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July 31, 2010
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Rather, they viewed a common belief in biblical truth as the basis for all wisdom, knowledge and right living. If you have ever played the game "Gossip," you know how quickly the message can change from person to person. Or if you have cut out many quilt pieces without using the original pattern for each one, you know how much the last piece can differ from the first. The same kind of drift happens in religion and politics when we do not constantly go back to the original guides that governed them. The New Testament Scriptures, inspired of God, serve as the authority for the worship and lives of all Christians, regardless of nationality. In America, our nation's founding documents serve the purpose of shaping our government, and ample historical evidence proves that America's founders used biblical principles when drafting those documents. Cutting loose from our historical, biblical anchor can lead us to destruction just as it did ancient Israel and other nations since then. Freedom of Religion It is obvious that there are groups in America intent on stripping all vestiges of Christian faith from our schools, public places and general culture. If some of them have their way, our "freedom of religion," guaranteed by the Constitution's first amendment, will be changed to "freedom from religion." That would be totally opposite to the founders' intent. The first amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." It means that no state religion can be forced upon people. But it adds these words: "or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." America's religious freedom made the Restoration Movement of the 19th century possible. If the United States had adopted an official religion, as Europe and some of our early colonies did, Barton W. Stone and Alexander Campbell, among others, might not have been free to preach the idea of returning Christianity to its first-century pattern. The Basis for the Constitution The founders of our nation relied on God's standards of right and wrong and personal accountability as the basis for the freedoms named in our Constitution. John Adams, our second president, said it this way in a speech in 1798: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." Although they were imperfect men, the founders clearly understood and accepted the validity of Psalm 33:12, that a nation that reveres the Lord as its God is blessed and that any nation faces destruction if it rejects His authority. Chapter 13 of Paul's letter to the Romans sets out the Christian's basic duty to government, which includes the paying of taxes. It was addressed to Christians living in an empire were brutal persecution was meted out to many because of their faith. Paul asserted that citizens are to obey the governing authorities and to do what is right. We do this, not just to avoid punishment, but also to maintain a clear conscience, remembering always that our foremost allegiance is to God (Acts 5:29). One historical example after another demonstrates that the founders understood that conscience must be built on solid principles that do not change, not just on the fear of being caught. For instance, Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, said in 1978, "the only foundation for ... a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty." Thomas Jefferson, primary author of the Declaration of Independence and third president, wrote in 1782, "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 they are not to be violated but with his wrath?" These additional words were on Jefferson's memorial in Washington, D. C.: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever." How much more should we tremble now as basic morality and ethics are so often ignored? And how can our children understand the foundation of our nation if humanists succeed in altering or deleting our early history from the public schools where our young spend so much time in their formative years? Besides the Bible, the most widely used school textbook in colonial times was the New England Primer, which used Scripture and Bible stories to teach the alphabet, reading, grammar and arithmetic. But by 1798, Rush lamented the neglect of educating our young in the principles of Christianity, which he called "the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican form of government." God's Providence After all the centuries of nations coming and going, God seemed to be giving mankind another opportunity to get it right in the New World when the Puritans reached the new England coast some 400 years ago. Their Mayflower Compact said they had trusted God's providence to help them bring Christianity to Virginia. From the Plymouth colonists to the men and women who lead the fight for independence from England to the patriots who crafted the Constitution, they believed that God's providence was guiding and protecting their efforts. Accounts of how George Washington's ill-equipped and starving army won strategic battles against the superior power of England's professional forces suggests that they saw God's hand in the ultimate outcome. According to the writings of two early architects of our system - John Adams, our second president, and James Madison, our fourth - they had a sense of manifest destiny in their work. They believed that if God blessed their efforts here, America would be a blessing to all of mankind. These visionaries were not uneducated man. They were well-read individuals from many different backgrounds representing different denominational bodies. It was never their intention to divorce the workings of government from the practice of religion. Rather, the authors of our Constitution viewed a common belief in biblical truth as the basis for all wisdom, knowledge and right living. Many patriots throughout our history stressed the importance of truth and morality as the only firm foundation on which to build a republic, just as Jesus stressed the importance of building a house upon a solid base (Matthew 7). The documents these men produced, although not inspired, were built upon a foundation that is. Maintaining the house requires that we, as informed citizens, let our influence be felt. By being actively involved in community affairs we can help to assure that we will continue to be blessed to live and grow in a free and strong nation. |
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