
Before we try to rebuild America, or the Twin Towers site, perhaps we should first rethink America.
Isn't it time to reject the theories of the evolutionist, the babble of the secular humanists who offer no hope, and the globalists with their planetary village?
Americans aren't educated in spite of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on education by the federal government. Government itself dictates education, and the people have become stupid. That may be the point of government education, but it is not the goal of education itself. It should not be the goal of parents to bring up blathering nitwit children.
Americans are a particularly proud people, but God says that pride goes before destruction. Have we seen the beginning of the humiliation of America because of pride? Let the evidence speak for itself.
A once-honest people who could name its criminals ... Capone, Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde ... now have overcrowded prisons and folks who could care less about human life, whether they abort it before birth or shoot a teen/adult in a driveby. We've become a people with "relative" morality, which is no morality at all. And we're told these miscreants had a bad childhood. If they weren't told about God and His standards, imbued with a sense of personal responsibility and the relationship of cause and effect, they had a bad childhood. That applies whether they grew up in the ghetto or in an upper middle class home without values.
We were able to put fifty thousand workers in twin towers but we cannot fill a church on Sunday morning. We could draw fifty or sixty thousand to a ballgame, but couldn't get the family together around the dinner table.
It's time to rethink America.
We were founded on Christian principles, we were settled by Bible-believing Puritans and Pilgrims, we were established as a nation by God-fearing men who believed in the liberty that is proclaimed by our religion: ours was the liberty to be what God wants, not license to do as everyone pleases. We've forgotten what was once our original understanding of liberty.
We can't haul people to church at sword's point or baptize them at the point of a gun. That doesn't make character, it makes intimidated subjects. Christianity is a religion of freedom, of liberty, but within the boundaries of the "thou shalt nots" set down by the Almighty for our good.
It's time to rethink America.
American greatness was built on solid character, universities established for the education of students of theology (Harvard, Yale and Princeton weren't always wildly liberal, they were chiefly seminaries), and a belief in our founding documents. We were to permit others to worship as they pleased without harassment, but we were also to proclaim the Gospel at every opportunity in the faith that many would hear and understand.
Now we build monuments to man's achievements. We build towers, automobiles, resorts, great theaters, mansions, amusement parks and stadiums. We build, but to the glory of man and not to the glory of God, whose Name we desecrate.
To be sure, Christianity has suffered dark moments at the hands of politically-minded men who hid behind religious fervor. There were the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, and the Salem Witch Trials on our own soil. But our faith also produced St. Augustine, John Newton, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, David Livingstone and D. L. Moody. One Supreme Court, in the 19th century, proclaimed that the United States is a Christian nation.
At present, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Supreme Court, we're trying to prove it is not Christian. The trash on media, the burgeoning of topheavy, oppressive government and the moral decline (particularly in women's liberties to do as they please from sexual freedom to active combat roles in war) all testify to the fact that if we were once a Christian nation, we no longer can claim to be such.
It is time to rethink America.
Why would what once made us a great nation ... belief in the Bible and our accountability to God ... not make us great once again? It depends on whether one believes that man is accountable only to himself (humanism) that produces a vacuous sense of morality and endless tributes to self, or whether one believes man is created in God's image.
The churches are always full after a great disaster. Man's need for God was put there by God so that we would always have a great void until we came to rest in Him. But after we resign ourselves to the fact of tragedy, the churches are seldom full. That isn't Christianity ... it is bombshelter religion.
The Bible as God's written word was what was once preached from America's pulpits. Now we hear trivia. It is time to speak of sin and judgment lest they come upon us unawares, as did the events of September 11, 2001. It is time to speak of redemption and why we need it, every one, lest we step off into eternity suddenly and without remission of sins.
We must rethink America. While it is still here.
Dorothy Anne Seese was born in Southern California where she obtained her degree in political science. For the past forty years, she has made her home in Arizona where her primary career was a business systems analyst. Dottie is now retired and makes her home in an Arizona retirement city. She is the editor of The Flagship Log. Her e-mail address is dottie@politicalusa.com.
Freedom, liberty, and equality are taught in the Bible and other religions' "literae scriptae." To proclaim that any person of faith never has believed in true equality is the height of arrogance. No one ever can know what it is actually in another's heart. I don't, you don't, and absolutely no one alive today does. Actions may speak louder than words, and I'll admit that there have been plenty of historical instances of intolerance, but feelings have more substance than actions. If so-called religious people consistently behave in a non-religious manner, then they were never religious to begin with -- which is not a matter of religion, but of hypocrisy.
You have a right to your view, as do we all, but I think that your view is horrifying shallow. I give Americans much more credit than that. This country has gone steadily downhill the more we remove and ban the expression of religion in public arenas. I'm not talking about actively recruiting and converting others, but simple actions such as private prayer, or even group prayer for a voluntary assembly.
The ACLU has gone so far left now that, as a Christian, I feel that my rights are violated. I cannot pray in a government building, my Christian nieces cannot pray in public schools, and "God Bless America" isn't even allowed on a small marquis of an elementary school. The majority of Americans are religious, in a kind-hearted manner, and a very small minority are atheist or agnostic. However, the minority are now allowed to dictate to the majority. That is just as much a slap in the face to the Constitution as the opposite scenario has been accused of being.
It's become ridiculous. "Equality" does not mean turning the tables completely. The atheist and agnostic minority are not respecting the rights and beliefs of the religious majority. Now, the minority are not treating the majority as equals. Nothing is better than it was before the advent of the radical ACLU. Actually, IMHO, things are much more confusingly complex, and much, much worse.
Maybe the key word for rejection here is Theories
That depends entirely upon which definition of "evolution" is used. In general terms, all men "evolve" as they grow, psychologically, physically, spiritually, etc. -- usually for the better, but not necessarily. (One such as Bin Laden may believe that he has evolved, when in fact he has retrogressed.) That is not exactly a science.
The theory of evolution is a science. Evolution itself is not.
Science is entirely composed of theories. A theory will stay intact until a better explanation comes along in which case that theory becomes the new theory. Many theories stay intact because they are the best explanations for observable science. These are the building blocks of knowledge. Creationism however is a religious doctrine from the Old Testament that has no relevance in science because it has been disproven time and again by standard scientific methods. I wish more Creationists trusted their own powers of observation and reason rather than referring endlessly to the bible for answers to all of life's mysteries. I also happen to be a Christian who just happens to believe that evolution best answers how life originated and evolved on earth. The record of fossil evidence is pretty compelling I think.
Perhaps not wholly ascribe...but he sure did give it a great deal of credit. **g**
HOW RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES AVAILS ITSELF OF DEMOCRATIC TENDENCIES
(What IS it about some people completely hostile to religion that makes them feel the need to turn every thread with a mention of God into Monty Python's The Argument Clinic?)
Hmmm, let me see... Is it the pornography that made it great? Is it the numbers of murders committed each year? The numbers of rapes? Is it the numbers of men incarcerated in prison? Is it the numbers of abortions performed each year? The numbers of children (the ones who are allowed to live) who spend their days in daycare while their parents work?
Hmmm... that's a tough one.
Yes, many atrocities have occurred in our history, but I believe that most of us have learned from them. I know that I have. I firmly believe in true equality, and I can't even begin to fathom the heart of one who does not. (And I'm glad I can't!)
Politicians (bless their hearts) are sworn to serve our country by using traditional oaths of office. The historical value has come to mean more than the intrinsic value to many politicians. Thankfully, not all. And thankfully, an even higher percentage of "average" citizens value the words and meaning more than the historical importance.
That may not continue to be the trend, I'm afraid, as we abolish God, or even the concept of God, in present-day society. Parents are no longer parenting, and teachers cannot possibly parent their students, so where do these children learn morality? Even if morality is inborn, it needs nurturing in order to flourish. Society as a whole has become a very bad teacher of morality. Children learn what they see, and what they see has been frightening. Those who are not taught to value and respect others are at a distinct disadvantage.
The tragedy that will always be 9/11 has taught those children not to be kind and loving and caring at all times, but to run into a church when something bad happens, run out when it's over, and never return. Until the next tragedy.
Is anyone else frightened by this? I certainly hope so! The heart of a true Christian has been taught to see, feel, and comprehend all that the belief entails. The heart of a "self-described" Christian may also have been taught the same, and may indeed be true. However, it very well may not.
There are only two who know if one is a true Christian -- the "self-described Christian," and God. Until we become God (which won't likely happen) or go to be with God (which hopefully will), we have no way of knowing how many people believe in true equality here on earth. However, allowing the Christians to pray freely, while at the same time allowing the atheists and agnostic not to pray at all -- every one without ridicule -- is the only way to have a true representation of equality.
Religious people accept science but simply don't put as much importance on it as you apparently do.
I am not a very religious man, but I see religion as much more important to human greatness than science. It takes people who are well grounded in the understanding of the purpose of knowledge to use and develope it so that it helps mankind and does no harm in the process.
Beats me, but our chap Monty was jolly well able to see the humour of it all, and tended to make more sense, as a rule! *VBG*
Being a Christian doesn't make one a puppet, you know?!
de Tocqueville was not given the last word on America.
Neither were the Creationists who argue about the meaning of the writings in question, in an attempt to bolster their own viewpoint. No one has been given the last word on America. She's still here, full of people with many different views, which is why we can all have this discussion!
There are churches round about
all have their doctrines to shout
truth is me! truth is me!
but do any of them really see?
They show Him hanging on the cross
the true meaning of His death being lost
the resurrection was defeat of the grave
and the essence of what He gave
Their teachings have become sterile
they continue at their peril
of losing the promise of the magnificent One
I speak of course, of Yahweh’s son
They have no fire, they have no passion
they preach what's in fashion
their prayers are spoken by rote
their teachings are nothing of note
Yahweh does not compromise
His plan for us is not disguised
It's laid out in His letter
there's never been anything better
He set the rules
He owns it all
we are fools
if we do not heed the call
the beauty of what He has done
is exemplified by His Son
with His death upon the hill
His defeat of the grave and still
We have two choices we can make
two roads we can take
one is the straight and narrow road
the other is loss of our souls
Copyright © 1999 By John J. Lindsay. All Rights Reserved
August 12, 1996
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